Understanding HD/ED Ratings

[Karyn Waugh]

Good Morning All!!

I have what I hope is a simple question. I thought I knew what all the different ratings were for HD and ED and I'm finding out real fast that I know very little.

What does HD Normal mean? OFA grades HD as either excellent, Good, Fair, Borderline, Mild, Moderate, or Severe. However I have seen some breeders post the HD grade for their dogs as Normal.

For elbows, is it general that most breeders will state their dogs are ED clear if they are not graded? OFA will only grade ED if it is abnormal and therefore will not give a grade for ED that shows no signs of ED.

Something else I just noticed looking at some of the pedigrees from Europe. HD A and ED 0/0. That is probably the equivalent of HD Excellent and ED clear here in the US. Question with regard to this. If you have a dog with HD D and ED 0/0 would you consider that the equivalent of HD Borderling and ED clear here in the US?

This is just really more for my education and trying to make sure I have been reading the HD/ED on the pedigrees correctly. I think I have, but somehow when I saw "Normal" I realized maybe I missed something.

For the benefit of some of the PPOs out there...what are your recommendations to watch out for in terms of looking at HD/Ed on a pedigree. If there is in a pedigree, 1 dog with HD - Moderate and all other HD Good and Fair, should they discount that dog because of the HD Moderate in the pedigree? Should they look for pedigrees with all Excellent, Fair, and Good? Since the risk really is with the PPO who is looking for a puppy, what would you caution them against? My hunch is to say, in the US, HD Excellent, Good, and in Europe HD A and B. And of course Elbows clear in the US and ED 0/0 in Europe.

I apologize ahead of time if this is a topic that has already been discussed, and if so, please point me to the digest this is on and I can go research it myself. :-)

Thanks,
Karyn Waugh





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