Noch Zugelassen means Mild Dysplasia - Page 2

Actually Bob, my vet would disagree with you. He is a top notch vet who does the x-rays on many,many dogs (breeders,dogs come to him from different provinces and the U.S.) Takes 2-3 months to get an appointment with him! He kept his own records of the dogs x-rayed/age etc. After years of keeping records it became VERY clear to him that there is way too much discrepancy between hips x-rayed at one year of age and those x-rayed at 18-24 months of age. SO MUCH so, he actually stopped recommending a year certification process to all his clients. (there used to be an organization that certified at a year of age in California). NOt only did he notice the difference but this organization has also changed thier certification process and recently joined up with OFA for a 2 yrs. of age requirment.

I myself owned a dog that prelimed good at 12 months, but an xray at 24 months showed a minor amount of luxation that was not apparent on the earlier film. Since he had already sired a litter, I really held my breath til his OFA report came back; he received a fair rating. He was anesthesized for both radiographs and both were done by the same well experienced veterinarian who was as surprised as I was to see the change. I think it's a good idea to prelim dog, but I'm not sure I'd ever again use one for breeding based on an xray taken at less than 24 months of age.

Jeck must have been an extraordinary dog and it probably would have been a big loss to the breed to not have used this particular NZ dog for breeding. Hips are very important, at the top of my gotta have list, but they are not all there is.

Chey, I am glad to hear that you have a concientious vet who has knowledge about true hip quality. My single bad experience was several years ago with a veterinarian that I did not assist (thought I should not have to) and never used again. I learned later that very few veterinarians know and care about the proper positioning for an x-ray. The one that I use now is quite experienced with the practice and is always assisted by during the alignment phase just before the x-ray is taken. And, if he takes a bad shot, he does it until the skeleton is as well-aligned as possible. It is general opinion that hip quality does not improve, and that it will become worse with age. This stands to reason, and has been proven. A dog who barely passes at one (1) year of age may very well fail at the age of two (2) or older, or "improve" slightly because of better technique used during the x-ray. I agree with the final opinion at two (2) years of age, and wish that the S.V. would adopt an identical rule. Nearly all physical bone growth is over by that time, and the skeleton it what it will be. I do not intend to start an argument with the next sentence. The VA-1 Zamb Wienerau passed as "a" Normal when he was one (1) year of age. I understand that when be began to produce offspring (and there were many for a while) that a high number of them were dysplastic. Zamb was examined again and determined to have very poor hips. Zamb is credited with the improvement of the topline in successive generations and is in the lines of several prominent dogs and bitches. I try to stay away from him as much as possible, as well as a few others. But, as we all know it's tough to do. I like the "a" stamp programme as far as how the breeding score is determined, but I firmly believe that the true results are seen past the age of two (2) years. If the disagreement is about the pass/fail ratio statement, please remember that statistical analysis is all part of the breed quality equations, and statistical data can be skewed. Bob-O