Hip x rays - Page 2

The hips look like a good to me, congrats!  The second line you see is cartilage... at least that's what a board certified radiologist told me.  The elbows I personally would be surprised if they pass, sorry.  :(  The OFA has been stricter on elbows, and now that most vets have gone digital you can see any DJD/wear much easier.  I don't see any of the "processes" but ANY signs of wear will likely go grade 1.  It's controversial if DJD w/o processes is really indicative of a genetic form of ED or if it's just wear and tare.  I myself have noticed a trend with highly active dogs showing more DJD in the elbows, across different breeds.  (I'm not saying a dog with ED grade 1, only DJD, should or shouldn't be bred, just saying it's currently controversial.)  See the photo of mine below.  The vet looked at them twice and thought they'd pass.  I noticed the inconsistency, and was correct... grade 1!.  A very pretty grade 1, and fully functioning dog!



 

Oh, and about that line on the hips:  Although I think in her case, it's just cartilage, that's often where the first signs of remodeling will appear, so there is a fine line, literally.  Here's another example of a grade 1 DJD elbow.  This time a Belgian Terv. with 3 generations of all passing elbows.  He's been playing frisbee and was involved in agility since before he was 6 months of age.  He is highly active, but sound and fully functional.  His owner plans on resubmitting them when he is older.  I've never known anyone to resubmit elbows, so I do not know IF age plays any part in their grades.

Hips are nice and tight, right femoral neck is thicker than left. Only OFA knows how much they will consider that in comparing the 2 sides.
If possible maybe Sachsenwolf could put arrows to indicate where  the changes are on the pictures of the elbows.

Sachsenwolf, I (respectfully) disagree about the "cartilage." I don't see cartilage. I see a thickened neck and classic medusa line on the right side. 

OFA gods are funny creatures, sometimes. One day that might not mean much as they're still tight and have good coverage. One day they may decide the sky is falling. Personally, my feeling on that particular xray is that is makes me wonder if there was ever an injury, a time of subluxation and muscle atrophy that may have caused that damage, then healed and tightened back up, not to lead to significant further damage. The only way to tell would be redo them when she's older. I'd also be curious to see her siblings' xrays. 

As far as elbows, if everyone looks at Xeph's elbows, then Sachsenwolf's elbows, then the ones I posted, see how there's no fuzziness in my pic? Clean lines on all surfaces, no shadowy bumps? Sachsenwolf's aren't quite as obvious as Xeph's, but they're there. 

Jenni - totally understand your prospective.  When I first had a dog that showed that line I asked the radiologist that took it if that was remodeling, as I had seen a thicker jagged line there in films of dogs that failed.  He said no, that it was cartilage and nothing to worry about.  The dog went OFA Good.  I'm certainly no expert, and you may be right about it being from a time she had looser hips, just passing on what was explained to me.  :)

Weezy - here's a side by side of the second elbow I showed, with one marked and one not.  It's nearly impossible to point out the changes on the first elbow (if they are really even there, as the positioning is incorrect), but I think this one will be a very clear example.  At 15 months her elbows were totally clean... should have sent to the SV, lol!  And at 26 months that's all you see... says how picky the OFA can be!

The vet (who is very experienced with doing GSD hips) said she saw no remodeling at all, and there is no reason her hips should not pass.  Also said her elbows looked great.  Now y'all have me feeling paranoid about her one elbow, but I'm an anxious person to begin with.

I'm just hoping and praying.....

As for the OPs films, after looking at mine and where the wear/DJD is I think it'll be easy to see where it is in her second elbow photo.  It's more distinct, you just need to know where to look.  As for the first elbow, I've illustrated my Opinion below.  The positioning is BAD so it's harder to see the "notch" area.  I hope not to offend the OP, that's not my intent, but just to share my experience/knowledge on where to look and what to look for.  On the below marked photo:



The green - I've seen a dog get Unilateral Grade 1 DJD JUST from that slight deviation.  It was a friend's dog and I was lucky enough to tag along.  Knowing how obsessed I am with joints, the vet showed me the films, yippee!  Right away I knew the hips would go good, and I thought the elbows were clean.... haha!  The vet showed me that spot, only that spot, and knew they'd fail.  This dog was exercised by fetching a couple of hours a day (since a puppy) and going up and down a flight of stairs for a ball at least 30 minutes a day... leading back to the question about DJD possibly being more wear and tare than from a "process."

The red - the "notch" area as shown in the other film I marked.  Very difficult to say IF there's any DJD there or not as the positioning is BAD!!!!

The lavender - another spot where DJD often forms and you'll see it on the elbows from the Terv. too.

(Again, I'm not expert on this stuff, just a "student" that enjoys learning as much as possible about it, with some experience to boot.)

I wish you luck!  Please do post when you get the results back.  I'd LOVE to be wrong. :)

Saschenwolf, not offended.  I didn't think the positioning was bad, but honestly, I am just not seeing what you are seeing.  And it is not because I believe you to be wrong...I find elbows to be very hard to read, personally.  Also, you don't like the left elbow...other people have commented on there being an issue with the right elbow.

I have been told by many die hard OFA fans that even they are going to start sending their elbow x rays to Germany because OFA has gotten ridiculous about their elbow gradings.  It is very frustrating, for sure.  Especially when you would basically expect to have some wear on the elbows of an active two year old animal.  They run, jump, act like fools....seems like by what people are saying, we're lucky to have dogs passing elbows at all anymore :p

Below is where I see it on the one others are pointing out.  So from my past experience, I'd expect neither elbow to pass... but their DJD is in different locations.  When we didn't have digital I think this fuzziness wasn't graded as harshly as you couldn't be sure of what you were seeing if it was so slight.  Now with digital everything shows up, unless the positioning is bad and covering part.  I have my suspicions on DJD being highly environmental (unless the dog is very young or shows other processes), but the scientific studies haven't caught up yet, so like most people I have reservations about breeding a dog w/o a passing score.  BTW, I looked up your girl... I think it's GREAT you are doing all those health screens :)  How'd she do at the nationals?