Hip Dysplasia Ratings

Hip dysplasia is a serious consideration in many sporting dog breeds. We warranty our pups, and by doing so we believe we have good feedback from puppy buyers. In that regard, over a period of 22 years, feedback to us indicates a very low incidence of hip problems in our pups, at less than 1% of pups provided to others and of ones we kept ourselves. We started testing our adult dogs 13 years ago.

We have always tried to do as good or better what the present day Good French Breeders do. At present, they encourage a hip testing and then use that information to manage breeding. Club officials discourage breeding any dog with less that C (mild OFA, USA) hip rating. Dogs with C or less rating cannot place high in a show or trial.

We have never bred any dog less than mild by OFA (C in France.) 100% of our breeding dogs today are Mild to Excellent by OFA (USA) or C to A in France. 84% of our present breeding dogs are Fair to Excellent by OFA (USA) or B to A in France. 53% of our present breeding dogs are Good to Excellent by OFA in USA or A in France. If we do not breed Mild (C) dogs any longer, then 100% of our breeders will be Fair to Excellent (B to A).

We have imported a few pups that developed hip problems (moderate to severe by OFA) by one or two years old. These dogs were never bred. Some folks ask - "What do you do?" Answer - " We bite the bullet and immediately remove them from our kennel." There is no other way for a breeder. It is a tough moment.

In summary, we think we have an excellent group of dogs to breed and we hope to improve some more.

At the March, 2006 annual meeting of the French Brittany Gun Dog Association (FBGDA), the Board of Directors approved a policy on Hip Dysplasia. The policy is:
"It shall be the official policy of the French Brittany Gun Dog Association that only dogs who have been radio graphed and evaluated by a recognized certifying body with no evidence of Hip Dysplasia, be used to perpetuate the breed. These authorities include Orthopedic Foundation for Animals, Inc. (OFA), PennHIP, and appropriate certifying authories from outside the United States on imported dogs. For a dog to be considered, they must have been rated as follows or better:

OFA: Fair, no evidence of hip dysplasia was recognized

PennHIP: Distraction Index (DI) of .50 or better, with no radiographic evidence of DJD

Non US rating systems: OFA fair equivalent, no evidence of hip dysplasia was recognized" (From FBGDA)

This policy is by voluntary compliance by breeders. So, the FBGDA policy is now one step "stronger" than the French Club recommendations.

So, while in the past we tried to follow information from the French Club on Hip Dysplasia, we will now progress into following the FBGDA Policy. As time progresses, we plan to phase out "Mild" (C) rated dogs. We may never breed Mild (C) dogs again. Due to our already excellent record of very low incidence of poor hip ratings in pups/dogs we produced (<1%), we believe that breeding a Mild rated dog to a Good or Excellent is reasonably OK, but we plan to move toward adopting the FBGDA policy as our own.

Trying to breed "too Good" may not be all "Good." Some French Breeders have observed that some "A" dogs have "high" hips, that is, not smooth and straight from shoulders to rump. I call this situation "Goat Hip", as the hips are higher than backline. In the field, this may not matter, but for owners inclined to show, this will be a problem because in serious competition, the smoother backline dog will win.

The following is a list of our present adult and young adult dogs that we have bred during the last 6 years (2000 to 2006), and those we may elect to breed any time in the future. Many of these dogs are now "retired" and hunting elsewhere. The listing gives the registered name, call name in parenthesis if it is different, the sex of the dog (F or M), the USA, OFA ratings and the French ratings. The ratings listed first are the actual test ratings (USA or French) and the ratings in parenthesis are the correlated ratings from the alternate system.

Younger dogs will be tested as they get to the proper age at 2 years.

Hip ratings are done similarly, but different, between rating organizations and countries. Following is a chart that correlates some different ratings. We use the O.F.A. (Orthopedic Foundation for Animals) for all our U.S. of A. testings. Ratings are best to poorest, top line to bottom line.

Comparing different systems of ratings is a bit like comparing "apples" and "oranges." All systems provide the ratings (fruit) and the ratings are "different origin" (apples or oranges), but they are all correlated (sweet). Don't get hung up on different systems of ratings. All are derived from both objective veterinarian measures and subjective interpretation to a degree. All are a good approximation of hip quality in my view.

These ratings are an indication of hip joint quality of the dog rated, and POSSIBLE inheritance of the progeny. But, the inheritance is not absolute, it is a possibility. An "excellent" hip rated dog can produce lower hip rated progeny, and a "mild" dog can produce a higher hip rated progeny. But the tendency is a Good one x a Good one = a Good one. I think proper nutrition from pups to adult growth also contributes to good hip quality.

I consider the OFA, French & British ratings reasonably similar. Penn-Hip is another USA hip rating system that basically rates the elasticity or lack thereof of the hip joint, thus "strength" of the joint. This test is not readily available to us and it is considerably more costly.