PWD health Testing
The PWDCA has focused on health issues since the formation of the Club in 1984.
When I joined the PWDCA in 1994 every new member was sent a 3-ring binder with the Directory of Dogs, listing every litter born in the US until then. There was also a health directory, including forms owners filled out about their dogs.
Eventually, the paper versions were updated to a PDF on a CD-ROM, and then as internet access increased there was an online database. The current version is available to everyone as a guest, or any PWD owner can become a participating member with access to all the features.
Visit the PWD Health & Litter Database
(opens in new window)
Most of the recommended testing has definitive results. Blood or saliva samples are sent to a recommended lab and the owner receives a report with the results.
These tests can be done at any age, and the results don’t change over time. They are in the dog’s DNA.
Hip (and elbow) ratings are different. They are based on X-rays sent to OFA (Orthopedic Foundation of America) and are graded by three veterinarians, who assign a grade. The X-rays can be done multiple times and occasionally receive different grades.
From the OFA website: The phenotypic evaluation of hips done by the OFA falls into seven different categories. Those categories are Normal (Excellent, Good, Fair), Borderline, and Dysplastic (Mild, Moderate, Severe).
Complicating this is that bone formation has a genetic component, but perhaps more importantly, is influenced by environmental factors.
Xena’s X-rays were graded as unilateral, SLIGHT borderline.
From OFA: Borderline: there is no clear cut consensus between the radiologists to place the hip into a given category of normal or dysplastic. There is usually more incongruency present than what occurs in the minor amount found in a fair but there are no arthritic changes present that definitively diagnose the hip joint being dysplastic.
What does this mean for Xena and your puppy?
Both Xena and Streak’s parents have good hips, with generations of normal hips behind them.
When X
These next weeks provide the foundation for the puppies to learn about new things, and experience new sounds and smells.
This is where using Puppy Culture makes a lifelong difference in the dog’s life.. Ruby, who is these puppies’ grandmother, was in the first litter where I used the Puppy Culture protocols.
Even though my earlier litters produced happy, well-adjusted puppies, the puppies raised with Puppy Culture seem are more resilient. Because they have new experiences daily they learn to adapt quickly and those skills carry throughout their life.
This week the puppies have been exposed to a new place, moving from the whelping box to a pen in the kitchen, heard lots of new noises, the vacuum cleaner, the neighbor’s fireworks, an air compressor being used while a new door was installed.
They have been exposed to new odors to help awaken their scenting skills. Besides the usual kitchen aromas, they have a new scent in their pen everyday. Today it was chamomile, tomorrow it will be grass.
