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I understand that this is done by X-ray and read by three vets that are certified to read them to a set standard. What different results are there? I have heard excellent, good, fair, and poor. Is this all of them? Also, what are the risk of having a fair? The pups in the repeat breeding post have the sire with fair hips and normal elbo and the dam with good hips and normal elbo. Is this a big risk of the pups being diplastic? I know there is always a risk, but does a fair cetification increase the risk significantly over a good?

The vet I spoke with said there is VERY little difference between Excellent and Good, and the same between Fair and Poor. He said some vets simply wont give an Excellent rating. Also you can have the same set of pics be rated as Excellent by one vet and Good by another. Thats all I know about it.

after fair you get into MD(mildly displastic) I believe, then more severe

the doc. that took our x-rays, had read for ofa in the past. I asked him if he thought they were good, he said 'I don't know if they'll rate good or exc., but his hips are NORMAL'

I'll stay away from 'fair' as long as I have a better option, and wouldn't breed my dog with em either.

thats said, consistency in family history is more important to me than just the dog's score. there's exceptions to everything. I'd much rather have a 'fair' from a background of good+, than an 'excellent' with displasia in their genes.

Another thing that can make a difference in the rating is the quality of the Xray. Have someone take them that does alot of them.

A buddie of mine had his dog done by a vet in hometown and OFA say marginal. He had them redone by a vet at MSU vet school who use to read for OFA and they can back good. The vet said that not holding the legs just right or them being pulled alittle bit to far out can make all the difference. This vet also told him that the Penn Hip was far more reliable for the certification than OFA. They take more xrays of the hips at different angels to get a better idea of how the joint fits together.

I kinda wonder about the X-ray quality. I researched the Sire (fair ofa) and found his sire (good), his grandsire and granddam both good. 5 littermates listed with 4 good and 1 exellent. The dam is not listed, but looking at littermates, either this dog was very unlucky or the X-ray was a poor angle.

Normally fair hips are not bred. travis

More reliable....less up to human interpertation....and can be done at a much earlier age....befor eyou put many manhours or money into training fees.Good Luck!

Kenny,
The dam is listed on OFA's website. Here is the web address. Her three vet rating was 2 Goods, 1 Excellent (2 out of 3 rule, or average rule). IF this address doen't work, look her up by name Cropper's Chena River Maggie.

http://www.offa.org/display.html?appnum=1039792#animal

As for the question about the sire, or any dog for that matter, in speaking to Dr. Keller at OFA, you have to look at the lineage the dog is from as well, as it sounds you are doing. He says the chances for problems are much greater of a dog rated good, that comes from a history of dysplasia, than a dog with a lesser rating that comes from a lineage of little or no dysplasia. This being considered, you also have to look at overall traits of the dogs being bred (trainability, marking, desire, conformation, etc.). Keep in mind, you can breed to OFA Excellent dogs, and have dysplastic pups. You can also breed dysplastic dogs, and get excellents. Just boils down to probability.

Specifically about the sire of this litter, there have been some questions about the x-ray with angle and shadowing. We have discussed the options of resubmitting new x-rays, just haven't done it.

A prime example of what is being discussed here is NFC-AFC Lucyana's Fast Wille. I don't know anyone who wouldn't take a pup from him, or breed to him. He was rated Fair for years. After being resubmitted he was rated at a Good. So, a lot comes down to position, but maybe equally as important, is the vet reading the x-ray.

If you have more questions, please let me know. I'll be glad to answer more specifics anyway that I can.

Her three vet rating was 2 Goods, 1 Excellent

Where do you look to see the vet's ratings? I just had my male OFA'd (excellent) and female (good) and was wondering where to look to see what each vet scored them.

If you will call OFA, they can tell you how each vet scored the x-rays that were submitted for the final score.

Kenny,
I may have misinterpreted one of your above posts. If you were talking about the sire of the litter's dam, it did not show up in the vertical pedigree due to her AKC # being wrong in OFA's system. If you look her up by name, she's there. Here is some information on her.

HRCH Quiver Creek's Rowdy Abigail - LR-89191G27F-T - Good
Her Sire - HRCH Shadow's Rowdy Rascal - LR-31897G40M - Good
Her Dam - HRCH Rogue River Katie of Westwind - LR-77806G53F - Good

It appears everything behind them is Good as well, for as many as I looked at. Some are listed as normal since they were scored prior to the system in place now. There were a couple that I couldn't find in the database, but most of them can be found with a name search.