So what are health tests?
.So, what are health tests anyway?
Ok so you’re looking for a puppy and you have heard people say “Make sure both parents are health tested” right?
But what does it all mean?
Did a vet merely check over the dog and conclude that he/she is fit for breeding? Well, the simple answer is no.
Breeders who breed for health among other things have their breeding dogs health tested/screened for hereditary health issues within their breed.
The current recommended health tests for Newfoundland’s with the UK Kennel club are for Hips, Elbows, Hearts and a condition called Cystinuria (CU)
How do we test for these conditions?
For HIPS and ELBOWS we have X-RAYS taken by our vet and send those X-rays off to a specialist body to be officially scored.
The UK scoring body is the BVA
The USA scoring body is the OFA
HEARTS are scanned by a specialist cardiologist, it is a lot like an ultrasound scan. It is called a colour flow Echo doppler or Echocardiogram. This is the only accurate way to see the actual structure of the heart and to measure the blood flow pumping through the aorta
CU is tested by a mouth swab or blood test and sent away to a lab to be tested.
What do the scores mean?
UK:
Elbows are scored 0-3 on each side (e.g. 0/0 1/2 2/2 3/2)
UK hips are scored out of 106 in total, there are two hips so that is 53 per hip. 53/53 is the worst possible score 0/0 is the best possible score.
The breen mean is currently 14.5
The breed average sat at 26 for a while however 26 would indicate Hip Dysplasia (HD) according to the OFA conversion chart below, hips up to 18 (in total) in total are fair, hips 18-25 (In total) are borderline/mild and above have moderate to severe HIP DYSPLASIA
(given that the score is somewhat even in each hip)
https://www.ofa.org/diseases/hip-dysplasia/hip-international-ratings-matrix
USA scores are:
Excellent
Good
Fair
Borderline
Mild
Moderate
Severe
Hearts are scored clear, equivocal or affected
Clear is clear of heart issues.
Equivocal means the blood flow is higher than the desired normal range but no signs of heart problems were found.
Affected means the dog is showing signs of a heart issue and should not be bred from.
CU results are either clear, carrier or affected
· Clear bred to clear will only produce clear puppies
· Clear bred to a carrier will produce some carriers and some clear (no affected puppies)
· Carrier bred to carrier will produce affected puppies.
· Affected to clear will produce only carrier puppies
· Affected to affected will produce only affected puppies
Why do I need to know this? Shouldn’t that be the breeder's job?
Sadly not all breeders breed for the right reasons, simply wanting a puppy from your own dog isn’t good enough reason to breed a litter. Some wonderful people are bad breeders, usually it is just a case of being uneducated and thinking that throwing two dogs of the same breed together is all a good breeding program requires.
Sadly some breeders will lie or skirt around the truth.
What is the 1st thing anyone does when buying a car? We research! Well, guess what, you’re buying a life!
Where can we find results of a dog we are interested in having a puppy from?
Firstly every breeder will hold a copy of health test results and should be happy to show you. The results for hips and elbows are also available and uploaded into a database which is accessible to anyone.
All you will need is the kennel club name of that dog (The parents)
UK health test database https://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/services/public/mateselect/test/Default.aspx
USA health test results database
https://www.ofa.org/
At what age should these tests be performed?
The BVA (UK) requires a dog to be over 12 months of age.
The OFA (USA) requires a dog to be 24 months of age.
I have scored my own dogs between 12 months and 2 years old and I find that while the score doesn't differ greatly I have had better scores and less laxity on older dogs who have over time grown more muscle and therefore less laxity in the joints. It may also be worth noting that the OFA does not recommend scoring a bitch while in season or right after as laxity can occur.
Hearts should be scored over the age of 18 months for a more accurate examination.
Ok so you’re looking for a puppy and you have heard people say “Make sure both parents are health tested” right?
But what does it all mean?
Did a vet merely check over the dog and conclude that he/she is fit for breeding? Well, the simple answer is no.
Breeders who breed for health among other things have their breeding dogs health tested/screened for hereditary health issues within their breed.
The current recommended health tests for Newfoundland’s with the UK Kennel club are for Hips, Elbows, Hearts and a condition called Cystinuria (CU)
How do we test for these conditions?
For HIPS and ELBOWS we have X-RAYS taken by our vet and send those X-rays off to a specialist body to be officially scored.
The UK scoring body is the BVA
The USA scoring body is the OFA
HEARTS are scanned by a specialist cardiologist, it is a lot like an ultrasound scan. It is called a colour flow Echo doppler or Echocardiogram. This is the only accurate way to see the actual structure of the heart and to measure the blood flow pumping through the aorta
CU is tested by a mouth swab or blood test and sent away to a lab to be tested.
What do the scores mean?
UK:
Elbows are scored 0-3 on each side (e.g. 0/0 1/2 2/2 3/2)
- 0 means clear from Elbow Dysplasia (ED)
- 1 means the dog has mild ED
- 2 means the dog had Moderate ED
- 3 means the dog has severe ED
- Normal
- Grade 1 ED
- Grade 2 ED
- Grade 3 ED
UK hips are scored out of 106 in total, there are two hips so that is 53 per hip. 53/53 is the worst possible score 0/0 is the best possible score.
The breen mean is currently 14.5
The breed average sat at 26 for a while however 26 would indicate Hip Dysplasia (HD) according to the OFA conversion chart below, hips up to 18 (in total) in total are fair, hips 18-25 (In total) are borderline/mild and above have moderate to severe HIP DYSPLASIA
(given that the score is somewhat even in each hip)
https://www.ofa.org/diseases/hip-dysplasia/hip-international-ratings-matrix
USA scores are:
Excellent
Good
Fair
Borderline
Mild
Moderate
Severe
Hearts are scored clear, equivocal or affected
Clear is clear of heart issues.
Equivocal means the blood flow is higher than the desired normal range but no signs of heart problems were found.
Affected means the dog is showing signs of a heart issue and should not be bred from.
CU results are either clear, carrier or affected
· Clear bred to clear will only produce clear puppies
· Clear bred to a carrier will produce some carriers and some clear (no affected puppies)
· Carrier bred to carrier will produce affected puppies.
· Affected to clear will produce only carrier puppies
· Affected to affected will produce only affected puppies
Why do I need to know this? Shouldn’t that be the breeder's job?
Sadly not all breeders breed for the right reasons, simply wanting a puppy from your own dog isn’t good enough reason to breed a litter. Some wonderful people are bad breeders, usually it is just a case of being uneducated and thinking that throwing two dogs of the same breed together is all a good breeding program requires.
Sadly some breeders will lie or skirt around the truth.
What is the 1st thing anyone does when buying a car? We research! Well, guess what, you’re buying a life!
Where can we find results of a dog we are interested in having a puppy from?
Firstly every breeder will hold a copy of health test results and should be happy to show you. The results for hips and elbows are also available and uploaded into a database which is accessible to anyone.
All you will need is the kennel club name of that dog (The parents)
UK health test database https://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/services/public/mateselect/test/Default.aspx
USA health test results database
https://www.ofa.org/
At what age should these tests be performed?
The BVA (UK) requires a dog to be over 12 months of age.
The OFA (USA) requires a dog to be 24 months of age.
I have scored my own dogs between 12 months and 2 years old and I find that while the score doesn't differ greatly I have had better scores and less laxity on older dogs who have over time grown more muscle and therefore less laxity in the joints. It may also be worth noting that the OFA does not recommend scoring a bitch while in season or right after as laxity can occur.
Hearts should be scored over the age of 18 months for a more accurate examination.
