Examinations by Breed

Germany Ger­man Ver­si­on

The new Ger­man Ani­mal Wel­fa­re Dog Ordi­nan­ce (Tier­schutz­hun­de­ver­ord­nung – TierSch­HuV)  has been in force sin­ce 1 Janu­ary 2022.

Among other pro­vi­si­ons, it pro­hi­bits cer­tain dogs from being exhi­bi­ted.

Sec­tion 10 – Exhi­bi­ti­on Ban

It is pro­hi­bi­ted to exhi­bit dogs or to orga­ni­se dog shows invol­ving

(1)

dogs who­se body parts, in par­ti­cu­lar ears or tail, have been com­ple­te­ly or par­ti­al­ly ampu­ta­ted in vio­la­ti­on of ani­mal wel­fa­re requi­re­ments; or

(2)

dogs in which, due to her­edi­ta­ry fac­tors,

a) body parts or organs requi­red for spe­ci­es-appro­pria­te use are absent, unsui­ta­ble or alte­red, resul­ting in pain, suf­fe­ring or harm;

b) beha­viou­ral dis­or­ders asso­cia­ted with suf­fe­ring occur;

c) any spe­ci­es-appro­pria­te cont­act with other dogs cau­ses pain or avo­ida­ble suf­fe­ring or harm to the dog its­elf or ano­ther dog; or

d) kee­ping the dog is only pos­si­ble under con­di­ti­ons caus­ing pain or avo­ida­ble suf­fe­ring, or results in harm.

For the CACIB Kas­sel on 9 and 10 Janu­ary 2027, the exami­na­ti­on con­cept has been revi­sed in con­sul­ta­ti­on with the Vete­ri­na­ry Aut­ho­ri­ty of the City of Kas­sel.

Dogs of cer­tain breeds over one year of age must under­go a Gene­ral Cli­ni­cal Exami­na­ti­on pri­or to the show. For cer­tain breeds, addi­tio­nal Spe­cial Exami­na­ti­ons and / or Exer­cise / Fit­ness Tests are requi­red.

The list below shows which exami­na­ti­ons are requi­red for your dog and at what inter­vals they must be car­ri­ed out.

Plea­se note: New forms app­ly to the 2027 show, and spe­cial tran­si­tio­nal arran­ge­ments app­ly in some cases to exis­ting exami­na­ti­on cer­ti­fi­ca­tes. The requi­re­ments for Spe­cial Exami­na­ti­ons and Exercise/Fitness Tests have also been updated.

Full details regar­ding

  • the Gene­ral Cli­ni­cal Exami­na­ti­on,
  • the vali­di­ty of exis­ting cer­ti­fi­ca­tes,
  • the forms appli­ca­ble in 2027,
  • Spe­cial Exami­na­ti­ons U4 and U5,
  • Exercise/Fitness Tests U7,
  • sub­mis­si­on of the requi­red docu­ments, and
  • spot checks at the show

can be found under our Vete­ri­na­ry Aut­ho­ri­ty Regu­la­ti­ons.

Plea­se read the­se regu­la­ti­ons befo­re having your dog exami­ned and use only the cur­rent forms pro­vi­ded or spe­ci­fied the­re.

What exami­na­ti­ons does my dog requi­re?

The fol­lo­wing over­view shows which breeds requi­re a Gene­ral Cli­ni­cal Exami­na­ti­on and / or an addi­tio­nal Spe­cial Exami­na­ti­on or Exer­cise / Fit­ness Test.

Down­loads

Form “Gene­ral Cli­ni­cal Exami­na­ti­on”
Form “Gene­ral Cli­ni­cal Exami­na­ti­on – Sup­ple­men­ta­ry Sheet: Chia­ri Mal­for­ma­ti­on”
Cer­ti­fi­ca­te of Spe­cial Exami­na­ti­on U4, U5
Over­view of Breeds – Gene­ral Cli­ni­cal Exami­na­ti­on
Over­view of Breeds – Spe­cial Exami­na­ti­ons

Forms used at other VDH shows
will be accept­ed if their con­tent cor­re­sponds to the requi­re­ments of the forms pro­vi­ded here.

Plea­se upload the requi­red cer­ti­fi­ca­tes – regard­less of whe­ther they are forms from a pre­vious event or new­ly issued forms – when ente­ring your dog via the Online­Dog­Shows por­tal.

Breed
General Clinical Examination (Interval)
Special Examination (Interval)

Affen­pin­scher

2 years

Ame­ri­can Cocker Spa­ni­el

2 years

Appen­zel­ler Sen­nen­hund

2 years

Aus­tra­li­en She­p­herd

3 years

for short-tail­ed dogs: see infor­ma­ti­on sheet

Bas­set Hound

2 years

Bel­gi­an Grif­fon

2 years

Stan­dar­di­sed Cam­bridge Exer­cise Test
or Tre­ad­mill Fit­ness Test
(from the age of 1 year, every 2 years)

Ber­ne­se Moun­tain Dog

2 years

Blood­hound

2 years

Bos­ton Ter­ri­er

2 years

new form (as of July 2026) requi­red

Stan­dar­di­sed Cam­bridge Exer­cise Test
or Tre­ad­mill Fit­ness Test
(from the age of 1 year, every 2 years)

Boxer

2 years

Brussels Grif­fon

2 years

Stan­dar­di­sed Cam­bridge Exer­cise Test
or Tre­ad­mill Fit­ness Test
(from the age of 1 year, every 2 years)

Bull­ter­ri­er

3 years

Cane Cor­so Ita­lia­no

2 years

Cava­lier King Charles Spa­ni­el

2 years

new form (as of July 2026) and
Sup­ple­men­ta­ry Sheet: Chia­ri Mal­for­ma­ti­on requi­red

If a heart murm­ur is pre­sent:
car­diac ultra­sound (from the age of 4 years)

Chi­hua­hua

2 years

If a heart murm­ur is pre­sent:
car­diac ultra­sound (from the age of 6 years)

Chi­ne­se Crested Dog (Hair­less)

2 years

new form (as of July 2026) requi­red

Chow-Chow

2 years

Clum­ber Spa­ni­el

2 years

Col­lie Rough

3 years

Col­lie Smooth

3 years

Croa­ti­an Sheep­dog

2 years

Dachs­hund

2 years

U4 Ortho­pae­dic / Neu­ro­lo­gi­cal Exami­na­ti­on
(annu­al­ly from the age of 3 years)
new form (as of July 2026) requi­red
If a heart murm­ur is pre­sent:
car­diac ultra­sound (from the age of 6 years)

Dal­ma­ti­an

3 years

Dober­mann

2 years

U5 Echo­car­dio­gra­phy
(car­diac ultra­sound), 24-hour ECG
(from the age of 3 years, every 2 years)

Dogo Argen­ti­no

2 years

Dogue de Bor­deaux

2 years

Eng­lish Bull­dog

2 years

new form (as of July 2026) requi­red

Stan­dar­di­sed Cam­bridge Exer­cise Test
or Tre­ad­mill Fit­ness Test
(from the age of 1 year, every 2 years)

Eng­lish Cocker Spa­ni­el

2 years

Eng­lish Sprin­ger Spa­ni­el

2 years

Ent­le­bu­cher Sen­nen­hund

2 years

Field Spa­ni­el

2 years

Fila Bra­silei­ro

2 years

French Bull­dog

2 years

new form (as of July 2026) requi­red

Stan­dar­di­sed Cam­bridge Exer­cise Test
or Tre­ad­mill Fit­ness Test
(from the age of 1 year, every 2 years)

Ger­man She­p­herd

2 years

Gre­at Dane

2 years

U5 Echo­car­dio­gra­phy
(car­diac ultra­sound) and / or ECG
(from the age of 3 years, every 2 years)

Irish Water Spa­ni­el

2 years

Irish Wolf­hound

2 years

U5 Echo­car­dio­gra­phy
(car­diac ultra­sound) and / or ECG
(from the age of 3 years, every 2 years)

Japa­ne­se Chin

2 years

Stan­dar­di­sed Cam­bridge Exer­cise Test
or Tre­ad­mill Fit­ness Test
(from the age of 1 year, every 2 years)

King Charles Spa­ni­el

2 years

Stan­dar­di­sed Cam­bridge Exer­cise Test
or Tre­ad­mill Fit­ness Test
(from the age of 1 year, every 2 years)

Land­seer

2 years

Leon­ber­ger

2 years

Mal­te­se

2 years

Mastiff

2 years

Masti­no Napo­le­t­a­no

2 years

Minia­tur Bull Ter­ri­er

3 years

New­found­land

2 years

Pekin­ge­se

2 years

Stan­dar­di­sed Cam­bridge Exer­cise Test
or Tre­ad­mill Fit­ness Test
(from the age of 1 year, every 2 years)

Peru­vi­an Hair­less Dog (Hair­less)

2 years

new form (as of July 2026) requi­red

Pyre­nä­en Schä­fer­hund

2 Jah­re

Petit Bra­ban­çon

2 years

Stan­dar­di­sed Cam­bridge Exer­cise Test
or Tre­ad­mill Fit­ness Test
(from the age of 1 year, every 2 years)

Pug

2 years

Stan­dar­di­sed Cam­bridge Exer­cise Test
or Tre­ad­mill Fit­ness Test
(from the age of 1 year, every 2 years)

Pyre­ne­an Sheep­dog

2 years

Rho­de­si­an Rid­ge­back

one-time exami­na­ti­on

Rott­wei­ler

2 years

Shar Pei

2 years

Shet­land Sheep­dog

2 years

Shih Tzu

2 years

St. Ber­nard

2 years

Sus­sex Spa­ni­el

2 years

Thai Rid­ge­back

one-time exami­na­ti­on

Welsh Cor­gi Car­di­gan

2 years

Welsh Cor­gi Pem­bro­ke

2 years

for short-tail­ed dogs: see infor­ma­ti­on sheet

Welsh Sprin­ger Spa­ni­el

2 years

Xoloitz­cuint­le (haar­los)

2 years

new form (as of July 2026) requi­red

York­shire Ter­ri­er

2 years