Intresting read on OFA - Page 1

 http://www.animalinsides.com/learn/general-imaging/272-ofa.html 




 I found it intresting.

It's common knowledge that Penn Hip is a better test then OFA.
It's also pretty well known that OFA main purpose is to make money and has had little  influence on the
occurance of hip dysplasia in GSD's especially. We have people culling dogs based on a hip evaluation that is sometimes more like a tarot card reading then science. We all know A stamped parents producing severely
dysplastic puppies and marginal parents producing puppies with perfect hips? Kind of makes you wonder if
OFA rated hips were a valuable breeding tool? Why do we still have so many dysplastic GSD's?
We've owned four GSD's between my wife and I and three have been dysplatic. I haven't had the forth
xrayed yet and as long as he runs after a decoy and jumps a hurdle and climbs a pallisade I probably wouldn't.
I have no plans to breed any of my dogs but if someone comes to me and says I want to breed to your male
and wants xrays. They're welcome to pay for them. I'd suggest looking at the dog and not the xrays.


Regards
Thomas Barriano
Dubheasa Germania (11/05/99-08/11/08) SchH III M R Brevet AKC WD III AWD 1 STP 1 CD WAC TT
Ascomannis Jago (06/20/03) SchH III AKC WD III AWD I TT WAC
Belatucadrus (08/14/05) DS BH TT MR I
Flannchadh von der Bavarianburg (5/21/08) BH STP I

Prepare for a serious backlashing, Thomas.

 I to like the distraction index,s better for a hip issue judge. My Axel got OfA good on his hips and djd 1 on his elbows at 2 years of age which didn,t bother me because at the time I had no thoughts of breeding my vet wanted me to reissue them in a year because he did,nt see an issue either at 7 I decided to breed him to my female but who was OFA good and clear elbow,s ,so we took elbow films and sent them to a K9 Ortho who issued a report that at 7 years old the dog showed no signs of any joint issues.
He is 11 years old now and to date has never shown any elbow issues. Pups from the first litters show clean joint iisues alsothere 5 years old now.

 I had several of my dogs Penn Hipp,d I just wish it werent so expensive.   

 I guess if I ever were to buy a female old enought to breed I,d still want the hips evaluated by a Ortho no matter what the hip rating was.

Daryl

Back Lash? NO way
Everyone knows how open minded and nonjudgemental everyone is on the PDB :-)

Thomas Barriano
Dubheasa Germania (11/05/99-08/11/08) SchH III M R Brevet AKC WD III AWD 1 STP 1 CD WAC TT
Ascomannis Jago (06/20/03) SchH III AKC WD III AWD I TT WAC
Belatucadrus (08/14/05) DS BH TT MR I
Flannchadh von der Bavarianburg (5/21/08) BH STP I

I've often wonder'ed this myself many times..... Why are so many dogs with certified hips producing dysplastic pups after years & years of testing?? I'm downright "scared as hell" for fear my new pups hips will not pass. I'm going with the a-stamp program in may as she will be 12mo old on the 8th. Its pretty obvious to me that the current programs are not working very well. Kurt

Many other breeds have had more success reducing HD by using only OFA normal dogs for breeding. In that respect, the GSD seems to lag behind most of the dog world. I originally bred a large working breed known to produce 25% or better HD in every litter. Since we started to xray our dogs for OFA (in the late 60's) and use only certified normal dogs, that percentage has dropped dramatically and it's now common place to have an entire litter clear their hip xrays. HD is rarely a problem anymore.

In addition to only breeding from OFA xrayed clear stock, most of us never used dogs that had siblings with moderate to severe HD. Do  most GSD breeders aspire to have hip xrays done on the entire litter including those placed in pet homes and factor those results into their breeding plans? If not, that may be something to consider.

Also we use many dogs that are bred in Germany. I know about the ZW program, but how accurate is that if  entire litter is not evaluated?

Ive never used PennHip. I believe Fred Lanting also promotes this method, he has written about it in a book that some may want to buy.

The genetic programing for hips is fairly complex, with the environment also playing a role in phenotype.  That is the main reason why it may be impossible to irradicate hip dysplasia

OFA has a chart that shows, with pretty large n, that breeding two Excellents to each other have better outcomes than breeding two Fairs.  The better the hips, the less likely the chance of producing hip dysplasia.

I dont have an opinion on which organization does a better job at evaluating hips, but its usually the one that gives your dog the better rating

Unfortunately that chart encompasses ALL breeds, and does not take into consideration only the german shepherd dog. Knowing that HD is the result of complex multifactorial influences, including that it is polygenetic, we cannot assume that one "set" of genes regarding one breed is composed of the same "set" of another breed. What has worked in favor of the overall average of ALL breeds, appearantly has led to little improvement in this one.

Correct, you cant assume the genes are the same; but the principles of genetics are still equally at work.