Here's a question not taking any standpoint

HD has been around quiet a while. Testing has been done also since more than 30 years in some countries and still, if i remeber correct, the incidence of HD hasn't become lower.

If this is true for HD with respectable breeders. What is the use of it if it doesn't lower the % of cases?

Greetings

Johan

I don't know the figures myself but are cases of HD in tested or untested stock?
I know the average doesn't appear to have gone down much but ultimately how bad would it be if no-one tested their dogs? It was only because HD became such an issue that testing began.
Becky

HD is not just hereditary though - it can be caused by too much exercise/wrong sort of exercise as well.

Although tests for HD have been around for a while it is only in fairly recent history that breeders have started to have their potential breeding stock hip scored. I would imagine that it would take a long time to breed out genetic problems of this sort that have been passed down through generations of dogs way before hip scoring was available.

If all breeds that were prone to HD had to have mandatory screening before being allowed to be registered with the KC one would at least know that the pup you had purchased was not bred from parents who had unacceptable scores. It wouldn't eradicate HD caused by inappropriate exercise at too young an age - that can only be done by educating dog owners - but it would mean that your pup had the best start possible to avoid such problems.

Until such a scheme had been in operation for a number of years there would still be the odd pup who might develop HD, through genetic causes, but that pup would not be able to produce pups who could be registered as it would fail the testing procedure itself.

So many breeds have health problems which are on the increase and these problems need to be addressed.

Hd is a complicated case but I still would score my own dogs, but even in Germanywhere scoring for regisrered GSDs has been manditory for many many years it has improved the situation but not completely removed it. Thisis also true with some other problems like epilepsy but there are other tests where it can virtually eradicate the problems like testing for haemophilia or some of the eye tests. If we make a start then gradually as our vetinary knowledge improves hopefully we will get some success.

Here's another thought.

Belgian ringdogs used for breeding are seldon tested on HD and ED and yet if a dog is tested (when it is sold) it seldon has ED or HD. And to make it worse we have the hardest training imaginable for our dogs.

Greetings

Johan

Yes to health testing

I think the clue here is in 'hardest' training. In common with working diciplines in other breeds (eg working sled dogs), you are performing the best possible alternative to natural selection. You are, in effect, selecting the healthiest dogs by using the fittest, most successful competion dogs, without the need for screening.

There's no doubt that selection based on screening does reduce the incidence of HD but there are of course flaws in this method. For instance; the usual positioning for x-ray disguises a good deal of subluxation.