Registered: Dec 2004
Location: Central IL
Posts: 94

How many of you out there do have health checks done on your dogs , by health checks , I'm talking , OFA Hips , Elbows , Eyes Cerf'd . Ya know the basics . And if you don't do heath checks why not ?

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Registered: Jun 2003
Location: Los Angeles, MN
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quote:

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Originally posted by Duckhound
How many of you out there do have health checks done on your dogs , by health checks , I'm talking , OFA Hips , Elbows , Eyes Cerf'd . Ya know the basics .

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These might be the basics for some breeds, but not hounds.

I have plenty to do without wasting time and money on problems that dont exist.

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Working animals with bad hips, elbows, etc get buried because they can't work. Don't need no vet to figure that out.

Seems like the dogs that suffer those problems are generally the couch potatoe types. I wonder why?

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Registered: Dec 2004
Location: Central IL
Posts: 94

Ah there in lies the problem Josh -

How do you know that the problems don't exist ? And why would a basic hip xray be a waste of money or time . Wouldn't you hate to see your buddy end up hurting from artheritis cause his hips are bad , or maybe he goes blind at 2-3 yrs old due to cataracts .

The money is the minimal part of owning a dog , I'm inclined to years of having him around and being healthy and able to do what he loves to do .

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Duck, do you think it would be hard for a coonhunter who hunts his dog regularly to know if that dog has bad hips or elbows or is blind? I definately believe I can know those problems without paying for an xray.

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Registered: Dec 2004
Location: Central IL
Posts: 94

Jim -

You can't tell all the time if an animal has bad hips -

I have a 4 yr old in the kennel that just started showing signs of lameness in his right side , so I had an xray done and bam - his right hip is bad . There is 4 yrs of my life down the drain , working this dog . Had I done evals at 12 months I would have known and placed this dog in the ground . Sure would of saved me a lot of heartbreak .

Those findings are what brought this thread about . I was curious if anyone else has found these problems in their dogs .

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Registered: Jun 2003
Location: Cairo, Missouri
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as I see it. The benifit of health checks lies in a breeding program, not hunting. If I had all my dogs checked and any problems came up, it is not going to make them live longer just because I know about it. Will it make them hunt any differently if I know or do not know? No.

If I was going to start breeding coondogs for a living and wanting to know I was starting with a good sound foundation, I believe health checks would be benaficial.

I haven't had a litter of pups in 6 years and I am just now thinking of breeding one of those dogs. I will be using a male that I have done my homework on, i.e. checking not only hunting ablites in that paticular line (not just the stud) but also longevity, health problems, etc.

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If I had ever had a coonhound with those problems or knew someone who did, I'd prolly be concerned. I haven't so I'm not.

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Registered: Jun 2003
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quote:

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Originally posted by Duckhound


Those findings are what brought this thread about . I was curious if anyone else has found these problems in their dogs .

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Registered: May 2004
Location: Ontario, Canada
Posts: 1253

This is a favorite topic of mine! Yes, I do hips, eyes, heart and thyroid on all breeding stock. And I have removed a few dogs from my breeding program because of it! Had one dog with juvenile cataracts (can't be seen by just looking, but is progressive). Also bought a 4 year old dog, no symptoms of anything, but routine screening for hip dysplasia revealed that he had severe dysplasia. A vet will tell you that there is no correlation between severity of the disease and clinical symptoms - some dogs with mild dysplasia will be crippled, and some with severe (like mine) show no outward symptoms. When I bought him, he had already been bred, as neither his breeder or previous owner did any health screening. He showed no symptoms until he was about 8, and then he deteriorated very quickly. That taught me first hand that there are many things that you won't 'see' without doing the tests.....
On this board there have been cases of hip dysplasia, eye problems, heart problems, and epilepsy - all hereditary problems. You can't say "I've never had any problems in my line" unless you test for it!!
Here's an example - Take one hotshot coondog, wins a couple of big hunts, finished to Grand by 18 months old - now he's offered at stud (without any health testing). Produces a few really good puppies, and gets bred a lot more.......by 5 years old, he goes completely blind from the PRA that could have been diagnosed at 18 months, if he'd been checked. So now you have several hundred dogs dispersed into the breeding population, carrying a known hereditary eye disease that causes blindness......now what happens if two of his brothers were also popular stud dogs, never came down with PRA, but were carriers, and passed it to their offspring. Within a generation or two, you can suddenly have a widespread problem that is hard to breed out.
The way I look at it, the cost of doing all the tests that I do, is less than the selling price for one puppy, so I can't see any justification not to do them, it's just one more tool to help breeders breed the very best dogs they can.
Laurie

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Registered: Jun 2003
Location: Beaver Springs, Pennsylvania
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This is alot of the main problems with the rough & smooth Collies. I bred them years ago. But due your above mentioned practices, you can't find a nice, good Collie around these parts at all anymore. They are gone. Inbred with so many defects, that they bred themselves almost gone.

I feel that if a person wants to produce a litter of pups, then to be fair & honest to everyone envolved both now & down the road years from now. Test, screen & breed ethically. Only good, healthy to good, healthy. If you can't care enough about your dog & your choosen breed of dog, for betterment, then please don't let them reproduce. JMO

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Registered: Dec 2004
Location: Central IL
Posts: 94

Josh -

Yes this is a hound , and unfortunatley the cards didn't get dealt my way . It's almost heartbreaking to know that I can't run him hard anymore cause it causes to much pain in his hips . I've decided to have him neutered and give him to my uncle where he can live out his days on the farm .

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Registered: Jan 2008
Location: JERSEYVILLE , IL
Posts: 71

we have them checked whenever they start to have a problem. so far so good. no problems with hips, eyes, etc... they all get their shots and heartgaurd and when anything seems out of the norm they go straight to the vet. one of our hounds just had surgery on his nose due to a tumor inside of it. now he is good as new. we love our dogs and care for them well.

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Registered: Jan 2005
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quote:

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Originally posted by Duckhound
Jim -

You can't tell all the time if an animal has bad hips -

I have a 4 yr old in the kennel that just started showing signs of lameness in his right side , so I had an xray done and bam - his right hip is bad . There is 4 yrs of my life down the drain , working this dog . Had I done evals at 12 months I would have known and placed this dog in the ground . Sure would of saved me a lot of heartbreak .

Those findings are what brought this thread about . I was curious if anyone else has found these problems in their dogs .

---

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