| VanDer Moor~Hond Kennels |
| VanDer Moor~Hond Kennels |
| PennHip stands for Pennsylvania Hip Improvement Program I have to expound on this serious health issue I feel very passionate about. I will try to provide clear reasoning as to why I have selected this method of Hip evaluation and how I use it in my breeding program. 1st, I must say I am very discouraged after a recent very lengthy discussion on this subject with other beauceron breeders and enthusiasts that it is their general consensus I've drank the Kool-Aid!! When infact, I have done an enormous amount of research on Canine Hip Dysplasia in addition to my personal experience as a Vet Tech for some 13yrs and I refuse to just put my head in the sand! Using PennHip as a method of trying to improve the overall Hip health of any puppy/dog I produce is my tiny contribution to this wonderful breed. There is only 1 Hip Evaluation System recognized by most breed organizations and AKC ( This is very sad) and that is OFA Orthopedic Foundation for Animal which has a terrible record and generally acknowledged grossly misrepresented Data Base of skewed & useless information for any seriousl breeder. Please check out the links in support of this observation. It is incomplete and the # of actual HD dogs with GOOD rating that are false negative for HD is unacceptable in my opinion. It's no wonder there has been very little hip improvement over the 30yrs of it's existence. Leaving PennHip as the only other means by which a breeder has to get a evaluation on their dogs hips. PennHip is very different than OFA!! They do not grade any hips they simply measure and give you a DI or Distraction Index and a percentile in which your dog falls relative to your breed They recommend to breed in the higher 50% of your breed with the general idea that if you do this you will be moving in a positive direction to improving your breeding stock among the overall population of your breed. That being said there are many reason a breeder chooses particular dogs for breeding, Hips SHOULD NOT be the only consideration but needs to be a major one. I look at Temperament as one of my first indicators along with Hips, overall confirmation and good health all go hand in hand in my decision making process. Basically, some claim there is not enough evidence to support PennHip, I not only disagree with this, but PennHip was instituted in 1993 and continues to do Scientific Studies on this technique Some studies include the use of the Seeing Eye Dog Foundation GSD population, as they have gone to using PennHip for their HD evaluation. After 30+ years of not really getting anywhere using the standard OFA Radiographs. Also, There is no where that I can find any data as to what some claim that TOO tight a hip could be damaging, where the data to the contrary is very well documented and it equates to Hip Dysplasia. The data regarding greyhounds which is a breed virtually recognized as free of HD supports the theory that a dog with a DI of .30 or less is HD Free, as their median is .19 in my opinion makes a lot of sense. I have been using PennHip for 10+ years and having been a Veterinary Technician for many years and seeing the devastating effects of HD I want to use any means available to try to avoid this devastating disease in my breeding stock. Many Breeders claim they have known dogs affected by HD that lived perfectly wonderful lives, yeah and who told them that -just because the dog has a high pain tolerance doesn't negate the severity of the disease! And the point should be, it's obviously too late for that dog, but DON"T propagate the already devastating disease by breeding it because he is Asymptomatic or has a wonderful Grip, PLEASE! We can do better than this. Certainly the relatively small gene pool available has to be considered, but as only 1 breeder with a very limited # of dogs, and having 20% of the dogs in thePennHip data base with the DI's that my dogs have you can't justify that argument very well in my opinion. This is why I have opted to get puppy buyers involved by offering a price difference on puppies if they will agree to PennHip their pup between 6mo-1yr . For most people they don't need it done, but with out the most complete info I can gather, on the puppies I have produced, I am only grasping at straws in my effort to gage the effects of my breeding program. The current downfalls with PennHip is availability(Vet has to be Certified), it is not an Open Registry and cost . But I don't consider the later to be an excusable out, if you are serious about the health of your dogs and the Beauceron breed as a whole. Thanks again for taking the time out to read this:-) |
| Some PennHip Links |
| If you have any questions please feel free to contact me. You can read for days on the subject!! |
My Dogs PennHip Scores "Hydro" Jakira's Hinto Hyoro Left DI .32 DJD None Right DI .32 DJD None Sire: Xsir de L'Amouraudiere Dam: Murk la Argente "Vidar" VanDerMoor~Hond's Vidar Left DI .19 DJD None Right DI .19 DJD NONE As of 6-11-08 Vidar had the tightest hips in the Data Base. "Shady" Charteron's Sheridan Left .29 DJD None Right .29 DJD None "Vannie" VanDer Moor~Hond's Vandalia Left .58 DJD None Right .46 DJD None Dam: Mattee Sire: Hydro |
| "Rama" Sarama Vander Moor~Hond Left .31 DJD None Right .40 DJD None Dam: Mattee Sire: Lutin |
| "Oso" VanDer Moor~Hond's Oso Left .74 DJD None Right .70 DJD None Sire: Indy Dam: Mattee Sire: Indy |
| PennHip |
| Look Around the page I've put the DI's for my dogs out here for everyone to see, and with permission I have included Dundee. I don't include the percentile rating because that changes over time the DI's don't, and if I don't update my site there's no doubt some nay sayer will be touting that I am a liar or misrepresenting my dogs Hip results. Every puppy buyer will be supplied with a copy of the parents actual hip evaluation which the Vet who has done the PennHip xray will verify by a simple phone call. |
| "Dundee" Dundee de L'Amouraudiere Left .22 DJD None Right .25 DJD None Sire: Pharaon du Moulin de soulage Dam: Xstasy de L'Amouraudiere |
