[ SHOWGSD-L ] Re: OFA
- From: "Carolyn" <marhaven@xxxxxxx>
- To: <CARALAND@xxxxxxx>, <showgsd-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 6 Aug 2007 23:22:07 -0700
FINALLY a great post I can relate to. Thanks for the great reminder Jack!
We all know that OFA is not the only answer to any genetic problem.....but as
Jack stated we
DO know that in the background of every pedigree we have to work with right now
there are
dogs that were dysplastic, had littermates that were dysplastic or that we
just have no
information on at all in every pedigree. THAT is always my main concern
......it is always
there "lurking"......and I feel at this time that OFA is the best tool
available to make some
clear choices. We prefer littermates OFA good rather than one Excellent.
*
SURE we can all cite cases of dogs that are OFA Good or Excellent ....and still
have problems.
At an All Breed recently a Corgi breeder was telling my husband and a friend
that she had
five solid generations of OFA on a pedigree... ( that is ALL the littermates
also ) of a recent litter
of Corgi's and she got hit with a nightmre litter of quite a few with hip
dysplasia.
It happens......
But I agree with Jack......the whole idea is to keep it as absolutely minimal
as "possible" and
increase the "odds" of less problems and hopefully in time no problems, or
almost no problems.
Will I live long enough......I doubt it. Do I give
up.............NAW.......<G>
Does that mean I would "never" use a dog that is not OFA.........don't
know.....we have used
our own with just Pre Lims. Will we again....yes....
Will there be 'sneaky genes'.........oooOOOOOHHHhhhh yeah!!!
The Breeders Code of Ethics cannot address every issue........but we can all
try.
Carolyn marhaven@xxxxxxx
www.marhaven.com
----- Original Message -----
From: CARALAND@xxxxxxx To: showgsd-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Sunday, August 05,
2007 7:18 PMSubject: [ SHOWGSD-L ] OFA
In reading some of the posts on here about OFA it appears that some of the
listers have their
heads in the sand and that the first priority is a winning dog rather than a
physically sound one.
If you have ever had to put down young puppies for hip dysplasia you will
understand the
importance of doing everything you can to avoid it. The OFA is there for
the conscientious
breeders that want to use it. It does not guarantee that every offspring of
normal dogs will
be normal. It does improve the chances of breeding normal hip and elbows. We
all know that
dogs further back in our pedigrees were dysplastic or were never xayed .
Those genes that
existed then can still trickle down and appear in some of our offspring. The
objective is to
keep that to a minimum and increase the percentage of normals. Shepherds have
made
major strides in improved hips since the OFA has become widely used.
For those that question the capabilities of the OFA radiologists the OFA has
about
20 board certified radiologists under contract. When an xray is received it
is assigned
to 3 of those radiologists for reading. If there is a difference in opinion
between the
readers the consensus among the three is accepted. The OFA monitors the
performance
of the readers to see that no one's opinions varies to far from the others.
For those that don't like some of the OFA's opinions don't blame the
messenger.
Jack
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