I don't test because...

Instinctive Hunting Companions

I don’t test because …...

The actual x-ray is the most costly part of this process. There are two major organizations that certify hips; OFA and PennHip. OFA x-rays run around $200 and PennHip can range between $250—$400. Typically the fee for certification is around $35. Why would anyone spend the money on x-rays and not to have them certified? The only one I can think of is they are dysplastic. Have them show you the certification—show you the money.

I had the hips x-rayed and my vet looked at them. I didn’t send them in because it costs too much.

Below are just some of the comments I’ve heard from people who call me. I thought I would add my comments about these statements to give you a different perspective. The bolded statements are from other breeders.

Typically these are from people who are asking less money for their puppies, or who regularly have them or who just breed GWP’s without participating in any activity.

HD is a polygenic disease, meaning there are many genes involved in this disease and will likely never be eradicated by DNA tests. In the same litter, dogs can have very differing certifications including dysplastic to excellent. If you study certifications, you will see the litters with fair rated parents, tend to have more fairs and could have dysplastic dogs more easily over parents with excellent rated hips, but that can happen.

Dog don’t typically limp unless their HD is severe so a dog that is mildly rated in their certification may not limp, but could more easily produce a dog that could be severely affected. Puppies as young as 8 months old have been euthanized because of poor hip quality.

My dog doesn’t limp, it doesn’t have hip dysplasia. None of their parents had hip dysplasia.

Physical symptoms can be the last sign of thyroid disease. Long before the physical symptoms appear, the bitch would have tested positive very likely for thyroid antibodies, TgAA. Those antibodies attack and kill off the thyroid gland. Once physical symptoms appear, the antibodies have been working on that gland for sometime and she would have passed those antibodies to her puppies. Making her puppies have antibodies to kill off their thyroid gland. Those antibodies are passed through the placenta, like other antibodies against diseases from dam to puppies.

I didn’t have a thyroid test run on my bitch because she doesn’t have physical symptoms.

True. Thyroid disease is treatable. However, the dogs are not healthy when they are diagnosed with this disease. It is very common for them to come down with other diseases that complicate each other. My personal experience is a dog with thyroiditis developed diabetes. Controlling diabetes is very complicated having to watch their diet, limit their exercise, watch every medication given and cannot be left alone more than 8-10 hours at a time. It is very common for dogs to have seizures that develop thyroid disease as well as other autoimmune diseases. Sure it can live, but not healthy and you could end up spending a lot of money on their care.

Thyroid disease is treatable, what is the big deal?

It is recommended the bitch have her first thyroid test run after her first estrus cycle. Sometimes that is before age 1 sometimes not. My girls usually are 8 to 14 months old before they have their first estrus cycle. OFA certification is good for one year on all thyroid tests, so one for life is not enough. I may not have one conducted yearly, but do before breeding and would again if breeding and the last test was around 2 years old.

I had the bitch thyroid tested before she was one year old and there is no need to do it again.

All of the testing certification costs money. I can spend around $600 per dog for their health certifications and several of the certifications are valid for one year. People who don’t run tests don’t do it for two main reasons. They don’t want to cut into their profit (what profit I don’t know) or don’t have an idea of what to do with the results and or how to manage the results.

As a new owner, you have to decide if getting a new dog from a source that doesn’t test, can’t produce the test results or certifications is worth a higher probability of getting a dog with more health issues that may result in ending its life with your family earlier than you expected. We never want it to end, when they have a normal life span, but earlier is tragic.

They probably have only two dogs and if they rule one out of breeding because of not passing a test, they can’t produce puppies. So not testing is easier because they can’t claim they are knowingly breeding dogs with health issues.

In health testing, it is not about the current generation, it is about future ones. Health testing is not necessarily about removing a dog from the gene pool either, it is about knowing what is there so if and when bred it is known how to deal with.

Devata German Wirehaired Pointers

My dog doesn’t limp, it doesn’t have hip dysplasia. None of their parents had hip dysplasia.

GWP’s do have eye diseases, few people check for them. Not all eye diseases make each dog blind or limit their ability to see. Yet, those dogs unchecked and bred can produce dogs that would someday.

I don’t check eyes on my dogs. I’ve never had a dog with eye problems.

Von willebrand’s disease, vWD, is a blood disorder where the blood doesn’t clot and the dog could bleed to death if cut. Bitches that have it, usually are euthanized during their first estrus cycle because they may not stop bleeding making surviving surgery difficult.

There is a DNA test for this disease. It is true it is not common, but dogs that have it are euthanized. Dogs can be carriers of this genetic disease and when bred to another carrier will produce the disease. Those carriers will not have the disease so a DNA test is necessary to verify their status.

There is another test run by blood sample instead of DNA. Those results are considered not as accurate as the DNA test is.

Von Willebrand’s Disease—what is that?