I know that the subject of prelims have been discussed before on this forum, but I'm looking for a little guidance. A few years ago, I had a male puppy that I kept and at two I had his hips and elbows checked. Well, his elbows failed. It was a tuff blow. I know it happens from time to time. His parents were clear as well as several generations on his pedigree from what I could find. I'm now keeping another male puppy, and I'm going to get his prelims done. It's not about breeding, but just an idea of where I'm at with him. I spent lots of money on shows ect, on the last male and maybe if I had just did prelims I would have known something before I put all of the time, money in effort in him. I know it wont tell the whole story, but it would be nice to know some information before hand.

My question for those of you who do prelims, is at what age would you recommend having them done?





Thanks,

Bud, W

I do prelims at 12 months. Nothing is guaranteed obviously, but at that age I feel comfortable enough with prelims to see if I'm going to continue growing out a pup.

For Dogs first look at 12 months to see if I am going to run on. Re do at 15-20 months if there is any chance I will be breeding prior to finals at 2 yrs....please no flames about using a dog before 2 it would only be to a bitch with finals and an owner who I felt understood the risks involved.

For bitches any time after 14 months for prelims, it just depends on when their heat cycle falls.

All dogs hearts checked at 12 months via color Doppler for TVD

I did prelims on a 22 month old boy and he came back good hips/normal elbows. He got used 3 times between those prelims and his final ofas. His final OFA's done 9 months later was mild hip dysplasia and bilateral grade one dysplasia in his elbows. His parents were excellent/normal (sire) and good/normal (dam). I was so sad and disappointed especially because I had a litter on the ground. I kept 2 girls from the litter I had and will do their finals before they are bred. Time will tell

I'm sorry about the results you had with your boy...that sucks. As I said breeding on prelims is a risk that needs to be full understood by the bitch owner...and the stud dog owner- below is an excerpt from the OFA site.

"Reliability of preliminary evaluations increased as age at the time of preliminary evaluation increased, regardless of whether dogs received a preliminary evaluation of normal hip conformation or HD. For normal hip conformations, the reliability was 89.6% at 3-6 months, 93.8% at 7-12 months, and 95.2% at 13-18 months. These results suggest that preliminary evaluations of hip joint status in dogs are generally reliable. However, dogs that receive a preliminary evaluation of fair or mild hip joint conformation should be reevaluated at an older age (24 months)."

*Corley, EA, et al. Reliability of Early Radiographic Evaluation for Canine Hip Dysplasia Obtained from the Standard Ventrodorsal Radiographic Projection. JAVMA. Vol 211, No. 9, November 1997.

I never do prelims. That said, if I did a prelim at 22 months and then 9 months later my dog didn't pass, the first thing I would look at is the quality of the x-rays. Positioning is so important and can mean the difference between passing or not. I always look at the x-rays before they are submitted and my vet has quite an ego so he makes sure to do his very best. I've referred several breeders to him after their dogs (some labs and some other breeds) didn't pass with x-rays from other vets. Every one of them was upgraded to at least a fair but most came back good. IF you haven't already, I suggest you look at both sets of x-rays. Unfortunately, I have never heard of OFA sending them back if they aren't good enough - they just get a poor rating - which may not be accurate.

Unfortunately, OFA is the gold standard still for both hips and elbows, and subjective by the evaluators. However, that being said, I have also lost faith as well in their readings.

The following final reports are from one of my older bitches, 8 years old now, who was radiographed at 2 years and 3 months, mid cycle in her season initially. I redid her elbows again (hips are OFA Good), at 5 years and 2 months, again mid cycle. Apparently, OFA reported her RIGHT elbow healed!!!

I didn't call to find out why. It was just weird. She has been asymptomatic her whole life so far.

I tried to copy the text from the PDF file, but here are the results, both initial and redone.

1/25/08::
LEFT: Grade I ED, DJD
RIGHT: Grade I ED, DJD

3/4/2011:
LEFT: Grade II ED, DJD
RIGHT: NORMAL

Yep Mary Ann i've got a bitch here too that they graded with borderline hips and ED (can't remember if it was both or one) and she is now almost 8 no symptoms at all, moves like a dream, should have bred her anyway, screw OFA i'll go with what my vet says from now on and submit them to a board certified radiologists

Biggest surprise came when I got back a Fair rating on a dog. I really expected better, so I called the OFA and asked what the 3 individual rating were. Dog got a good, a fair, and a moderately dysplastic. Sure does not instill confidence.