IHA Overview
The Purpose
APGAW has developed an Innate Health Assessment tool that allows every dog kept for breeding to be rapidly and reliably scored by the breeder for the presence of 10 innate health ‘extreme conformation’ criteria. The APGAW IHA is underpinned by a large volume of clinical evidence generated by the Royal Veterinary College over the past 15 years.
The IHA has been designed to check the innate health of a dog and is not a substitute for other specific breed health tests, such as the Respiratory Function Grading Scheme. Click here to find out more information on breed health tests available.
How it works
The IHA is a straightforward and easy to use visual checklist of 10 key conformational criteria which can be reliably performed by any breeder, dog owner or prospective dog owner without the need for any specialist equipment, training or veterinary assistance. No x-rays, scans or invasive tests are needed and our interactive IHA tool (which can be accessed via any smart phone, tablet or computer) guides users on a step-by-step basis through each of the 10 criteria and provides full instructions on how to assess each one.
Please note: the IHA assesses the suitability of a dog to be used for breeding purposes and therefore has been designed for adult dogs (aged 12 months and over). In puppies and dogs younger than this, some of the assessment criteria may not yet be apparent. Therefore anyone using the IHA to assess the innate health of a puppy or dog under the age of 12 months should use the IHA for general guidance purposes only and should consult their veterinarian if they have any concerns about their puppy/ dog or any new dog they are considering acquiring.
Development & Testing
The APGAW Innate Health Assessment Tool located on this site follows extensive development which included 2 piloting phases — the first at a DogsTrust centre in 2024 and the second at Battersea in 2025.
The list of 10 innate health criteria represents key extreme conformations that can severely impact the health and welfare of affected dogs and their puppies, and for which there is strong evidence and agreement that these should no longer be acceptable characteristics in dogs kept for breeding.
Pass/Fail Criteria & Timeline
Under current law in England (Schedule 6.6.5 of the Licensing of Activities Involving Animals Regs 2018), no dog who has any extreme conformation characteristics, which could have a negative impact on their health and welfare, should be kept for breeding by anyone who requires a commercial dog breeding licence. Accordingly, no dog (whether male or female) used for breeding should fail any of the 10 IHA criteria. Click here for more information and see FAQ 7.
However, to allow time for anyone currently breeding dogs to move towards only breeding dogs with no extreme conformations, a more lenient cut-point for passing the IHA has been set for a transitional period. Accordingly, any dog currently with 2 fails or less from the 10 criteria will achieve an overall pass for the APGAW Innate Health Assessment. Over time, this cut point will be reduced to one and then to zero fails as we move towards the ultimate goal of not breeding from any dog who has any extreme conformation characteristics. It is anticipated that these changes to cut points will be made in 2030 and 2035.
Any dog owner or dog breeder who is concerned about the IHA score that their dog has received should consult their veterinarian for further advice.