Selecting against Hip Displasia - Page 2

In the last two weeks many GSD Breeders in the UK have been sent sample swabs by the British Kennel Club to extract DNA from two hip scored animals in the breeders kennel. This is in hopes of developing a predisposition test for Canine Hip Displasia,(CHD). The KC have suggested that by comparing the DNA from dogs with healthy hips of all ages with those who have CHD they will be able to determine the genes that are responsible. They acknowledge they will not be able to tell us anything about our own dogs, but to develop a test in future would be of huge benefit to all, particually if was successful, to help prevent what can be such a debilitating condition. I have sent off the swab which was a very simple proceedure of taking a swab from inside the cheek of the dogs mouth. The KC have stated that they will send a report at the end of the year to inform us of their results. I hope they will be very positive feedback. Has similar trails/tests been conducted elsewhere? If so, any results? Regards Sting

Blitzen, it is a real good article. We know it exists. I real dont hide defects, because I will be kiding myself! I think breeders should admit the defects of their dogs, to themselves, because it would help us to real develop the breed and not only to make markenting with our dogs. Good article!

Sting, Thats good news! If only we could detect the gene in a dog we were going to be able to not breed the dogs with this desease. In a few generations we could have healthfull bloodlines! This problem would be solved!

Let me add one more piece of info from my statistics, regarding how people mess with x-ray diagnoses (by holding back bad results) and others try to provide as much info on their dogs as possible: "Es liegt mir fern, einzelne Hunde herausheben zu wollen, aber ein entzückendes Beispiel muss sein: Ero und Eik von Armannsberg entstammen eine Mutter die 34 Welpen wirft in 4 Würfen, 22 davon wurden geröntgt (= 64,71 %), und 19 Welpen bekamen die Bewertung HD-1. Das entspricht 86,36 %. Kein Einzelfall, ich darf Ihnen noch besseres anbieten: Anouk und Attaque von der Adelegg entstammen eine Mutter die 35 Welpen wirft in 6 Würfen, 23 davon wurden geröntgt (= 65,71 %), und 21 Welpen bekamen die Note HD-1. Das entspricht 91,30 %. Und Viva von der Schifflache’s Mutter warf bisher 25 Welpen in 4 Würfen, 18 wurden geröntgt (= 72,0 %) und 17 wurden mit HD-1 bewertet, das sind immerhin 94,44 %. Es besteht also noch Hoffnung?" I'm sure you will understand the message without translation. It basically reads: Dog X from mother Y who had Z pups in P litters, Number X-rayed, followed by % and the number of HD-1 dogs and %. No further comments.

"The winners must "necessarily" be Normal (HDZ under 85, at list)." If only it were that simple. All dogs, if bred enough, will produce hip dysplasia. OFA excellent and "a" normal dogs, low ZWs, have all produced hip dyplasia. If one were to attempt to remove all fast normals and nz's there would have been no Gildo, no Fero, no Asco, no Orry etc... (I limited this to working lines as I am not as familiar with showlines). Look at famous well used studs, they all have fast normals and even nz's in their pedigrees - there's a delicate balance there. Perhaps the geneticists will be able to come up with some method to better predict the potential for hip dysplasia and other health maladies. Regardless, it would be much more benefical if all GSDs were xrayed and regardless of the outcome, reported. That way the statistics would be more valuable and breeders can make better informed choices. As it stands now, the best thing one can do is educate oneself, whether breeder or buyer, to not only the verticle pedigree but also the horizontal pedigree where that information is available and even then its a crap shoot. And until hip dysplasia is not considered as such an albatross will those not comfortably share information. Unfortunate but true IMO.