> laura these are NOT urban legends.  i worked at a large vet. clinic that
had
> a large percentage of breeders. we probably did 25 ofa xray a week, these
> were clients that i know personally!  ofa is not infallible  there are
many
> stories like this around and they are all true.


Like I said, I want to SEE it.  It is amazing that there are so many of
these stories, yet not one is documented anywhere.  How many thousands of
websites I've been to of many breeds--and nothing documented.  People LOVE
to point out mistakes--if anyone makes so much as a tiny mistake they get
jumped all over like a pack of wolves on the prey.  So I'm wondering why
these OFA *mistakes* aren't pointed out on some websites somewhere.  I would
love to see the actual xray of a dog that failed but was resubmitted and
passed with a Good.

I use Animal Clinic Northview for my vet clinic (as you can see on the
PennHIP form) and because of Dr. Hutchison they have a huge show/breeder
clientele.  There are 10 vets there and oodles of techs and helpers.  They
probably do quite a bit more than 25 xrays a week.  Not once in 20 years
have I personally seen an xray that looked good but didn't pass.  Not once
in 20 years have I personally seen an xray that looked bad but did pass.   I
keep waiting to experience this, but after 20 years I'm losing hope that it
will happen.

Like I also said, I know OFA can and does make some mistakes as nothing and
no one is perfect--but I'm sure it is a somewhat rare occurence.  Probably
less than 1% in this case.  I trust OFA to make a correct evaluation as so
far in 20 years they have never done anything that would make me think
otherwise.

I agree with the analogy of not throwing the baby out with the bath water
but there are other sides to this.  One is that since HD is polygenic in
nature with diet/environment involved, I would be worried about breeding a
dog that developed HD unless I was CERTAIN I was breeding to a dog from a
line that seemed to have less than the average occurence of HD.
Unfortunately VERY few have documented evidence that they actually test for
HD--so how on earth does one know if a dog or line has less than the average
occurence of HD or especially if a particular dog was producing more or less
than the average amount of HD?  The other is that so many throw the pretty
baby with the *freckles* (or whatever!) out with the bath water but think
the pretty baby with HD might be okay to breed--if bred carefully.  Just
food for thought.

Laura Lang
Roycroft Cavaliers

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