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Giant Alaskan Malamute
Giant Alaskan Malamute MalAMail
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https://www.ofa.org/about/policies/preliminary-evaluations -. "Reliability of preliminary evaluations increased as age at the time of preliminary evaluation increased, regardless of whether dogs received a preliminary evaluation of normal hip conformation or HD. For normal hip conformations, the reliability was 89.6% at 3-6 months, 93.8% at 7-12 months, and 95.2% at 13-18 months. These results suggest that preliminary evaluations of hip joint status in dogs are generally reliable."
What that means is that a dog CAN be certified at any age. And if you read and understand the information above what that means is if a 3-6 month old puppy is OFA preliminary certified then the reliability of that puppy having the same certification at 2 years is almost 90% likely. So if your dog has dysplasia you can most likely rely on his/her OFA ratings at any age of the dogs life.
Dysplasia literally means bad development. The hip joint of the dog is typically reported as normal at birth. After birth, something (genetic or environmental) initiates a bad fit between the socket (acetabulum) and the ball (head of the femur). In dysplastic dogs, the hip joint is weakened and is more subject to injury by normal activity. Hip Dysplasia is defind as a "polygenetic trait". What that means is that there are more than one gene involved in producing the disease. Hip dysplasia is not very predictable in many cases. Environment, diet, exercise (too much/too little), injuries, also jumping, rough housing with other dogs or even running and tripping among other things etc. are also other factors of hip dysplasia. So just because both parents have good hips doesn't mean that their progeny (offspring) will produce sound hip dysplastic free puppies. Taking in account the siblings of previous litters, siblings of the parents & grandparents are also things to consider when planning breedings between dogs. Knowing as much as you can about your bloodlines and what they have produced in the past is part of learning and knowing about hip dysplasia. And these are some of the things that good breeders should be able to explain to you.
Just as I have stated in other places on my site I have had an OFA Excellent dog have 25% hip dysplastic puppies - not a good %. The malamute was spayed and placed in a pet home. As a breeder the best I can do is learn and improve with knowledge of my dogs and its progeny. Having great puppy owners keeping me updated helps make me a better breeder. Many breeders think that because their dog is beautiful and is free of dysplasia this excuses them to keep breeding knowing that their dog has had problems with pups being dysplastic in the past. Would it be OK for me to have kept breeding the OFA Excellent dog knowing that there were most likely going to be more hip dysplastic pups? I THINK NOT.... Always be aware that your dog is only as good as the breeder behind it. The more years a breeder has been breeding, the more generations you can see or research on and the good reputation of that breeder and what they stand for, is what to look for. And always be aware that just because they have a clear OFA certification there is more to breeding than "Just a piece of paper".
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Hudsons Huskies and Malamutes P.O. Box 241 Baxter, TN 38544 (931) 432-0955 jhoughtaling@charter.net |
