Under-Bite

[eepuni]

my sadie (about 5 mo old now), has been losing her teeth and her adult teeth have started growing in.  Now, i'm not sure if she had it before and we just never noticed, but sadie seems to have an under-bite. It's very adorable and i'm pretty sure it really affects her health, but i was wondering if this was a 'normal' trait of shih-tzus, yorikes, and/or shorkies. 

do your babies have under-bites??

[kcbutsch]

Our Jack has a pretty noticible underbite.  My husband thinks it's ugly, but I think it makes him look like he's smiling:)

Is there a health risk to this?

[Luigi23]

Hello,

My little one has an under-bite too and my vet said that there are no health concerns as long as it doesn't effect his eating. So if your baby is still able to eat.. you're ok. =)

Luigi's mama

[stacy15]

sometimes chewy looks like he has an underbite....but not always.

[swagette]

Under or over bites are unfortunetly a bad breeding trait of many small breeds. Shih Tzu's usually have the best ones but alot of terriers do to. The best I saw was a min.foxie who's top jaw was twice the length of his bottom jaw.......but he ate ok somehow.
So even though it is a major problem if you were showing or breeding,  as long as you don't breed, and she can eat fine all will be good.

[Mai Tai]

Under bites are not only normal in a Shih Tzu but is considered standard for the breed.  If a Shih tzu does not have an underbite, he or she cannot compete in dog shows for the breed.  This is not a concern of mine at all, but just making the point that it is not dangerous if it is not a large underbite.  Mai Tai has a slight underbite at 15 weeks, and the vet say it will not get any worse as he gets older.  It is cute now, but I don't like how they look when they are really large underbites.  I guess I would love it if Mai Tai had it though, because I just love him and don't care what he looks like.  Anyway, don't worry about underbites unless it interferes with feeding.