> hi... are you wanting xrays because you are > interested in breeding? or are you just wanting to > see what's going on with his hips? If you are > interested in breeding, Penn-hip is the only hip > evaluation system that would be appropriate for > long-term prospects of hip disease, given his age.
If someone is interested in breeding, 8 months is simply TOO YOUNG. A dog is more than a set of hips. Some of the commercial breeders, who do in fact recognize that producing alot of pups with HD can become VERY unprofitable when the owners complain, are now using PennHIP and feel that because they have done this, they are justified in breeding a dog or bitch who may have just become sexually mature... ALSO, PennHIP is the ONLY registry that is not verifiable online which may make it more attractive to the less scrupulous (personally, I trust online verification more than a photocopy of a certification which may have been altered). Please, whatever method you choose, use something that can be sent to Berner-Garde with a status of "Diagnosed" - as opposed to "Anectdotal " or "Hearsay". Only "Diagnosed" health data can be shared. PennHIP results, OFA prelims, or a letter from a Board-Certified radiologist (which often costs about the same as OFA by the way) will all qualify as documents that can be sent to Berner-Garde. We need to get more and more pet owners "on board" to share the diagnoses on their non-breeding companion animals. REMEMBER - they are all related to breeding dogs! REMEMBER - a dog with Excellent Hips who has 9 dysplastic littermates is NOT as likely to produce sound hips as a dog with Excellent Hips who has 9 littermates all rated Good or Excellent. THE DATA ON YOUR NON-BREEDING COMPANIONS IS CRITICAL to the future health of this breed. So please - when your dog has a problem that may be genetic in origin, make sure to contact Berner-Garde. www.bernergarde.org Thanks! (and I hope the diagnosis is a favorable one and that he does in fact outgrow this) Sharon Montville - Firstrax - Colorado __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Web Hosting - Let the expert host your site http://webhosting.yahoo.com
