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Welcome to Breezy Ridge Farm, home of our Greater Swiss Mountain Dogs!

Canine Hip Dysplasia

Canine Hip Dysplasia (CHD) is a hereditary disease that affects the hip joints of dogs. The word "dysplasia" itself means abnormal development or growth of tissues, organs, or cells. Hip dysplasia is characterized by a looseness in the hip joint that causes abnormal wear and tear on the femoral head (the ball portion of what is a ball and socket joint) and the acetabulum (the socket). This wear and tear leads to malformation of the ball and socket, which can lead to arthritis. Hip pain is generated by the abnormal arthritic bones rubbing against each other.

Because not all dogs with hip dysplasia are symptomatic, and some clinical symptoms may have a cause other than CHD, the only way to diagnose CHD is through radiographs. Almost all puppies are born with normal hip joints, but over time the looseness will often cause the joint to develop abnormally as the dog is growing. In rare, more severe cases, hip dysplasia can be seen in some dogs as young as five or six months of age. In other dogs, signs do not develop until after the dog matures. This is why the Orthopedic Foundation for Animals (OFA) will not give a final rating of hips until a dog is two years old.

OFA Excellent Hips

OFA ratings fall into three categories: Normal (Excellent, Good or Fair), Borderline, and Dysplastic (Mild, Moderate, Severe). All dogs with Excellent, Good or Fair rated hips are issued a number by the OFA. When we say that a dog has his obtained his "hip clearances," this means that the dog has an OFA number indicating his hips fell within that normal range. A Borderline result indicates that the OFA saw some potential for changes to still develop and would like to see that dog x-rayed and submitted again six months later before making a final determination. Dogs who are dysplastic (Mild, Moderate or Severe) may or may not ever show clinical signs, although the symptoms and the severity of symptoms can be exacerbated by various environmental factors. Therefore it's recommended that any dog with a diagnosis of CHD be kept as lean and fit as possible. In more severe cases, CHD can be surgically, and although costly, total hip replacments have had a good success rate in large breed dogs.

Approximately 19% of all Swissies evaluated by the OFA since 1974 have been graded as Dysplastic. While there is a higher incidence of CHD in many other breeds (from Pugs and Norfolk Terriers to Newfoundlands and Golden Retrievers), breeders should do everything possible to reduce the incidence of CHD by breeding only dogs with Normal hips (Excellent, Good or Fair). The majority of Swissies who have CHD are rated as Mild, and while many of these dogs may never show clinical signs, Swissies are large, heavy dogs and the potential for arthritic pain as the dog ages is very real. The OFA has shown that as the incidence of Dysplasia increases, so too does the severity. So by trying to reduce the incidence of CHD through careful breeding of ONLY X-RAYED CLEAR (Fair, Good or Excellent) DOGS, hopefully we can also drive down the number of severe cases.

Breeders may now use PennHip to evaluate their dog's hips, rather than OFA (note: PennHip only evaluates hips, NOT elbows or shoulders). PennHip is not a pass/fail method of grading hips, but rather a numerical evaluation of the hips' Distraction Index (DI), which measures joint laxity. They will also note any presence of Degenerative Joint Disease. For an explanation of Distraction Indices and their implication for breeding dogs, visit www.pennhip.org. In addition to the Distraction Indices, the PennHip evaluation will also state in what percentile, for the breed, the hips fall. Penn Hip recommends that only those dogs in the top 50% or better, with no DJD, should be bred. Since the PennHip database is CLOSED, the only ways interested parties have access to PennHip DIs on Swissies is to ask the OWNER for a photocopy of the report (see sample here) or for the OWNER to submit the PennHip results to the GSMDCA for inclusion in the GSMDCA Health Database, which is an OPEN database now residing on the GreaterSwissDotCom.com website (after it was scrapped by the GSMDCA).

Even the most careful breeders who only breed dogs with normal hips, from pedigrees that have strong depth for hip clearances, can and will produce dysplastic dogs. The odds are lower, of course, but it can and does happen. There is no genetic test to determine if a dog may develop CHD or produce it, so all we can do is eliminate dysplastic dogs from our breeding programs based on hip phenotype, as identified by radiographs. At the same time, great caution should also be given when breeding a dog who may have excellent rated hips if several of his littermates were diagnosed as having CHD.

For more information on Canine Hip Dysplasia, please visit the Orthopedic Foundation for Animals website: www.offa.org.

 

 

 

 

 

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