# OFA, PennHip, A-stamp, or just X-rays? Elbows? And what age?



## Emoore (Oct 9, 2002)

For those of you doing agility (or other high-impact sport) but not breeding, which do you do? Do you send your x-rays in to an organization like OFA or PenHip, or do you just have your vet read them for you? Do you do hips and elbows? Also, what age?



*****************Please please please note this is NOT about breeding, this is for people who do agility or other jumping/leaping sports, but are NOT breeding**********************


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## JakodaCD OA (May 14, 2000)

All my previous agility dogs , I've usually xrayed them around 18 months of age, I do hips/elbows/knees/spine and shoulder (what can I say, I"m rather paranoid I want the entire picture)

I did not send them in to OFA , the dogs were all spayed/neutered, but wanted them to compare if I had to, at later ages to determine changes if any..

With masi, same age, same thing, but I did OFA her, to give the breeder the 'official' info for her program..

It's not that expensive to OFA, I think I paid 35$ or around there, for both hips and elbows..the vet expense was around 180.00


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## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

Definitely both hips and elbows. I had Halo prelimed at 13 months old, the x-rays were taken while she was under for her spay surgery. I did send them in to OFA, as Diane said it's a minor expense compared to the x-rays themselves, and it would have cost more to have my vet send them to a consulting veterinary radiologist for an official reading. Because she came back with normal elbows and good hips I didn't bother to get then re-done when she was over 2 years old for an OFA number. 

I really just wanted to know for myself and I think it's good to get as many dogs on the record as possible. From what I read on the OFA site, she was old enough at that point that there was virtually no possibility that she would develop HD down the road. At worst she might have gone from good to fair, but that's still fine for high impact sports.


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## wildo (Jul 27, 2006)

I did hips/elbows to OFA. My vet said her elbows looked "superb" but OFA found DJD. I would tend to trust OFA over my vet. I mean- they look at bones daily... That's their job. While I recently (as in yesterday) found that their Stage 1 ED may not be overly accurate- it should still give you enough info to make a qualified decision about agility.

FWIW- I started agility knowing I should probably get her hips/elbows xrays, but the fact that she literally daily jumps 5+ feet into the air over, and over, and over chasing imaginary squirrels up trees- I figured she was honestly just fine. I got the xrays and OFA scores mostly so I could consider myself a responsible sport enthusiast. That was my personal choice, and I wouldn't say much of anything to someone who didn't feel the need to xray for agility. (Though of course I'd strongly recommend they do it!)

Pimg's thread in case you missed it. http://www.germanshepherds.com/foru...5-critique-pimgs-hips-elbows-lower-spine.html


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## Emoore (Oct 9, 2002)

Thanks for the input. I'm hoping to do the neuter, x-rays, and gastropexy at the same time if that's not too long under anesthesia, and I'm hoping to wait on the neuter until he's at least 18 months. 

Wildo, I had to laugh at what you said about imaginary squirrels. I'm being so careful to keep his agility obstacles low, and then he goes and vaults off the back of the couch, or on and off our car trailer


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## wildo (Jul 27, 2006)

You know, I was going through my pictures looking for a cool one of Pimg jumping up the trees, and it dawned on me that she didn't really jump up and down like that until I bought this house about 5 years ago. That would put her at about 18 or 19 months old. Prior to that, the place I lived didn't have any trees or anything exciting for her to jump up at. So I guess in retrospect, she really didn't do much jumping prior to 1.5 years old.

Even so- for the last 4 years of her life, she's been jumping like crazy nearly every day...


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## MaggieRoseLee (Aug 17, 2001)

I always get the x-rays when I do my dog's spay, so around 18 months (or later?). Even if my dogs SEEM fine, it's best to know.

And I submit the elbow/hips to OFA to get officially looked at an evaluated. Many vets don't even take good x-rays, let alone evaluate them properly.

I also ONLY x-ray for the information for my performance dogs, NEVER any intent to breed.


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## FG167 (Sep 22, 2010)

I have always gotten hips/elbows and sent them to OFA. Mine were all for performance sports, no breeding.


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## BlackPuppy (Mar 29, 2007)

wildo said:


> I did hips/elbows to OFA. My vet said her elbows looked "superb" but OFA found DJD. I would tend to trust OFA over my vet.


Similar thing happened to me, the vet said the hips looked fine, but the OFA said moderate HD. So, I will always pay the extra money to send them in. It's such a small price.


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## wildo (Jul 27, 2006)

Yeah, it really is... just $40 for OFA on hips/elbows. After paying $400 for the xrays- what's $40 more!? Pretty obvious choice.


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