Big red flags on the Breeder we got our dog from?

[GSD07]

What can happen is that you got a wonderful puppy that will become a great dog. And you will feel a bit embarrassed for doubting your breeder. You never know. Just enjoy your pup!

[selzer]

This is what I am hoping for.

BTW, I sent the papers out to my person who is waiting, LOL!

[martemchik]

Yes, you can diagnose a dog by 1 year old but most people wouldn't because pet owners aren't going to x-ray their pets. My point in saying its rare is that a quick search showed that only 4% of GSDs have hip dysplasia. For me, that's rare, for the rest of you it might be very common. I know that these are just statistics from the OFA institute so in theory these should be the "better" bred dogs that are going to show homes or sport homes and most likely breeding prospects as that is the majority of people that use the OFA institute.

My point was that as prevalent as HD is in our breed it still is a "rare" occurance when you look at the whole population of GSDs.

[Liesje]

X-ray is the only way to diagnose HD, so any pet owner that suspects it would be instructed by their vet to have x-rays done in order to rule it out or make the diagnosis. The dog doesn't have to be 1 year old. Some dogs who need surgery have it done before that age. I don't really know the percentages or how "rare" it is in the breed but just disagreeing that it is something that develops over time or cannot easily be ruled in/out before 1 year of age.

[selzer]

It is 25% of GSDs, whose owners sent them in.

Lots of people never get their dogs x-rayed. As the dog ages, arthritis sets in or not, some dogs can have HD and never have symptoms.

Once they are x-rayed, it costs another 30 bucks or so to send them to the OFA. Pet owners who have a problem and get their dog x-rayed get a diagnosis from their vet and probably wouldn't bother sending them in. People who want to work the dog, or do agility, might x-ray, but getting a rating doesn't mean anything, why pay the extra 30 bucks? And breeders, well, if they look at the x-rays and think they may pass, they will send them in. They are not always going to send them in if they do not pass. Why? If you see it there, what's the point of paying another $30 to get it confirmed by the OFA? It does not mean breeders will use these dogs, just that they are not necessarily going to send in the films.

So it is possible that a good percentage of that 25% are actually films that people hoped would pass, but did not.

In any case, it is not a reliable sample. I think there are more than 4 in 100 GSDs with HD, I just think it is very under-reported.

[Chicagocanine]

Yeah my dog was also purchased by her prev. owner as a show/breeding prospect so not having the right papers was kinda an issue...

[wyominggrandma]

Exactly Selzer. Most pet people do not send in to OFA. The percentages they are talking about are from the folks who do send them in, performance, showing/breeding, etc. Most pet people who own GSD, if they have problems, take them into the vet, get the vets diagnosis and go from there. We are lucky to have folks who will do xrays. Most say" well if the diagnosis is HD, what do we do? The vet will say" give supplements, watch weight,etc. " So the owners go no further, most don't even xrays.
I never sent in my first GSD xrays, there were so bad, anyone could look at them and see how bad they were. I didn't send them in, had surgery on her. Many of the shelties I did were for breeding potential, but the majority of Sheltie folks don't xray, so there percentages are fairly low, but in reality the number of Shelties with HD is huge. Same as Berners.
25% sounds great when you read the percentages, but imagine if everyone sent in xrays to OFA for their GSD........... I think it would be a huge change, not for the good.
Most people will not send in because they are usually bad enough that they will not breed the dog, so the vet's recommendation is used.

[martemchik]

25% ???? Thats a joke...I know its not a full sample or the population but at my club there are probably about 5% of dogs with HD and most of the dogs there do get x-rayed because people are interested. You can talk stats with me all you want, but in general a small sample does not differ from the whole population by that much. And you guys are talking a 20% jump! I could guarantee that 25% of GSDs do not have HD. It would be so so much more prevalent and every other post on this forum would end up being "my dog just got diagnosed with HD" and yet we only get a few of those every once in a while.

You realize by your percentage a quarter of the member's dogs on this forum would have HD...and no, most people on this forum do not have the greatest bred dogs.

[selzer]

Actually, that was my mistake, for some reason I took the 4% that was listed in a previous post, and meant to say 4% of dogs whose owners sent them in. Sorry. In the end of my post, I had it right 4 out of 100.

It is a lot more then 4 our 100, 4%. Probably not 1 in 4 though -- 25%.

[onyx'girl]

Ha, I read the post that 25% of GSD's are x-ray'd not that they have HD. Most people who do sportwork will do prelims to see the insides. Those that may be questionable would never be sent in for grading(unless there is a guarantee in their contract with breeder) so the actual #'s are probably a bit skewed. Most breeders that see there is questionable hips produced probably don't want that info in the database, so it is just never sent in.
I would do prelims regardless, I want to know so I can be proactive in keeping my dog as healthy as possible.