The RKC's Nose-to-Tail veterinary visual health assessment

The RKC published its “New Future for Dog Breeding” report in 2025, written by Dr Alison Skipper. Within that report, the RKC announced its Breeding for Health Framework and we wrote about how that can be used by individual breeders previously. That framework covers 9 elements (see image), of which one is “Visible Conformation”.

N2T doesn’t replace the need for DNA testing or clinical health screening and both the dogs we had assessed with N2T have had IVDD screening and eye screening which are “Good Practice” and “Best Practice” respectively, in the RKC Health Standard. We don’t currently have any recommended DNA tests for our breed.

The Nose-to-Tail tool has been developed to assess visible conformation; one of the 9 elements in the BfH framework. It is designed as a standardised, evidence-based, and non-invasive pre-breeding check carried out by a trained veterinary surgeon to evaluate visible conformation in adult dogs. The examination takes approximately 15 minutes and covers several specific criteria evaluated visually or through physical measurement:

• Visually Assessed Criteria: Evaluated without tools, by touching and moving the dog. These include the obvious features you’d expect such as nostrils, eyes and skin.

• Measured Criteria: Measured using soft tape or string. Currently, the craniofacial ratio is measured and graded, and a number of other measurements are taken to collect data for future possible measured criteria.

• Additional Observations: Vets record movement (as “acceptable” or “unsatisfactory”) and general or advisory comments regarding breeding concerns or positive findings.

Where possible, graded criteria are scored on a scale from 0 to 3, where 0 indicates normal conformation and 3 represents the most extreme exaggeration. Grade 1 generally reflects acceptable breed-specific variation without health or welfare issues. Individual grades are summed to generate a total overall score for the dog. Unlike the APGAW Innate Health Assessment tool, the N2T approach intentionally avoids a pass/fail model to enable tracking of trends over time and comparative evaluations between and within breeds. 

The assessment provides breeders with objective metrics to identify physical traits that could compromise health or welfare, encouraging selection toward more moderate conformation. Over time, compiled scores will allow monitoring of breed averages, supporting responsible breeding choices and aiding efforts to reduce exaggerated features across pedigree breeds.

Being Dachshunds, they are assessed on a grooming table for the visually assessed and measurement criteria. The first part of the assessment is very similar to a judge going over a dog in the ring, but N2T is not assessing breed type or referring to Breed Standards. This is followed by an assessment of movement which is carried out before confirming the scores for the conformation of limbs. That last point is really important because it’s not unusual to see a Dachshund that stands cow-hocked behind but, when it moves, it’s absolutely parallel moving away.

A Dachshund being measured during the N2T assessment

Taking measurements

The final part of the assessment involves taking measurements with a tape measure; again with Dachshunds dogs standing on a table. In our breed, the depth of chest typically increases as a dog matures, so deciding on the age at which to measure will be important. For most Dachshunds, that would probably be over the age of 12-15 months. Some of you may have responded to the recent RKC survey that asks for feedback on the N2T tool, including consideration of suitable minimum and final ages for assessment.

There is still work to be done by the RKC to define any grade boundaries for parameters like ground clearance or the ratio of height to ground clearance. Currently, there is very little published evidence to help define those boundaries and to establish the point at which a lack of ground clearance becomes a health issue. Grade 0 is obvious: all non-chondrodystrophic dogs would have no health issues related to ground clearance. Grade 3 is probably also obvious: a dog that has its chest so close to the ground that it either has or risks damaging its skin when walking. At the moment, without supporting evidence, the RKC Health team is rightly not imposing criteria nor including these parameters in the overall N2T “score”. Consequently, the current overall score for the short-legged breeds is lower than it is likely to be in the final version of N2T.

Why support Nose-to-Tail?

The Nose-to-Tail assessment is more than just a trial; it is a vital step toward securing the future of pedigree dogs. By participating, breeders and exhibitors provide the objective data needed to move beyond subjective opinions and toward evidence-based breeding that avoids unhealthy extremes of conformation. Supporting N2T means championing health and welfare, ensuring our dogs are celebrated not only for their beauty but for their physical well-being and innate health. We can use the data and evidence to demonstrate to legislators and canine health campaigners that pedigree excellence and optimal health go hand-in-hand.

We are grateful to Dr Alison Skipper (RKC) for her review of our article before it was published.