If a dog is examined by a board certified cardiologist and was normal do you think an ultrasound is necessary. Would you breed a dog or to a dog without the ultrasound test and only the cardiologist exam?
"Alot of Clubs offer clinics with auscualtion only,"
They also offer color doppler or echo for $150 up to $225. That is a fair price, why not see the heart and not just hear it? Don't be thrifty when TVD or other disorders could be involved.
Depending on where you live, it isn't as easy as you think to get an echo done. Price at the two vet schools within a 12-hour drive of me that DO have the equipment AND a cardiologist is $1000 and requires a vet referral. The first echo clinic that I could afford and only 6 hours away happened to be on a day I was judging in another state, so I could not go. I finally found a clinic last summer 4 hours from me to get all of my girls echoed. We are having that cardiologist in for an echo clinic with our spring circuit in April for $190. It is difficult to get some of these services here in the "plains" where there are fewer population centers like on either coast.
I just wait for a club to have a clinic and then go to the clinic. My last one was a 400 mile drive--one way--but since this test is important, I made sure I could go to that show. If I hadn't been able to go, I would have gone to the next one and any breeding plans would have been put on hold until I did.
And yes, auscultation is useless
One of my disappointing dog memories was driving 7 dogs for two days to an echo clinic appointment and getting a call on my cell about 9pm the night before to tell me the cardiologist was ill with the flu, so my appointment the next morning had been cancelled. That was the first, last and only time I made arrangements to go more than one-day's drive for a clinic!
There really are parts of the country where it is difficult to get some of these screening tests. The situation is improving every year, but it still is a struggle for some breeders who are located a long way from services.