# Q&A -- What checks for SD for Mobility?



## ILGHAUS (Nov 25, 2002)

Q. My vet did a complete physical on my dog at 24 months. He said that he didn't see or feel any problems and my dog should be fine doing light mobility for me. Do I still need to have any x-rays taken?

A. In a word, YES! At a bare bones minimum have hips and elbows x-rayed and evaluated by an expert source in this specialty.

I myself will be getting a male pup in 2015 and one of his planned jobs will be to help me with some mobility tasks -- none will be pushing my weight down onto the dog. 

Besides hands on checking by a vet at regular checkups I will be having a hip prelim done at 12 months of age. If there is a potential problem it will effect the manner of training and exercising and also allow me to know if the growing dog needs specialized body conditioning and additional supplements.

I am planning on taking my dog after he is a full 24 months old for final evaluation before he does any actual counter balancing as needed and assisting me to stand up from extended sitting or to assist me to get up from the floor in the event it was needed. We will be doing hips, elbows, knees, shoulders and spine X-rays through the Univ. of FL vet school. They will do an evaluation and then send a copy to OFA for a final evaluation on the areas that they deal with. They will also send needed films to PennHip for a hip evaluation. This way I can pay for all of these x-rays one time. Also, having them all done at once it will be a charge of one time appointment, setting up and evaluation report at the vet school itself. The students do the actual work but are overseen at each step by a veterinarian/instructor which is somewhat of a cost savings since the main purpose is to allow the students to have more experience. To have this work completed at the vet school I will need a referral from one of my regular vets, but that will not be a problem.

I believe that a dog that is going to be used for mobility tasks or work needs testing at a more advanced level than say for a dog that is going to be trained for hearing work.

Though not part of the question, I would also like to inject that I believe that as part of the health workup for any Assistance Dog a full blood testing and thyroid testing should be done. They are important so there will be a base line history in your dog's chart and also to see if there are any health concerns that should be addressed by a change in feeding or supplements needed. It is also important to know if your dog will need any type of medication which may need to be looked at in decisions on working status.


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## Kaimeju (Feb 2, 2013)

These Q&A's are wonderfully informative. Is there a compilation somewhere?


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## ILGHAUS (Nov 25, 2002)

Kaimeju said:


> These Q&A's are wonderfully informative. Is there a compilation somewhere?


I'm glad that you are enjoying them. No compilation anywhere, they are scattered around. The Qs are based on questions from others -- the A's are mine that I gave back.


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## Chicagocanine (Aug 7, 2008)

I would love to be able to do all those tests, but OFA quality hip x-rays alone here are probably about $500 or more, so I don't think I could afford to get all the joints done. :/


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## Lin (Jul 3, 2007)

Raising and training a service dog is definitely an incredibly expensive undertaking, its not a whole lot cheaper than acquiring a trained dog from an experienced organization. It definitely needs to be taken into consideration. I had hip and elbows on Tessa, and we also had xrays of her lower rear legs due to a previous injury and then checking on that previous injury when she broke the opposite rear leg. The vet wanted to ensure she wasn't developing any issues that would be stressed by 3 legging it while the broken one healed. I did have thyroid done at one time as well, because Tessa was gaining weight on less food but it was just metabolism changes due to age.


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## ILGHAUS (Nov 25, 2002)

Anyone interested in numerous xrays need to find out if there is a vet. school in their area. Some will request a referral from the dog's regular vet. In some cases they are cheaper. Also there is a discount or maybe no extra charge to have copies sent to one certifying organization -- though the processing fee there will be the same. 

For a dog that is going to be used for mobility there is more need to make sure the dog is built and sound for the work.


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