[Tink]

Dysplacia is also prevalent in Rotties and German Shepherds which I used to breed, so unfortunately it's nothing new to me. Although not as common in Standard poodles, there is some HD seen in some of them as well.

Yes Catlover, Canada is a reg Lab. And I breed her with a standard poodle.

As protodog pointed out, you can have 2 parents with excellent ratings on OFA that will have pups with HD. The problem can come from the dog being overweight, being allowed to do too much running, jumping and climbing at too young an age, or from an injury to the hips like being hit by a car or kicked by a horse. For anyone who's owned a lab, you know that it's very hard to keep a lab from running, jumping and climbing. They're very energetic and love to be on the go.

As for the reliability of the testing, it's only as good as the vet that does the tests and the technician who reads them. I know of people who have sent in the exact same films under a few different names just to see if they'd get the same rating each time and they did not. Considering the test costs $360, that's pretty disheartening!

I personally prefer to put my money into DNA testing. With DNA testing you not only have proof positive which dog is yours if you should ever need to prove it, but it tests for the following genetic diseases as well.

Dog Diseases

* Progressive Retinal Atrophy (PRA)
* Hypothyroidism with Goiter (HTG)
(Congenital Hypothyroidism)
* Cystinuria (CYST)
* Globoid Cell Leucodystrophy (GCL)
* Neuronal Ceroid Lipofuscinosis (NCL)
* Phosphofructosokinase Deficiency (PFK)
* Von Willebrand Disease (vWD)
* Narcolepsy (NARC)
* Cone degeneration (CD)
* Canine Leucocyte Adhesion Deficiency (CLAD)
* Hemophilia B (HmB)
* Muscular Dystrophy (MD)
* Myotonia Congenita (MC)
* GMI Gangliosidosis (GMIG)
* Retinal Dystrophy (prad)
* SCID (DNA-PKc & DNA PKc2)
* Mucopolysaccharidosis Type VII (GUSB_NOSVVIII)
* Thrombasthenic Thrombopathia (THROM)
* Progressive Rod-Cone Degeneration (PRCD)


I know HD gets a lot of press, and it is something you do not want to be breeding a weakness for. However, the testing is not yet reliable and in my mind HD is something at least the dog can still live with... many of these other issues they can't.

I do have a 2 yr written guarantee on all of my pups for HD for the protection of my buyers. I have not tested Canada because she is out of tested parents, is 5 yrs old, and the way she jumps and runs I have no concerns about the health of her hips. I got her about a yr ago and plan to spay her when her next litter is weaned.

My other dogs aren't yet old enough to test. They have to be 2 yrs old for OFA. My stud will be 2 in June... my other Lab female just turned 2 and was bred because someone who was visiting thought they were doing me a favor and put the stud in her pen when she was in heat... They had no idea she was in heat and had let him out of the house accidentally.
My labradoodle female is only 7 months old and my other poodle boy is 8 months old.