Hi. I am new to this board and to owning silky terriers. I used to raise and breed rat terriers. One thing I never experienced with my ratties was bite issues. I have two silkys. One male that is almost 5 months old and one female that is 3 months old. The male has a slight overbite and the female has a slight underbite. I have researched this online but could not find anythi ng specific to silkys. Some websites say bite issues are not genetic, same say it is, some say it will correct itself and some say not. They are both going to my vet tomorrow but I thought maybe I could get some opinions here. I had considered breeding them someday but won't if it is a genetic issue.
Thanks for your time.

[Lara's mom]

I'm not an expert by any means but, I would think that either an under bite or an over bite would be reason enough not to breed them. It could be passed onto the puppies. However, there are a lot of breeders in this forum who are a million times more knowledgeable than I am. I'm sure they could give you very good advice.

Thanks for your reply. I had read online that the jaws grow at different rates so I was curious if anyone had experience with slightly off bites correcting themselves. Neither are severe but I have never had experience with smaller dogs. We will love them no matter what.

[Yogi]

the bite generally is genetic but as you discovered, at their age this is not an issue as the jaws do grow at different rates so what may be and under or over bite now may not be in a few months. As lara's mom noted, when they reach adulthood and proper breeding age at that time if the bite issue is still there, than breeding would not be advisable.

Thanks for the reply Yogi. I read so many different things I was confused. I am new to this breed but not breeding so nothing will be happening (as far as decisions on breeding) for a couple of years and lots of testing. They sure are stealing my heart.