Elbow Ratings on German Shepherds - Page 3

Steve,

while the SV usually does not change its rating, there might be a possibility. Go ahead, have the elobws xrayed in Belgium and rated in Belgium. Then, contact the SV with the findings if they differ and ask for a reevaluation.

The same thing happened to me and a friend of mine. We co-owned a dog together and had her hips xrayed here in the U.S.  at 1 year of age. One copy was sent to the OFA for prelims and came back as "good". The other copy was forwarded to the SV and came back as "a-noch zugelassen". We protested that with the OFA's written report. The SV allowed us to resubmit a new xray when the dog was over in Germany for her titles. They then changed the rating to "a-fast normal".

So, you might be able to protest your results as well. If not, when it should not matter either, unless you want to use the dog for breeding. If you do and you live outside of Germany, why bother with an a-stamp in the first place? Just go ahead and get the xrays done with your own GSD organization.

Chris

The thing is that there is a big difference between a GSD that has elbows which are not perfect or "clean" but can live out a normal life as a pet, show dog, Sch competitor or working dog, and the GSD which has perfect, "clean" elbows and hips.

The first should not be used for breeding and the second can be used for breeding if there is reason to believe that the GSD could be a worthy producer.  As a pet owner the first concern is "are my dog's elbows healthy enough to carry him through his normal life without swelling, limping or lameness ?"   Most vets that are knowledgable on elbow xrays can give you the probability of that.

Nanu, I do not want to sound sharp here, but I feel that I should reply to your post. Actually, dysplastic elbows are a more significant problem than are dysplastic hips, as the S.V. ignored the importance of elbows until recently. By the numbers, more dogs have dysplastic elbows than have dysplastic hips, and elbow dysplasie has a higher rate of inheritance than does hip dysplasie.

Until a couple of years ago, many top breeders here in the states had their dog's hips evaluated by the S.V. and had the elbows evaluated by the O.F.A.. And remember with the O.F.A., only a normal, clean elbow joint will pass, and there are three (3) levels of failure. With the S.V. there are three (3) levels of passing scores and two (2) levels of failure. At least the S.V. finally made a requirement that in addition to the hips, the elbows must recieve a passing score in order for the dog to be included in the breed book.

Regards,

Bob-O

Bob-O, I agree 100% with your post above on elbows. 

Bob O

I have just recieved a mail from the person who took the Elbow and Hip X-rays he says in his mail to me

I am suprised about the results of the ED but as i told you the resuluts of the expert may differ from mine

But i also think it was a strong Judgement, but it is not possible for me to change it

the expert wrote that you can see a slight artrosis in the pitcure but it cannot be so bad if your dog runs normally and is working on the Schutzund field

I will contact the expert for you but it is unlikley he will change his opinion

So that it it, the Dog shows no sign of any problems with his legs or hips up to now and is a very lively Dog

We will get his Joints and Hips done again in Belgium and see if the results come out the same , Better or worse i will try and arrange it for next week

Thanks for the help and interest Guys i appreciate it

I would always get a second opinion hips or elbows. the dog i,m working now came back from OFA good on hips and grade 1 djd on elbows at 24 months now there doesnt seem to be  a history of bad elbows in the lines so i took him to a ortho specialist and had a (probably not spelled right) artheigrahm done (elbows injected with die and air) and they looked fine nothing abnormal in the elbow or structre. he is now 6.5 years old and is a athletic fool and no elbow problems and none so far in offspring.Always check if you question the results and i,ve known way too many folks that have been disappointed in the OFA certification of joints just to wait 6 months and resubmitt and have them come back good or better. I,m glad OFA is there I just wish they had written criteria of joint evaluation to set the standard.