When sending in your OFA's, do you check the box to display results of those that fail? What are your reasons for checking or not checking this box? Curious survey and I don't care if your anonymous.

I have not checked that box because I did not breed my dogs and I believe that releasing that information should be the breeder's choice. I will check that box for any dogs that I am the registered breeder of.

I have had only one failure in the past decade. (That thumping sound you hear is me knocking on wood.) I did allow her to be displayed. Reasons to do so- why not? She was not part of my mainstream breeding program, so I didn't have much to lose by doing so. It was a unilateral elbow that my vet and I thought would pass.

I didn't release information when I first started. Then I thought, we should share all information, good or bad, so I started checking to release all information. Fortunately, everything came back normal. My lines have always been solid until I used a certain popular stud dog. I would want to be able to check OFA's website for offspring and I hope others do as well. We can only do that if we all release results.

73 views so far and only 3 responses, so much for the simple survey, a short yes or no will do if you don't want to comment.

how about a "depends"?

Yes

I do if I remember to initial the box. My vet fills out the form and gives it to me to sign - sometimes I've forgotten to initial the space to share failing info.

I do want to be able to check on dogs' offspring, so I appreciate seeing the failures. This is a health issue and isn't a reflection on the breeder's personal failures - sh*&& happens, so just because you breed a failing dog doesn't mean you are doing a bad job! We want to see all the results.

And I will also say that if I see a dog with elbows and no hips I usually assume they've failed, and if I see a dog with hips and no elbows and I know that breeder usually clears elbows, I assume they've failed. So there's really no good reason not to list failed clearances!

I always agree to display all results. Its the only way to generate an accurate history when viewing dogs on the ofa site.

Luckily, I've not had one fail in over 14 years (banging head on wood!)

I wish it were mandatory that ALL xrays sent to offa would have results published. The statistics are so skewed because of the ability to release results or not. It would help the breed tremendously if everyone released their results.
That being said, wow is it a touchy subject to ask breeders about said lines that do not have elbow or hip numbers posted on offa.

Its pretty obvious when you look on the dog's page on OFA and see elbows pass and no hips listed, the dog has failed their Hips. Even worse when you know the dog has bred several litters before final clearances, because of all those puppies now on the ground with questionable hips.

No I do not. My breeding , my business.

"I wish it were mandatory that ALL xrays sent to offa would have results published. The statistics are so skewed because of the ability to release results or not. It would help the breed tremendously if everyone released their results.
That being said, wow is it a touchy subject to ask breeders about said lines that do not have elbow or hip numbers posted on offa."

I totally agree with the above. There was a time that I had a pretty bad mentor and one day she called all pissed that someone posted "fair" prelims publicly. She could not believe that someone was trying to put her "bad stuff" out there. I said that if everyone made all of their ofa results public it would do a great deal of good for the breed. Her response to me was "Yeah, well, I am not going to be the one to start".

After that conversation I seriously started to reevaluate our relationship.

i wish it mandatory that all results were posted.. it is "just a dog" not a reflection of yourself,, poop happens its the name of the game.. LeeAnne

If the dog is from my breeding, yes, I pay to have the results listed on OFA, pass or fail. I want to try and help other breeders make valid notations about pedigrees and what may be in certain lines. However, when I had a dog from another breeder that didn't pass, the breeder/co-owner didn't want the results posted so I honored their wishes. I really do think it is beneficial to post ALL results.

I'm displeased that OFA charges to list non-passing dogs but feel it is for the betterment of the breed so I choose to pay to list any that don't pass.

Wow, with all these honest people we seem to have here, our breed must be in better shape than we thought!!!!
Not too many failed OFAs listed on the site! So I guess that means since everyone is so honest, not many have failed!

Like one of the previous posters said, "poop happens". You can breed a good to an excellent and still get fair or failing results... "Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what your gonna get"

IMHO, i believe that if breeders dont own up to issues in their lines, it hurts the breed in the long run...

Most of the time you know if its gonna fail when you look at the xrays in the vets office.

If the xrays look good to me when i see them, i will check off the box. If they are bad, i dont check it off, but i will inform people that the xrays didnt look good.

We all have to be honest when we try to breed that better dog, thats who we are as breeders.

JMHO!! Jen

I've done both but tend to check no. I may have a dog that I really like that may have an elbow injury or may be a grade 1 that I MIGHT consider breeding with a bit of caution. I don't want to hear "did you hear so and so bred a dog with bad elbows". It's obvious going through the OFA site that many people check "NO" as there are many dogs shown with no elbow clearances from people that do them, and I do think most people do them now a days.

OFA would have better data if they did not charge people for failing X-rays. I haven't had any recent failures, but I did have elbow problems in the past, and I did not even send them in. Why pay $35 when you already know the result and that you are not going to breed the dog? If the service had been free, then I would have sent them in.

Um, you are paying for a professional evaluation, not a license to breed! Why should you get a freebie just cause a dog fails?? The professional still read your films to come to the decision.
By the way it's $40 now, and it's still very reasonable.
Try to pay $40 anywhere else for 3 board certified radiologists to read your films

I disagree- I AM paying OFA for a certification that a dog does not have a defect that would prevent me from breeding it. In this case I did not need the opinion of the board certified vet to know that the dog would not pass- my vet and I could see that the elbows were arthritic. If I need an opinion on how to treat a dog, I don't use OFA for that. I go to a specialist in my area that actually sees the dog and takes whatever X-rays are necessary to decide how the dog would be treated. That certainly would cost more than $40, but I would want the hands-on evaluation.

Well then, you asnwered your own question.
Don't send it in if you know it's going to fail!!
Besides, my point was OFA does not do what they do to hand out licenses to breed your dog.
Thats up to you.
It's a tool, not the breeder police.

Luckily, I've not had one fail in over 14 years (banging head on wood!)

Gosh, I want a slice of that. We have been breeding Labs for over 25yrs, parents, grandparents, etc. OFA hips good or excellent and normal elbows and have had some disappointments over the years.

I would say keep up the good work !!

I agree that all results should be made public, pass or no pass.

If they waive the fee for dogs that don't pass then this may affect the reading with more passing dogs (more so with hips). I do think it is a problem that those that obviously fail don't send in films, OFA statistics might be way different, but I don't know the solution.

And that was my point. As long as OFA charges people to evaluate obviously failing X-rays, people will not send them in, and OFA data will be flawed.