I am visiting with a friend who is a breeder and she led me to your list. I am on her computer using this list and a couple of others while she cooks dinner for her family.

I am interesting in using a Stud Dog and I am on his breeder's site right now. I was told a while back by the breeder's mentor that the stud dog passed both his preliminary Hips and Elbows with OFA at 23 months then at 24 months did not pass elbows for his Finals on 1 elbow but I am not sure if the story is true. Upon going to the breeder's site the rating is 'OFEL24'. Does that mean he did pass or something else? Am I out of order to ask the stud dog's owner if that story is true or just to go by their clearances that I would want to view?

If there is no Optigen rating listed is it out of order to also ask if they have tested him and what his rating is? There is nothing that says Clear by Parentage, the Sire of this Stud Dog is older, in another country and hasn't been bred in years I was told, once again not by this Stud Dog's owner. I also see that one of the stud dog's son's is Optigen A1 clear and has a rating.

My bitch just recieved a B rating so I want to use an A1 clear Stud Dog only to avoid any chance of an affected puppy. The site says he is at stud to approved bitches with chilled or frozen semen available.

Is there a certain way I should ask these questions? I do not want to sound like I am questioning their honesty or integrity b/c of what someone else other than the owner said.

Does anyone have suggestions how I would address this in a nice manner? I do not want to have the Stud Dog owner think I am accusing them of anything other than the truth.

Thank you for any advice given, this would be my very first breeding and this is the first Stud Dog I am looking into on a site. I like his pedigree and photos but have not seen him at any recent shows.

Susan

Go to the OFA database and look him up for his elbows. The truth, if he passed, should be right there. If not, just ask for his stud packet, and if it doesn't have elbows call and ask if he's had them done.

As for Optigen, just say you have a B bitch, and if he's not an A you obviously can't use him.

It doesn't matter what you've heard about the stud, you don't need to bring that up and it's really irrelevant and mentioning it can make some people defensive. Just matter-of-fact say you want to use him, and this is the information you need to be able to do so.

I can't see how someone would be offended by your asking for his elbow clearances and Optigen rating.

http://www.offa.org/

Wow, I looked at the stats for elbows and I was disappointed to see how few dogs have actually been checked (compared to hips). I was even more disappointed that with that number of dogs that had been checked the occurrence of ED hadn't decreased at all. It's still around 11%.

My personal opinion is that too many people make excuses for a failed elbow and breed the dogs anyhow. You would be AMAZED at how many dogs I've met that have injured their elbows in a cat door! I think most Labrador breeders shouldn't have cats if that's the case.

You would need to remember in looking at the OFA site that many did not do elbows at all years ago. So it might look like someone is not doing them and really at the time, no one was. Remember that. I hate not being able to just find the clearances at a glance. We hear so much about he stud dogs, we have to be real and keep our ears open but just ask the owner of the dog. Some dogs get hurt, some make excuses, and some just have bad elbows. Who really know ? But there are plenty of nice dogs out there that are clear.

I did check the OFA site which was informative.

Thank you for your help.

Susan