Thank You for say up Indiana story.
It's important to say up about HD displastik !
My own dog it's sick ... not HD but ED dysplastik.
She also hurt much ... next week she'll have operation.

The namber's of HD dysplastik is terrifying ... and SV don't do nothing with that ! it's a shame ...
I'll speak about Indiana to my GDS freinds ... and about SV act .. about only one blodeline ... i hope I'll help someone ...

I'll try to speak about ED dysplstik wich also is very often in GSD world ...

I have hope ... and I try to change people thinking ... I'll try to do samthing good for my love breed ....

Thank You !
good luck !

I came across your nice comment only today Honora! Thank you so much for your comforting words.
So many people are writing me from all over the world with similar experiences. Now Indiana's life might have been very short, but his story will linger on.
It's a shame the SV doesn't do a thing about it. Imagine they will tell the world, they are doing all that is in their power to reduce HD. In the meantime they only spend approx. 40.000 EUROS per year for this purpose. A disgrace really! 40.000 Euros is "peanuts", and won't help at all.
Major changes are imminent.

Hi there, I just get so upset everytime I come across your beautiful boy 'Indy.' I know dog breeding can be a very shonky world and I am so sorry for you and disappointed with his breeder as I have a Nilson vom Wildsteiger Land grandson. Nilson is Nanda's litter brother. He is producing over here better bitches than dogs. The dogs seem to be 'very over' hyper. Nilson ofcourse was imported here, but then I feel Germany would not let their best dogs go! I certainly admire what you are doing and moreso your "guts' to do it. Indy will always be walking beside you - this I know.
Regards - Honora

A tribute to Indiana has now been put on the Internet:
http://jantie.demeyere.googlepages.com/
Look for slideshow.

The february-issue of the WUFF-Magazine now documents Indiana's Trial.
Indiana's brother Ice had been death for a year. Nevertheless, breeder and his lawyer stated in court he was NOT!?

Is it common practice, when breeder and lawyer (also GSD-breeder AND SV-Verbandsrichter, thus an offical) lie in a court of law?
Why would they state that there was "no such thing as an official diagnosis", when the diagnose offered was issued by the highest authority in the world, being the FCI.
Read all about it in this month's WUFF-magazine.

For all the people interested in Hip Dysplasia (Hüftgelenksdysplasie), breeders' attitude towards guarantees and responsability, going to court, and of course to the history of Indiana vom Wildsteiger Land himself:

the December Issue of the WUFF-Magazine will elaborate on all subjects mentioned.
WUFF will be available November 22nd in Austria, November 30th in Germany and Switserland.
Announcement of the issue to be seen on:

http://www.wuff.de/aktuell_vorschau.php

Indiana's story MUST be told.
Ut aliquit fiat!

Thank you so much Jonah for your sympathy and your comments, which I appreciate very much.
I wish everyone would put as much energy and effort into promoting a better breeding attitude/policy as you do.

Indeed the Zuchtwertschätzung is a good programm, however does it need some explanation. A good HD-ZW has no value whatsoever, when one doesn't know how many dogs were evaluated. The Programm needs an extra-warning, -code, prefix or whatever, showing how many dogs (number or percentage) have been taken into account.
(For instance: our dog's parents had a wonderful HD-ZW, but there were hardly any dogs of the family diagnosed! and x-rays of those that had been diagnosed were never sent to the SV, and they were BAD.)

I will soon offer more statistic material about HD on my webblog: bloggen.be/hd

For the time being, thank you for taking the time to write us.

Jantie,
The 40% I quoted was sourced from Malcolm B. Willis. The major point that I try to make is that we DO need to be more diligent in addressing HD. As I understand it Willis' assessment is directly related to the proportion of a1 offspring pruduced by the mating a1 parents. Case in point Jeck Noricum, one of the most influential sires of the last 20 years, and prominent in a huge percentage of top pedigrees today, was NZ. I can find no justification whatsoever for breeding to an animal with NZ hips. However, with more than 2000 progeny registered on this site, and possibly another 1000 either unregistered or simply missing. I strongly doubt that any statistically significant difference exists with respect to HD between his descendants and those of any other dog. Robert Abady has made claims that incidence of HD has been reduced dramaticly among Fidelco guide dogs fed only Abady dog meal. This subject has been a preocupation of mine since I have had a couple of my own encounters with HD. I was so sick at heart that I could not sanction breeding dogs until I felt that I could greatly reduce the chances of producing an animal with HD. I was encouraged by the current SV HD zuchtwert program because it attempts to augment the old a stamp program with ongoing analysis. I would further like to see agregate scores of breeding pairs brought down below 90 if not lower. I do understand that when the breed hierarchy become too stringent there becomes an effect resistance and even outright rebellion among those inconvenienced by tighter restrictions. However, there are a good number of excellent studs with scores in the low 70's.
I believe that it behooves anyone who would be a breeder to check the SV website before they purchase a bitch or run off to the flashiest or simply most convenient stud. I mean no offense to anyone, as I know that there are many breeders who take this very seriously. However, as with any widespread problem, I believe we all can do our part.
Conformation judges have much information at their disposal, and they do use it when ranking dogs at the national shows. I hope that they will make a point of encouraging breeding to dogs with lower HD zw scores.
I wish you all the best, and sympathize greatly with your loss-----Jonah (not Kelly)

Allthough welcoming your comment very much Kelly, I need to protest. Would be nice if you would add your source for this information.

Now I have done quite a bit of studying on this subject, and need to elaborate a bit:

The SV regularly publishes "good news" on the HD-subject. You will certainly not object when I tell you, they will show you the "ideal" or "best possible" picture, and we will need to correct the figures a bit.

In '100 Jahre DSH' published April 1999, the following sentence has been presented to the public: "The heritability of HD is 50 till 60 %."
Now I wonder why YOU would want to correct this result presented by the SV itself, and what your expertise is to do so.

In the same issue, graphics have been presented, documenting a figure of 64% of HD-1 hips (for the year 1998). The latest SV-Genetics here at hand, documents only 57.99% of GSDs have HD-1 hips, which by the way corresponds wonderfully with my own research and graphics (that is, when I ALSO leave out the "bad results" not sent in). Taking for the latter a mere 10% into account, HD-1 results drop from 57% to 44% only.

There is more to it, than meets the eye. So please be carefull when presenting figures.

I feel compelled to point out that this sort of problem is just the reason that SV
created the HD-zuchtwert program which modifies an animals score continuously based on whatever relevant information is available. These relevant indicators include hip score of both parents as well as hip status of siblings and offspring as they become available. These are the most reliable indicators of genetic predisposition to joint displaysia.
It should further be stated that highly scientific studies by respected population geneticists have indicated a heritability of only approximately 40%. While SV and other schemes have worked with considerable success at reducing HD based on a genetic approach (which is really their only recourse) there remains considerable work for any dog owner, breeders included, to combat to their best ability the various environmental contributors to HD.

Continued:

I held and caressed him intensively while he had his final contractions, and then he was gone. The vet checked for his heartbeat, but it was all over now. I hugged him big time and left in bitter tears. Crying: “Goodbye my friend!”

In the last moments before his departure, the many precious moments of his life of course all came to mind again. The anticipation of his coming during the pregnancy of his mother, the visit to the litter at the age of 5 weeks, the fetching when he was tattooed and the long drive home. His introduction in our family, the first playful weeks, his awful diarrhoea and his near-death experience when he was four months old (pancreas insufficiency). Our numerous escapades to horses, pet-farms, training-fields, his Schutzdienst, the trainings and the preparations for the first shows, some with no competition whatsoever, some with fierce competition. And then, just before reaching his BH, the devastating discovery of his hip dysplasia. The preparations for the trial and his worsening condition. The look in his eyes: “Don’t make me get up!” and the way he moved lately, which still chills my heart to the marrow. I wanted to end his pain, it became too much. Walks with him were no fun anymore, but torture.

I would never ever want a GSD to live like a cripple for the rest of his life. I consider THAT to be cruel. Indy has proven to be the product of bad breeding regulations, allowing to breed with affected dogs (or using healthy parents, but without checking HD-statuses of brothers and sisters), and thus delivering gorgeous show-dogs but with crippled hips. It must take an end. And I will see to it.

May he rest in peace now.

I love you buddy!

18.05.2006
It’s all over.

Indiana vom XYZ has left us May 18th 2006 at 16.00 hours Belgian Time.

He was killed, euthanized, put to sleep (please feel free to make your own choice) by no one else but myself.

What appeared to become one of the most difficult decisions in my life, turned out to be one of the easiest ones. Our gorgeous guy was x-rayed (again) by a whole crew of experts at the famous University of Gent, Merelbeke. Their discoveries/findings will be published soon enough, Pathology will take care of a thorough post-mortem examination, which will take place tomorrow morning. The diagnosis however, clear to everyone that saw the pictures today, was a severely ruined hip, with increased arthrosis, to a degree, which my daughter and me do not wish to cure, for the benefit of the dog. Painkillers, artificial hips, amputation, or wheelchair (suggestions of a discussion board), these “means of curing” in our opinion, do not match the well being of a driven German Shepherd Dog at the age of three.

I have therefore asked the vet, to allow me personally to give Indiana the final shot, while still under heavy sedation for the x-rays, thus taking full responsibility for his death. I did not want anybody else to execute this ultimate gesture/action for my dog. (Vet put the needle in, I just pressed the fluid in.)

Of course, prior to this moment, I have talked to him. While Indiana was still under anaesthesia I was granted my private minute with him. I said (repeated) my final goodbyes, somewhat like this I guess:

“I know I don’t have to be sorry for this, but I am. I will hate myself for the rest of my life for doing this, although I know this is the only decision I could have made, based on your condition and your disease. You have given us so much joy and fun, that we can't possibly forget you. You have been the most wonderful pal for Lisa, I know she will always talk about you and your exploits. She has initially chosen your name (after Indiana Jones, who he himself, in the famous trilogy, took his name after the dog of his childhood), and now she will give you a remembrance. Just like the other kids in the neighbourhood, who were all so very fond of you, especially Yentl and Claudia. They will miss you so much.

I will also commemorate you in everything I do and say. Your story will be told, and I can only hope that lessons will be drawn. You would have deserved a better end, but the blame is not on me. (Thinking: “The blame is entirely upon the biggest canine organisation of the world and its breeders, allowing dogs with doubtful hip status-history to produce.”) I promise you your life will not have been in vein Indiana. I love you. Lisa loves you, and she will miss you. Why don’t you go now buddy, your pain is over! Go ahead, don’t look back. It’s alright now. You’ll be just fine! I’ll miss you!”

Indiana’s condition will be evaluated real soon now and I will inform this board about the findings.
Allow me to react to last comment, which fails any knowledge about him.

I daresay, VomFelsenhof, you should abide by the rules of this board, which nowadays you are presenting on each and every occasion, and which BTW I have been respecting all along the way always. Your comment has nothing to do in this section, which is reserved for insider-comments about a certain dog. Living at the other side of the globe, you have no knowledge whatsoever about this particular dog, so refraining from commenting him would be paramount (for a moderator) in this section.

I suspect you are only trying (and you are doing a great effort, to say the least) to profile yourself as a would-be-samaritan, offering help which Indiana does NOT need, and minimizing his severe condition. On top of that, you are suggesting Indy would not have had and still have the best care possible in our hands, a fact which obviously you need to be completely unaware of, again given your location.
Moreover, you are questioning, not only the expertise of the famous University of Ghent and their staff, but also the expertise of the Belgian HDED-Commission, which diagnosed a completely ruined hip. Should you doubt their diagnosis, please feel free to discuss the matter with them.

Needless to add for the attentive readers, that with your comment you are also totally ignoring the date my initial comment was made. Many months have passed since then. You are unaware of his real current condition, his deteriorating hip and his increasing arthrosis and pain. Indiana is and has always been enjoying the best possible treatment for his condition. We have what I consider to be the worlds best advice about what needs to be done right here. (Which will NOT be, putting him in a wheelchair and stuffing him with painkillers).

So I wish you would refrain from further comments on Indy and such unsubstantiated remarks with which you are actually slandering me.
Hope you will NOT be taking advantage of your moderator-status to hush me.

"We are still fortunate though"

You are now putting Indiana to sleep as well. There is nothing fortunate about that.

As I have offered to you before, I will pay for the Neuter, pick-up and shipping for the dog to my house, where he will be loved, and taken care of for the rest of his life. If that means he needs a hip replacement, then that's what he will get. You have thus-far, not even RESPONDED to my offer. This makes me highly suspicious that the best interests of the dog are not being thought of, but only a public FLAYING of the Breeder of Wildsteiger Land, which is shameful, as this is something NOBODY can predict.

While I sympathise with your terrible misfortune, I appeal to you to please put the dog's interests above those of your own sense of revenge against the breeder for not replacing him. using your dog to make a statement will not get you anywhere.

How sad for you, as well as for the owners of Ice...and while it is good of you to make sure that the hip status of these two littermates is made public, it should also be pointed out that it is not the fault of the breeders (nor of the owners of either dog) that these littermates were found to be dysplastic. It's the luck of the draw, unfortunately, and the only way to completely avoid it is to purchase nothing other than adult dogs who have been proven to have sound hips prior to purchase.

Our friend Indy = "Indiana vom Wildsteiger Land" - SG 5 at the Belgian Sieger Show 2004 at the age of 13 months - ( V Xenos vom Wildsteiger Land & VA 6 Nanda vom Wildsteiger Land ) will never compete again. His severely displastic hip will not allow it.

We are devastated.

Jan and Lisa

P.S.: We are still fortunate though. His brother Ice vom Wildsteiger Land has already been put to sleep.