Questions on hips and elbows - Page 1

I'm new to posting, though I've been lurking on this forum for years.  I'm just curious about everyone's opinions on my dog's hip and elbow xrays.  These were taken when he was almost 3 years old without sedation.  I'm not good at reading xrays so I would love opinions as well as any help you can give me on how to read them myself.  Thanks!

I think both right and left sockets look a little shallow;  I would like to see particularly the left hip (right side of our screen) a little tighter, feel both look slightly loose in the sockets;  both elbows look good to me although elbows I am still learning to evaluate.  Good luck  Nan

PS:  is this a GSD?

Yes, this is a GSD.  He is now 10 years old.  These films were taken when he was almost 3 years old.  He was neutered around 8-9 months old.  I now know better and would not repeat that decision, but I don't know if that effects the reading.  I know the results, as far as what the vet told me, though I never bothered to send the xrays in to OFA.  I just wanted to see what others saw in the pictures.  Here is a picture to shed some light.  He was about 3 in this photo.

Hips are fine, normal for breed and age. OFA fair to good. Neutering at 8,9 months would not have any effect on a mature dog's hip conformation. At  8 months of age, they are what they are. Since this dog is now 10, he has already passed the age when early neutering  would have had any unwanted effects other than he may be a little taller, not quite as heavy boned with a less masculine head had that not happened. The majority of dogs that were neutered young have had no health issues that could be attributed to that.

I don't know much about elbows so will pass on commenting on them.

Is this photo representative of his front or is he lying with his legs in a twisted position?

that is a very odd position for a dog to be in...

That is how he lies on a hard surface.  He would lie down that way since he was about 7 or 8 months old.  I noticed limping when he was a pup.  His breeder said it was probably pano.  The limping continued off and on and was definitely worse after playing ball or vigorous exercise.  Because I wasn't sure I would compete with him, and I certainly wasn't going to breed him, I didn't look into it until later when he injured his ACL and I had to take him in.  I had the xrays done and the vet confirmed bilateral elbow dysplasia.  Left worse than right.  I had already figured that out, but it was a blow nonetheless.  His left elbow cannot flex at all and the right is very limited also.  They both crack loudly at times.  I've since confirmed that at least one other dog of the same breeding from a previous litter also had elbow dysplasia.  I'm hoping someone with experience reading elbows can point out the trouble areas and teach me how to see what indicates the dysplasia.

Here is a picture of his front when not compensating for his elbows.

So sorry about your boy.  I marked above where I see the issues.  Not completely sure on the marking furthest right as his elbows aren't flexed enough... and you explained why they aren't.  The part furthest to the left is my guess on why he can't flex... it's an odd spot to show that much DJD that young.  The space around the ball of the joint seems rough as well.  Thanks for sharing with us.  GREAT clear x-rays for being 7 years old.  Did your vet tell you which "processes" they thought caused this??  Would you mind posting or sending me his pedigree?  Glad you didn't give up on him and gave him a great home!

Thank you everyone for you input.  Thank you Sachsenwolf for diagramming the photos.  I switched Bravo to a prey-model raw diet shortly after this diagnosis, along with his partially torn ACL.  This guy also has terrible allergies, which thankfully, the raw diet has managed much better, but never eliminated completely.  The vet had said the partial ACL tear was just a ticking time bomb and we would just wait for it to tear completely, then do surgery.  Switching him to raw worked miracles.  His ACL healed up for the most part (though he has never been able to jump much since) and he stopped limping altogether unless I really let him overdo it, then only a day or so of any limping.  He's managed to have a very good life regardless as he was still able to swim, go for jogs, go horseback riding with me and help me with other dogs.  He showed talent with herding, but we could never do much because it was too hard on his joints.  He sure loved it though.  The breeder mentioned that one of his grandsires was known to have allergies.  I joke that he pulled all the short straws with allergies, DJD, ACL injury and some temperament issues that we thankfully worked through.  He has been an awesome dog and I love him dearly.  I'm just sorry we couldn't have had the fuller freer lifestyle we wanted together.  At 10, he is just recently starting to get a bit stiff and ironically, it seems to be his right hip that is troubling him most.  

Here's the link to his pedigree.
http://www.pedigreedatabase.com/german_shepherd_dog/dog.html?id=2076220-bravo-vandenheuvel

I'm trying to find the paperwork about the vet's actual diagnosis.  It's been so long, I don't remember what it was.