[Laughter777]

I am planning to enter Jesse in some ADBA confo shows in 2010 and have been looking at what to do to start conditioning him. I have read about testing hips, elbows, etc and a general exam by the vet before beginning anything like this so I am looking at OFA's site and am so confused...What should I have tested? (Jesse is 5 years old) And when I go to my vet I assume they do any and all xrays for OFA...what else do I need to have them do? Also I have heard of Penn Hip....anyone use them, whats the main diff between them and OFA?

Thanks in advance for all your knowledge
Sarah (and Jesse)

 

[bahamutt99]

Eh. I personally wouldn't worry about testing the hips before training and working him. If you wanted to breed him, you absolutely should have it done to ensure genetic health on the babies. But if you want to have him screened anyway, what you would do is take your boy to the vet for radiographs of his hips and those are submitted to the OFA, which in turn sends you a certificate with his rating. (Make sure the vet knows what you need them for so they can shoot the right angle.)