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Originally Posted by pstinard  I know, even I have to look up what some things mean--canine diseases are new to me, too. ED = Elbow dysplasia and HD = Hip Dysplasia, both are joint diseases of dogs, but so far, genetic testing for them is in its infancy, so they are hard to eliminate from breeding stock. If you have any questions, just ask!
For gemy, I found the following link that might be of interest: Bioiberica develops the first DNA test to determine genetic predisposition to hip dysplasia in dogs - News and events | Bioiberica
There's also another scholarly article that might be behind a pay firewall, but for what it's worth, here is the link: Canine hip dysplasia is predictable... [Osteoarthritis Cartilage. 2011] - PubMed - NCBI |
I was able to access the article. I will print it out and examine it thoroughly
On a very brief run through of the scholarly article they appear to be looking at ~70% accuracy of predicting CHD in the dogs so tested. HOw-ever last paragraph or so, they seem to say this is good as "before" maturity you would be able to assess the risk of HD in a particular dog.
So the question really is how far before maturity? For large breed dogs, we do not breed before 2yrs old, as this is when we can get official offa clearance on the hips and elbows. To be really really usefull - at birth would be great, as puppy rearing is very important in creating the firm foundation so to speak. Even at six months- is not bad, because you can make a decision to not invest a lot of $$$ in the intense and expensive show training and competitions.
You are probably not aware of the PENNHIP program. This uses a different Xray position of the hips to evaluate and "FORECAST" hip dysplasia. AS early as six months old. This for obvious reasons if accurate enough is a great boon to breeders of all dogs. How-ever there are some serious concerns that cover the gamut of reported result success rate, the actual positioning of the hips during Xray causing growth harm to the hip socket through a variety of mechanisms.
Once again thank you so much.
Last time I checked it out, there was a wealth of information on PennHip along with some serious detractors of this methodology.
Your first link is much more interesting in that they at least recognize the extreme value of early predictors of HD and a whole life style approach to minimizing the severity of the disease.
But guess what? I'm not finding much research on that topic. I can link soon the one article I found; I might even have posted it on this website.