actually, thats a thought...if your a vet nurse cant you get a rough idea of the amount of registered GSD in vet practice and the amount of those with HD affecting them....

thanks Jodee!

so when you see it in movement its the arthritis that is affecting them? not the actual hip score?

Getting a puppy from an unknown background can be fraught with problem, not just hips but temperament & character. Especially with a large breed like a GSD, some crosses are like loaded guns without a safety catch !

The reason the breeding behind a dog is important as you are more likely to get what you want if the puppy has been bred from sound balanced mentally & physically dogs, if you don't know what is behind a dog you are in essence"running"blind

I did some puppy testing for a friend & the puppies not nearly 5 months old have developed mentally as we thought they would from the testing results. They have temperament/behaviour characteristics from both parents & traits that they were bred for. This meant she could match the puppies to the prospective homes she had

I do , but we also see lots of 'registered' labs/GSDs/rotties etc with cruciates and hip problems. Maybe more pure bred animals than not pure bred. Obviously there are also badly bred dogs coming through too don't get me wrong but we have less mutts being x rayed than purebreds I think!

That totally depends on the dog-some dogs with HD to a lesser degree than mine will be unsound & in pain, because they are not as kept as fit as mine or that they do not have the muscular development to support the joints.

The exercise for a dysplasic dog is very important as is the feeding. Non weight bearing exercise was the key to my dog's fitness-swimming is excellent exercise to develop the muscle without causing any pain & quality protein in the diet is essential

You would need to know if the dogs with HD came from HD screened bloodlines-if they aren't there is no point

thanks Jodee, do you feel a raw diet helps in that respect either before 'symptoms' occur and afterwards?

Also, if someone does not have access to a pool, pond, hydrotherapy etc what would be recommended exercise wise?

Sorry just curious Littlepony, hope you dont mind!

is there a GSD site that would have recordings of lines/scores etc she could look at? Theres a dobe site that you can click on the parents, GP, GGP and so on and on and get the individual health test info for each dog and results etc, just wondering if there is a GSD site equivalent that Littlepony could look into?

Don't mind at all, very interesting!

Chances are I will go for the purebred, just £600 seems alot for a dog that could still get the problems of a non purebred. Didnt even pay that for my horses