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Data report · 2026 edition

HonestDog Dog Breed Health Report 2026

An open dataset on 482 dog breeds: health grades, conditions and breeding requirements.

Data as of 5 October 2026

dog breeds in the dataset
482
catalogued conditions and hereditary traits
884
health-related breeding requirements linked to the club's rulebook
478
of breeds with a linked club rulebook require hip scoring
90%
Download CSVMethodology

Key findings

Every finding has its own link for citing. All figures come from our dataset as of the cut-off date; the methodology explains how they're produced. “Mandatory requirement (level L1)” stands for a breed's minimum screenings – prescribed by a breed club or listed by us as a minimum programme.

Hip dysplasia is the most common breeding requirement: 90% of breeds with a linked club rulebook require it

For 104 of the 116 breeds whose club rulebook we link, a hip dysplasia (HD) screening is mandatory – no other health-related requirement is as widespread.

The most common breeding requirements
  • Hip dysplasia301 breeds
  • Elbow Dysplasia128 breeds
  • Patellar Luxation120 breeds
  • DNA identity test91 breeds
  • Cataract87 breeds
  • Progressive Retinal Atrophy (PRA)79 breeds
  • Ocular anomalies73 breeds
  • Temperament assessment68 breeds
  • Ectropion / Entropion54 breeds
  • Lens luxation47 breeds
  • Retinal Dysplasia43 breeds
  • Degenerative Myelopathy40 breeds

Breeds per requirement across the whole dataset (level L1, not only breeds with a linked rulebook). DNA identity tests and temperament assessments are breeding criteria, not health screenings.

Link to this finding

Only 16% of dog breeds earn a top grade

Of the 482 breeds in our catalogue, 79 are graded S or A and 59 (12%) are graded D or E; each grade places a breed relative to all the others.

All 482 breeds in the dataset
  • S1
  • A78
  • B216
  • C128
  • D49
  • E10
151 listed breeds (with a breed page)
  • S0
  • A17
  • B57
  • C53
  • D17
  • E7
Link to this finding

For 110 breeds, we back health-related breeding requirements directly with the club's own rulebook

For 478 health-related breeding requirements we link the responsible breed club's rulebook directly as the source, and for 189 breeding criteria such as DNA identity tests or temperament assessments.

Link to this finding

Health is up to each club: more than 50 German breed clubs set their own requirements

In the linked rulebooks for 116 breeds, by our count 57 different German breed clubs require health screenings – and each club decides in its own rulebook which of them are mandatory before breeding.

Link to this finding

Eyes and the musculoskeletal system account for 73% of health-related breeding requirements

Of 1,850 health-related breeding requirements (level L1) in our dataset, 728 concern the eyes and 625 the musculoskeletal system; eye findings make up the most entries partly because a single eye exam often covers several of the catalogued conditions at once.

Health-related breeding requirements by body system
  • Eyes728 entries
  • Musculoskeletal625 entries
  • Nervous system197 entries
  • Other80 entries
  • Metabolism78 entries
  • Skin and coat59 entries
  • Heart39 entries
  • Kidneys27 entries
  • Breathing17 entries

Level L1 entries; a breed can have several entries per body system.

Link to this finding

Small breeds, their own problem: patellar luxation is a required check for 120 breeds – the counterpart to hip dysplasia in large breeds

Among the small breeds in our catalogue, 69% must have a patella check before breeding, compared with 5% of large breeds; for hip dysplasia it's the other way round (77% of large breeds, 31% of small ones).

Share of breeds with a required screening, by size: Patellar luxation
  • Small breeds85 / 124
  • Medium breeds22 / 152
  • Large breeds11 / 204
Share of breeds with a required screening, by size: Hip dysplasia
  • Small breeds39 / 124
  • Medium breeds102 / 152
  • Large breeds158 / 204

Size bands as recorded in our breed catalogue.

Link to this finding

68 breeds require a temperament assessment before breeding – character is bred in, too

In 68 breeding programmes in our dataset, a temperament assessment of the breeding dog is a mandatory requirement (level L1); it isn't a health test, but it helps decide whether a dog is approved for breeding.

Link to this finding

Popularity is no protection: the 20 most-searched breeds with a breed page score below average

The 20 most-searched breeds in Germany that have their own breed page average 3.0 points (on a scale from E = 1 to S = 6), against 3.4 across all 151 listed breeds; 5 of the 20 are graded D or E.

The 20 most-searched breeds and their grades
  1. BMaltipoo
  2. CGolden Retriever
  3. CCane Corso
  4. DDachshund
  5. BAustralian Shepherd
  6. CRottweiler
  7. EDobermann
  8. CLabradoodle
  9. CLabrador Retriever
  10. BBorder Collie
  11. EFrench Bulldog
  12. CChihuahua
  13. BBelgian Malinois
  14. CCocker Spaniel
  15. BPoodle
  16. DBernese Mountain Dog
  17. BMaltese
  18. CGoldendoodle
  19. BBeagle
  20. DAmerican Bully

Based on search volume in Germany (as of 16 July 2026) from our study of the most popular dog breeds; only breeds with their own breed page are included. See the most popular dog breeds study

Link to this finding

884 catalogued conditions and hereditary traits, 457 named test protocols – among breeds with mandatory requirements, 4.8 per breed on average

For the 434 breeds with mandatory requirements (level L1), our dataset lists 4.8 such requirements per breed on average, including breeding criteria with no disease link such as DNA identity tests or temperament assessments.

Link to this finding

Breeds with the best and the lowest grades

Only breeds with their own breed page on HonestDog are included (151 of 482). Every row links to the breed page, which explains the grade.

Best grades (S and A)

BreedGradeRulebook linked
Bergamasco Shepherd DogAno
Bolonka ZwetnaAno
Bouvier des ArdennesAno
Cirneco dell'EtnaAno
Coton de TulearAno
Danish-Swedish FarmdogAno
Dutch KooikerhondjeAyes
German PinscherAno
HavaneseAno
HovawartAyes
LöwchenAno
Pyrenean ShepherdAno
Russian ToyAno
SchipperkeAno
Slovakian Rough-haired PointerAno
WhippetAno
Yakutian LaikaAno

For small, little-studied breeds a good grade also reflects thinner data.

Lowest grades (D and E)

BreedGradeRulebook linked
BulldogExtreme-breeding traitsEno
Cavalier King Charles SpanielEno
DobermannEno
French BulldogExtreme-breeding traitsEyes
Great DaneEno
Irish WolfhoundEyes
PugExtreme-breeding traitsEno
American BullyDno
Bernese Mountain DogDyes
Biewer TerrierDyes
Boston TerrierDno
BoxerDyes
Chow ChowDno
Continental BulldogDno
DachshundDno
German ShepherdDyes
Miniature Bull TerrierDno
Miniature SchnauzerDno
Old English BulldogDno
Prague RatterDyes
Saint BernardDyes
Scottish TerrierDyes
Shar-PeiDyes
Shih TzuDyes

The grade reflects all catalogued conditions and breed-typical burdens such as brachycephaly, heart disease or gastric torsion, not the number of mandatory requirements. That number isn't comparable between breeds and is incomplete for some.

Why we don't connect anyone with breeders of extreme-breeding breeds

We flag these 6 breeds for extreme-breeding traits – above all an extremely short skull (brachycephaly). We name and grade them so anyone considering one knows the health risks.

For breeds we flag for extreme-breeding traits, HonestDog doesn't connect anyone with breeders and gives no buying advice. We name and grade these breeds so their health risks are known.

In addition, we don't connect anyone with breeders of the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel (because of heart and neurological disease) or the King Charles Spaniel (because of its short skull).

Dog breeds to think twice aboutExtreme-breeding traits explained

Methodology

What the dataset is

The dataset covers 482 dog breeds including varieties and crosses, a catalogue of 914 entries – 884 conditions and health-relevant inherited traits (some at the level of individual gene variants) plus 30 breeding criteria with no disease link, such as DNA identity tests or temperament assessments – and 457 named test protocols. The 4,633 links between a breed and an entry fall into three levels: L1 (2,070) stands for mandatory requirements – examinations a breed club prescribes or that we list as a minimum programme where we hold no club documents (origin: see below) –, L2 (2,157) for responsible additions, L3 (406) for further documented entries. 151 breeds have their own breed page on honestdog.de; the tables and breed links in this report are limited to them, while the headline figures and the CSV download include all 482 breeds.

Sources

The basis is the breeding regulations (Zuchtordnungen) of the breed clubs in the VDH (German Kennel Club) and the FCI; where no German source was available, the codes of ethics of the US breed clubs (AKC parent clubs). Conditions and modes of inheritance come from sources including CIDD (University of Prince Edward Island) and OMIA (University of Sydney); test protocols from the OFA and the clubs themselves.

What “mandatory” rests on

Of the 2,070 mandatory requirements (L1), 667 (32%) are linked directly to the club's rulebook as their source. For the rest, “mandatory” is our classification, not a club rule we can document: they come from our earlier health catalogue (837), rest on AI-assisted research without a linked club source (391, of which 214 for breeds without accessible club documents), come from specialist databases such as CIDD, or are inherited from the parent breed. In addition, the dataset attributes 856 entries across 237 breeds to a named club; for 189 of them the linked source is missing and the club attribution is unconfirmed. We merged spelling variants of the same club before counting; umbrella bodies such as the VDH don't count as a club of their own.

How the grades are set

Every breed gets a grade from S (lowest risk) to E (high risk). The grades are relative to the whole population: an AI compares the number, severity and mode of inheritance of a breed's catalogued conditions with their distribution across all breeds and accounts for extreme short-headedness (brachycephaly); it proposes the grade and a breed-specific rationale. All 482 grades are unmodified AI proposals – no grade has been overridden manually so far (0 of 482) – calculated between 20 May 2026 and 27 July 2026; the data on conditions and breeding programmes has partly changed since. The number of L1 entries a breed has therefore doesn't explain its grade and isn't comparable between breeds. Conditions and breeding programmes are re-checked against current sources with AI assistance roughly every six months (most recently on 28 July 2026); the grades are not recalculated automatically in the process.

Limitations

The grades are a breed-level assessment, not a veterinary diagnosis and not a statement about any individual dog. Clubs change their breeding regulations; the club's current version always takes precedence. For breeds with few accessible sources, the breeding programme rests partly on an AI-assisted expert assessment. The analysis of the breeding regulations is itself AI-assisted and has not been fully checked by hand; individual requirements may be missing. Few or no recorded requirements are not proof of health: for small, little-studied breeds a good grade also reflects thin data.

Conflict of interest

HonestDog is funded by fees breeders pay for buyer inquiries. Grades are calculated independently of that; breeders have no influence on them.

Data cut-off date: 5 October 2026.

Use and cite the data

The dataset is licensed under CC BY 4.0: you're free to use it, including commercially, as long as you credit HonestDog as the source and link to it.

Download CSV

One row per breed (482 breeds): breed page yes/no, grade, number of mandatory requirements (all and health-related), linked rulebook, breed club (only where the rulebook is linked; umbrella bodies such as the VDH or AKC are left blank), URL, licence. Breed names in German.

Cite this study

Writing about this data? Use the ready-made link or the source line.

As a link (HTML)

<a href="https://www.honestdog.de/en/tools/dog-breed-health-report-2026">HonestDog Dog Breed Health Report 2026 (as of October 2026)</a>

As a source line (text)

Source: HonestDog Dog Breed Health Report 2026, as of October 2026, https://www.honestdog.de/en/tools/dog-breed-health-report-2026

The data is free to reuse under CC BY 4.0, crediting HonestDog as the source. We'd appreciate a link to the source.

Press enquiries, interviews and graphics: visit our press area

Questions about the report

How are the health grades set?

An AI proposes a grade from S to E and a rationale for every breed, based on the number, severity and mode of inheritance of its catalogued conditions compared with all breeds. The grades are unmodified AI proposals: none has been overridden manually so far, and they were calculated between May and July 2026 (details in the methodology). They are an assessment, not a veterinary diagnosis.

What does level L1 mean?

L1 covers mandatory requirements: examinations a breed club prescribes before breeding – such as a hip X-ray or an eye exam – or that we list as a minimum programme where we hold no club documents. For roughly a third, the club rulebook is linked directly. L2 covers sensible additions made by responsible breeders, L3 further documented entries.

What is extreme breeding?

Extreme breeding (“Qualzucht” in German) means breeding dogs in a way that puts their offspring at risk of inherited pain, suffering or harm – such as breathing trouble from an extremely short nose. In Germany, Section 11b of the Animal Welfare Act prohibits breeding where this can be expected (as of October 2026; an amendment is before the Bundestag).

Can I use the data?

Yes. The dataset is licensed under CC BY 4.0. Please credit “HonestDog Dog Breed Health Report 2026” as the source and link to this page.

Will the figures be updated?

The report comes out once a year as a new edition. This edition's figures stay unchanged after publication; we mark any correction visibly. The grades on the breed pages can change between editions.

Does HonestDog sell dogs?

No. HonestDog connects people with breeders and rescue organisations and doesn't sell any animals itself.

Read more

All breeds in the health rankingThe healthiest dog breedsDog breeds to think twice aboutThe most common hereditary diseases in dogsHealth tests for breeding dogs