| beaglebrat |
| Posted 4/4/2008 11:13:16 AM |
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Active: 05-01-2006
Posts: 781
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So, my neighbors call frantically yesterday and end up in my living room. About 18 months ago they purchased VERY WELL BRED German Shepard from Budapest. Both parents are Schutzund Champions.
Paid quite a bit for the Dog itself and then to have it shipped over. On the FCI papers that they turned in to OFA papers, it has all the OFA hip ratings to this dog, on both sides for 3 generations.
Per their contract with this breeder they were required to get preliminary hip x-rays on this Dog between a year and 18 months. So, that is exactly what they did.
Low and behold this Dog has VERY SEVERE Hip Dysplasia. So severe that the vet wrote a letter to give to the breeder saying that that mating should never take place again and that all Puppies from the litter should be spayed or neutered.
Well.... what the heck? |
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| naturaldane |
| Posted 4/4/2008 11:58:58 AM |
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Active: 08-13-2006
Posts: 3012
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dogs from good and excellent hip and elbow lines can still throw a displastic puppy. Out of an average litter of 8 Puppies not all are going to be formed perfectly and there are risk, its just reduced by testing, so one pup out of a litter of 8 or so isnt as concerning, however if there is more than one from the parents then it does become a major concern.
There are other factors that can result in a puppy becoming displastic but not to the sever level, its also advised that a second set of x-ray should be done. IF the Dog is this severe then the owners should have noticed the Dog being off gait, painful or wire walking, so if they have not noticed or you cant tell then I would certainly get another opinion as its not hard to not position the dogs right and get a false reading. |
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| MaryAndDobes |
| Posted 4/4/2008 2:31:08 PM |
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Active: 06-01-2005
Posts: 399
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First of all, European breeders rarely use OFA. They have a different organization over there that rates hips, and they rate them younger than 2 years which I personally think is problematic.
Anyway, while the dogs in the pedigree for the first 3 generations were rated, what about the lateral pedigree? If the lateral pedigree was full of fairs or dysplasia, it would really be no surprise to see this result in the puppy. OFA is quite clear that a better breeding candidate is a fair Dog with excellent and good siblings and ancestors than an excellent Dog with less than fair siblings and ancestors.
Beyond that, we are talking about a breed with a fair amount of dysplasia anyway (19.1% accoording to the OFA data which is skewed because a lot of people wouldn't even send in hips that they can see are bad) so again, I don't know how surprising this can be when at least 1 in 5 of them is allegedly dysplastic. Beyond that, we may also have the environmental factor at play.
No one has ever said that health testing is an absolute guarantee that there would never be any problems. |
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