Health Scheme Update... 
From January 2025 all Silver & Gold Certificates issued will have an expiry date that matches the expiry date of the Respiratory Function Grade submitted with your health form.
Silver & Gold awards are result dependent in respect of breathing, heart and patellas and with this in mind and the need to repeat the RFG after 2 years, we feel that these awards and certificates should reflect this and be issued to dogs that continue to test and meet the current Health criteria throughout their lives. We hope with a greater emphasis on the repetition of the essential tests, we can continue to make steps to ensure good health within our breed.
The website will be amended over the next week with these changes and also changes regarding the submission of health forms.
All changes are designed to make the whole process more streamlined and I will continue to feed those over as they are made.
thanks as always for your support.
Vanessa Bryant - Health Scheme Adminstrator 26/1/2025

January 2025 
The Kennel Club has launched their new Health Standard across all breeds. The aim of the standard is to consolidate all relevant health tests for our breed in one place, providing clear guidance on which tests to undertake before breeding and how to do so. The 'Good Practice' category highlights the most critical tests as a starting point, while all breeders are encouraged to aim for the 'Best Practice' level by completing all recommended tests.
Although designed primarily for breeders, this document is also a valuable resource for puppy buyers, helping them verify whether a puppy’s parents have undergone the appropriate health tests.
Good Practice for French Bulldogs is participation in the KC/UoC Respiratory Function Grading Scheme 
Best Practice for French Bulldogs includes the Good Practice tests and the addition of 

• DNA Test - HC-HSF4-2
• BVA/KC Elbow Dysplasia
• BVA/KC/ISDS Eye Scheme
• BVA/KC Hip Dysplasia 

 Further information can be found https://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/about-us/about-the-kennel-club/the-kennel-club-codes/the-kennel-club-health-standard/​

Crufts to introduce health entry requirement for popular brachycephalic breeds from 2025
More information can be found here   www.thekennelclub.org.uk/media-centre/2024/march/crufts-to-introduce-health-entry-requirement-for-popular-brachycephalic-breeds-from-2025/​

A new report by The Kennel Club, launched 5 September 2023, is urging collaboration on the issues facing flat-faced, or brachycephalic, dogs such as French Bulldogs, Pugs and Bulldogs.
The report, ‘Play Your Part: Breeding, buying and bringing up brachycephalic dogs better’, highlights the welfare crisis faced by some of these dogs due to their huge increase in popularity, and details the collaborative measures that need to be taken by the puppy buying public, breeders, vets, Government and The Kennel Club to protect and improve the health of current and future generations.
Some of the most popular brachycephalic breeds – French Bulldogs, Bulldogs and Pugs – now account for one in five dogs in the UK, and The Kennel Club report recommends action focussing on:     

• Health screening, including increasing uptake of the only current tool to analyse and improve Brachycephalic Obstructive Airway Syndrome - the University of Cambridge/Kennel Club Respiratory Function Grading scheme
• Education and behaviour change of breeders, puppy buyers and dog owners, and the role of online marketplaces which advertise pets
• Introducing mandatory contracts for breeders and overhauls to Codes of Practices on caring for dogs

The FBCE support the call for increasing use of Health Screening and recommend all owners and breeders participate in the FBCE Health Scheme and RKC Respiratory Function Grading Scheme.

More information on Brachycephalic Health can be found in the Health Hub on the RKC Website by clicking here

Brachycephalic Working Group (BWG)

In 2017 in response to the booming popularity of the French Bulldog , Bulldog and Pug , all of the major stakeholders in dog welfare in the UK formed a single body called the Brachycephalic Working Group (BWG) to try to improve the welfare of these dogs. The French Bulldog Club of England, Pennine & Scottish French Bulldog Association and Breed Health Co-Ordinator , Dr Laura Hamilton BVM&S PgC SAC MRCVS , all hold seats on the working group and attend the regular meetings to give the Breed Club's perspective on Health & Welfare. You can find information of the important work undertaken by the Working Group by clicking here.
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In 2020 our Breed Health Co-Ordinator Dr Laura Hamilton BVM&S PgC SAC PgC SAM MRCVS  & The Kennel Club Health Team undertook a a  a comprehensive survey of the breed with 8727 individual responses (12025 dogs) to view the full report ,
​ Click Here.
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** POSTPONED  From January 2023, the Kennel Club will be limiting
“Hereditary Clear” status of registered dogs to two generations**
From January 2023, the Kennel Club will limit the assignment of ‘hereditary clear’ status of registered dogs to two generations. This change will be put in place to safeguard against the impact that dogs with an incorrect ‘hereditary clear’ status could have on health issues within a breed.
Following on from a recent Kennel Club study, published in the journal of Canine Genetics and Epidemiology, the decision to restrict hereditary status was made by the Kennel Club Board on the recommendation of the Dog Health Group.
Hereditary clear status is given to dogs that are determined to be free of specific genetic material linked to a particular inherited disease. The Kennel Club’s registration system assigns a dog this status if their parents are known to be clear, either because they have both been DNA tested as clear, or because they are hereditary clear themselves.
Dogs could be mistakenly given a false hereditary clear status for a number of reasons; for example if there has been a failure of laboratory protocols, pedigree errors or incorrectly recorded parentage. In these instances it is unlikely that the inaccuracies would be noticed immediately, but rather that several generations later many dogs throughout the breed descended from the individual with the original incorrect status will also have erroneous hereditary status, and the well-intended mating of two such apparently hereditary clear dogs risks producing affected puppies.
The Kennel Club research analysed the risks faced by a population following the incorrect assignment of hereditary status and determined that the rate of dogs with false hereditary clear status could rise considerably over a fairly small number of generations, particularly for genetic conditions that are more common.
To reduce the knock-on effect of these errors, and the risk of unintentionally breeding affected puppies, the Kennel Club will be ensuring that from January 2022, the ‘hereditary clear status’ will be limited to two generations, unless lineage is verified by DNA parentage profiling recorded by the Kennel Club. DNA parentage profiling is a separate procedure to screening DNA for disease causing mutations, but can often be carried out at the same time by the same laboratory.
Kennel Club Genetics and Research Manager Dr Tom Lewis said: “Kennel Club advice has always been that even apparently ‘clear’ lines should be retested every few generations. This change to hereditary status reinforces that view and ensures that breeders can remain confident that the puppies they produce remain free from disease. DNA tests are helping breeders eradicate health issues in dogs and we want our registration system to maximise the impact these tests are having.”