You don't need a degree in genetics, or even a college course, to understand the basics of health testing in dogs.

Every aspect of any dog's physical being began as contributions from it's parent's bodies,carried in their genetic code. As an example, there are certain health conditions in Golden Retrivers, Poodles and Labradors which can be passed from parent to puppy in the genetic material. Hence are found in the hybrids known as Goldendoodles (Golden Retriever/Poodle crosses) and Labradoodles (Labrador Retriver/Poodle crosses). These are called heritable (that is, "able to be inherited") disorders. In only one case, Von Willebrand's Disease, do we actually know what gene is responsible. In the case of this disease, a laboratory can examine cells from a dog tosee if the gene is present. A dog having the gene would not be bred.

In all other instances we cannot look for a gene to tell us of the presence of a certain disease. We have to look for evidence of the disease itself. In the case of heritable eye diseases inPoodles and Doodles, for example, an exam is conducted by a veterinary opthamologist every year to determine if a disease is developing. Dogs that show symptoms of a heritable eye disease are eliminated from the breeding program. Other examples of heritable diseasestested for by some Doodle breeders include thyroid disease, some forms of heart disease, Addison's disease, sebaceous adenitis, hip dysplasia and diabetes.

The heritable disease found in Doodles that most people seem familiar with is Hip Dysplasia (HD). This disease is a sort of Degenerative Joint Disease (DJD) , with symptoms similar to arthritis in humans. In dogs though, the heritable form of the disease is not a disease of old age, but can develop while the dog is still quite young and is obvious on X-rays as the hip joint has abnormal features which are present from birth. As with most things, the hip architecture can range from great to horrible, with some hips in between. Two schemes are commonly available in the US for evaluating hips. OFA screening relies on veterinarians reading an x-ray and assigning a rank:'Excellent', 'Good', 'Fair' 'Borderline' or 'Dysplastic'. Breeders who base decisions about breeding on OFA generally agree that 'Excellent' and 'Good' rankings are fine to breed, andalso agree that 'Borderline' or 'Dysplastic ' are not acceptable for breeding. As with all other decisions where there are gray areas, some breeders will breed a dog with a 'Fair' rank, andothers will not. But this is really a judgement call and not all breeders agree. There is a registry (www.offa.org) that collects and reports hip assessments to assist in recording and tracking these rankings. OFA will not certify a dogs hips until the age of 2 years, however, so some breeders are using a specialized x-ray technique called PennHIP testing, which can be done as young as 4 months of age. This test results in a score for each hip, ranging from .1 to.9, and reflects how tight the hip joint is, and the average score varies by dog breed. Tighter hips, that is lower scores, are less likely to develop DJD and are desirable in any breedingdog. In my opinion, any score under .3 is clearly breedable. Anything over .6 is clearly not breedable. In between .3 and .6 is a gray area. Breeders who utilize this method track

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