OFA...I get it! - Page 1

Well, I wanted to thank everyone for being forgiving about my rant the other day.  This is a really fun forum and i'm glad to be a part of it.  I've learned so much stalking some of you ...just kidding!!!  But honestly I have been so impressesd by some of the groups I've seen on here.  I have much to learn and there is a lot to be said for the way things are done and have been done for decades with this breed.  I'm a newby and I do all the same stuff you guys do, I just had a little attitude going about OFA because sometime they record the wrong results (they have done that to some friends of mine who had to have them corrected, but only after getting bashed as a liar by some wing-nut) anyway, yada yada yada.  I did have the female I have bred so far hips, elbows and genetic studies done.  The results were verified by ortopedic animal surgeons and by DNA specialiast.  (Going to school I have lots of nerdy friends who love opportunities to evaluate film etc.)  Now I realize beyond a shadow of a doubt that this does not REPLACE the opinions of the official folk over at OFA, and as a result, I will get recent films taken of both of my dogs and send them in.  YOU WIN!  lol :)

I am proud of my little kennel and I guess I'll climb aboard and do what I have to do not be shunned .  It's really cool to be here so thanks to all of her who have welcomed me and defended me and welcomed me back after my rant and apology.  I appreciate and look forward to seeing you all around the fence post! 

Have a great week!

OFA isn't the only game in town, BTW--if you don't care for them, there's always PENNHip...which, personally, I consider to be a superior evaluation [you still get the distraction view] but the joint laxity is also evaluated numerically.  Worth looking into. 

I agree- Penn Hip is far superior than the subjective OFA! I know people whose dog failed yet passed on subsequent entry. A lot also has to do with how well the vet places the dogs hips in the xrays.

Atta boy Rocco! Those "aha moments" are precious! Welcome aboard--- this is a forgiving board, isn't it, once you see the light! LOL 

hello rocco. I do not view OFA as perfect. I haven't had any dogs OFA'd in a few years, but unless something has changed it was very easy for less than ethical folks to use a ringer. Also, often there is no info on littermates.

but the bottom line is where do the "ethical" foks set the base line for what is acceptable. for me this can be OFA, penn hip or SV. It would not be a vet's or a friends opinion to begin breeding. Someone else may have a different opinion and I'm fine with that, but imo if a dog is not certified by one of the recognized organizations, it's just excuses.

OFA and other such registries are blessing and curse at the  same time. 
In perfect world breeders  should learn to read radiographs of  the hips and elbows or have someone whom they trust to do it for them or give them second opinion.  If that someone is OFA so be it. The  buyers then should have  good enough relationship with the  breeders to know that their breeder breeds dogs and their combinations properly. Buyer then should  know that they can trust them to breed what is proper and listen to their recommendations.
I would also say that people should know all the dogs on peds at least 5 generations back and know as much as possible  about their littermates and what they produced in past, before they breed or have someone whom they trust to help them with that.  
I believe that posting OFA results on pedigrees of dogs like on PDB is  in one way a good thing in a way that buyer can check on  a hips background of the prospect they are buying in a convenient way. But the problem is that such publications of hips results on pedigrees is ofetn narrowing the field of interest of the breeders and buyers to the hips background often eliminating any other interest of both parties ( breeders and buyers) in other attributes good and bad which dogs on the pedigree may have. Thus that then virtually leads to breeding  hips and not dogs as a whole.Many buyers also mistakenly and foolishly believe that if the parents or even other dogs on the ped have good hips that their dog will also have good hips. Thus outfits like OFA are blessing and curse at the same time. 
Prager Hans