Patellas ~ Patellas are basically just knee caps. The frenchie breed is afflicted with luxating patellas like many small breed dogs. Patellar luxation occurs when the dog's kneecap (patella) is dislocated from its normal anatomic position in the groove of the thigh bone (femur). When the kneecap is dislocated from the groove of the thigh bone, it can only be returned to its normal position once the quadriceps muscles in the hind legs of the animal relax and lengthen. It is for this reason that most dogs with the condition will hold up their hind legs for a few minutes. This can be a painful condition in the dog and sometimes requires surgery to correct. All of our dogs are checked by their first birthday to make sure that their knee caps do not luxate.
Eyes ~ There are many eye conditions that can affect a frenchie. Distichiasis, entropion, PRA, cherry eye, cataracts, just to name a few. Our dogs have an eye exam every year to make sure we are not breeding in any eye abnormalities. A CERF is a painless eye exam done by a certified canine opthamologists that checks the dogs eyelids, cornea, iris, lens, and more for disease.
Vaccinating our dogs every year is no longer the recommended protocol. It has been found to do more harm then good to overvaccinate. They are now finding that immunity lasts much longer then just a year with most vaccines. Here is a link to the new vaccination guidelines ~ http://www.weim.net/emberweims/Vaccine.html