When should you radiograph hips?
When to radiograph a dog's hips is a good question that should be addressed, especially for those of you who plan to work your dogs. I'll also discuss OFA and Penn hip which is sure to bring me lots of grief from the supporters of each. Keep in mind; I am expressing my opinion only.
First of all, when should you radiograph hips? As many of you know, I am more of a practical clinical experience type of guy as opposed to the black and white scientific nature of some others. If I get a dog that has a mild problem that is detected internally without any clinical or outside problems, I am likely to take a wait and see attitude. A good example would be a mild heart murmur; I would not strike an otherwise great dog from my program over a relatively minor defect. Remember to see the big picture. OK, so what does that have to do with radiographing the hips? Everything. Prelims (early radiographs, often called rads or x-rays) of the hips (meaning before a year of age) are a great way to screen the not so marginal dogs. It drives me nuts to hear people say that you cannot tell anything at an early age. That is a pile of bologna. You can tell a lot. If a dog is grossly dyplastic one should not waste time in a training program and it is easy to see if a dog is really dyplastic. If it is marginal, then roll your dice or toss your coin to see if you want to start training. Better yet, hold tight for an extra six months to a year and see which direction the hips are going. The layoff from high activity is the best thing for a marginal dog anyway. Remember that allowing a dog to grow slowly with little outside stress is the best way to build strong skeletal support (along with a solid nutrition program that does not encourage rapid growth).
If the prelims come back pretty good and you can bet that, at least for dysplasia, the dog will pass and you can start planning the program. I think that anytime between six months and a year is a good time to prelim, cheating on the side of a year, so long as no other external signs of dysplasia are present.
I get many questions about the merits of Penn Hip and OFA. My feelings are that OFA has done well over the years, is inexpensive and does not have a "hidden" agenda. Penn Hip does a fine job predicting dysplasia, however, I am not impressed that the organization requires expensive training and what I consider "licensing" of the veterinarian who does the procedures will detect dysplasia and most vets and radiologists can predict overt cases of dysplasia from prelims as well as probable good hips. Anything that comes back as marginal should be treated as such and rechecked later, knowing in advance, that they may go either way.
One last note - as far as a working dog is concerned I have seen many compete very well with mild dysplasia. I would not recommend breeding such dogs but, so long as they are not in pain when competing, why not? I know of many human athletes that tolerate a little pain for the thrill of the competition and I venture to say there are many of our working dogs out there that live for that feeling.
Gary Cotton, D.V.M.