Thank you I will read these links soon.

Let me know if you can't access the second scholarly article. It's mainly about using DNA markers to predict hip dysplasia in Labrador Retrievers and Greyhounds. They used between 100 and 200 genetic markers, and were able to predict hip dysplasia about 90% of the time. They examined a few other breeds as well, and it the markers didn't predict quite as well, but it was still useful, and they were hopeful that with more research, they would develop better testing. They said that this would be useful for screening breeding stock, and predicting development of hip dysplasia long before symptoms appear.

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.

Here is the link to the thread that contain some interesting articles on HD

http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/bre...scussions.html

They literally mean that the DNA can be tested at birth (since DNA does not change as the dog grows), and they say they can predict with 70% accuracy whether a particular dog will develop hip dysplasia. That's a great advance, but keep in mind that they only did intensive research using two breeds of large dogs...

I just tried from my home computer, and could only view the summary page. The actual article is several pages long and goes into greater depth (that's where I got the 90% figure), but on my home computer, it is hidden behind a pay firewall. If you can't read the full article, I can access it on Monday when I'm back at the University and email you a PDF copy. Let me know, and if you are interested, PM me your email address and I'll send you the article on Monday.

Not sure exactly which article you meant, but if it's the "Canine Hip Dysplasia is Predictable by Genotyping" on the top right hand side of the page, there is a link to get a free copy where it says, "Free in PMC free full text archive." Canine Hip Dysplasia is Predictable by Genotyping

Nancy that link you sent above appears much more fulsome than pstinard's link. Sorry to sound so dumb, but is that the full article you linked me to?

And if so you are a Godsend and thank you.

Yes, Pstinard sent you the abstract, and on that page, in the top right hand corner you can get the full article. It gives you two choices "ELSEVIER full text ariticle or "Free in PMC full text archive". Sometimes, ELSEVIER doesn't work and wants you to pay. All scientific articles have abstracts and it briefly tells you what they were trying to do in the study and very briefly their conclusions. Unfortunately, this is all some scientific writers read when they do a report on an experiment and as you can see the abstract doesn't always give the full picture. The abstract is used by those doing research to find other research that might be applicable to their own research. Also, they give references for other studies.

Yes, that's the complete article! And the DNA test was indeed ~70% predictive of hip dysplasia.

I'm so used to following the Elsevier full text article link that that's what I did. They usually don't have the free article link, so we lucked out! Thanks for the heads up, Nancy!

Yes, that is the full article that Nancy linked to, and she is indeed a Godsend. Thanks again, Nancy!

Ha ha, you guys are too nice! Glad to help, I love getting free stuff! :D

Nancy you have always been so nice with your help. Gawd I didn't think I was that much older than you, but you always are able to wade through this internet stuff, and get the gold kernels.

I feel the need to express myself why this is so important to all breeds, but particularly to large breed dogs, if indeedy we are close to a genetic relatively accurate indicator of HD.

If you have ever seen a large breed puppy - 7 months old start to limp, then 9mths old, then with severe HD, finally the owner goes to the vet. Severe HD is literally a death sentence for these 90lb or so dogs. FHO surgery is usually not successful; and oh my the PAIN these dogs are in over their very short life. Before they are euthanized! And yes there are some experimental things that can be done; which are very very expensive to do, with some small chance of success.

If there are ways to accurately pre-screen breeding stock, if there are ways to safeguard through puppy rearing the seriousness of this disease; I would move heaven n earth to get that done.

I flash to this very morning, driving to work, a woman and what looked like a Bernier, crossing the light in front of me. He had double hip dysplasia as far as I could see, plus he had an operation on his right rear knee. He was in such obvious pain! He could not have been more than 18 months old (my guess). That woman crossed the street with him, he gamely followed, she bent down and stroked him, kissed his head, and you could see the pain in her face from 20 feet away. I about died inside to see this, young dog, with an owner obvious willing to nuture and support this young dog. Why he had knee surgery, not too sure, maybe as a stopgap to keep this beloved dog longer with her. FHO is not so successful with the large breed dogs, and maybe he had knee problems as well that was easier to treat.

This should not be!@!@ I see it way way too often here on the streets of Toronto. I hear of it on my list for BRT the ultimate heartbreak of the owner with a dog with severe HD. I want to eradicate this crippling disease!!!

I'm pretty sure I'm older than you, at least according to our pictures! Truthfully, I didn't know a thing about computers until I found YT, there was a reason to learn this stuff!

Gail, I'm so happy that there are breeders and educators like you. I've had a very poor view of breed clubs and how little they protected their breeds. I was happy to learn that the YTCA wasn't one of the clubs that were purposely breeding a dog whose standard was actually damaging the breed. In the past, so many breeders have turned a blind eye to these types of problems and the poor dogs have had to suffer. I can understand why a breeder wouldn't want to take a beautiful dog out of her breeding program because of a health problem, but this is such an important thing even more important than looks and temperment, and I know you've been faced with that choice and did the right thing. I'm looking forward to a time when genetics can tell us even before we show our dogs whether they have these severe problems and whether the problems can be inherited. We have the opportunity to, in the future, breed only really healthy animals, with the best chance at a healthy life. I think healthy animals are more likely in natural selection, because only the fit survive and reproduce, but with this new information, we can do better than nature. Anyway, I appreciate all you are doing to help with this and to educate others. It takes someone like you with a sincere heartfelt desire to help these dogs, and I know people will listen to you.