DiseasePage

This page is to introduce & get you familiar with what the health issues breeders should be screening against. If you purchase a puppy from Health Tested parents diseases that are limited to phenotypic evaluations, there are no guarantees, but the probability that an animal will develop an inherited disease is reduced when its ancestry has been tested normal.

Hip Dysplasia (HD) is probably the most important genetic disorder that ALL doodle breeders NEED to test against. The reason for this is simple, HD can run in Poodles, Labradors, & Golden Retrievers, & in my opinion I do not feel that the Hybrid Vigor plays a role when it comes to HD. Since both parent breeders suffer from this terrible disease the gene is on both sides, therefore it is imperative that you ONLY buy puppies from a breeder that tests against Hip Dysplasia.

Hip Dysplasia can NOT be ruled out or diagnosed by palpation from a veterinarian, X-Rays MUST be taken to give an accurate assessment of a dog's hips. The common methods are the OFA view, & the 3 different PennHip X-rays. We use the OFA method, our dog's hips are X-rayed with out sedation, & their X-ray is sent in to the Orthopedic Foundation for Animals (OFA) for evaluation. We use the OFA an outside source because they are non-biased & will not give in inaccurate readings due to personal relationships with the breeder or the dog. OFA stands to benefit nothing from a good, or bad reading. Where some Vets may exadurgate a hip condition knowing they may pursway the owner into a possible expensive Hip surgery. Or give the breeder the reading they want to hear.. If you see the OFA logo next to one of our dogs you know that they are tested & cleared for Hip Dysplasia. In most cases the dog's actual results are posted for public viewing on the www.offa.org website. You can even check out any dog for Hip Results, so do your research if a breeder tells you their dog's have OFA certified Hips go to the OFA website & do a simple search, its easy & free to do. Keep in mind that dogs under the age of 1 year old may not be posted on the OFA website, as these are preliminary hip readings. Toy poodles do not typically suffer from HD

To get more information on Hip Dysplasia & to understand exactly what HD means for a beloved pet please visit http://www.offa.org/hipgeninfo.html

You can see fro the chart below (Source: OFA Official Website) the % of dyspeptic, & normal. the ranking is in order from worse to better, (Example a ranking breed of #1 has more dyspeptic dogs than a dog breed ranked at # 5)

Breed: # Tested % Normal % Dysplastic Ranking

Labrador 166501 77.6 12.4 72

Golden 105516 69.6 20.3 29

Poodle 15245 77.3 12.7 68

CERF Certifications- to have a CERF certified dog is another extremely important genetic health screening that is mandatory for your puppy's parents to have. What is CERF? CERF is a painless test performed by a board certified veterinary ophthalmologist. They perform these tests on the dogs & rule out all genetic eye diseases. Including PRA a genetic disease that all variations of Poodles , Labradors, & Golden Retriever breeds suffer from. PRA causes a dog to eventually go blind. CERF certifies against eye lid disorders such as entropia,

a disorder in the eye lids that causes the eye lashes to grow inwards towards the eye causing

the cornea to be irritated, & the dog constantly blinks, & eyes water. It is painful for a dog to

have entropian, therefore it is just another disease you do not want you puppy to have. If you

see a CERF Logo next to one of our dogs you know that they have had a CERF examination

& have been cleared from all eye diseases. you can read more about CERF on

http://www.vmdb.org/cerf.html

von Willebrand's Disease- An inherited disease that leaves dogs susceptible to abnormal bleeding following injuries or surgical procedures. The best thing about vWD is that there is a DNA test that breeders can have performed on their dogs that will give a breeder 100% assurance if their dog will NOT pass this disease on to their offspring, There is 3 different categories that a dog can be in, the first one is 100% clear this means a dog not have the disease & can NOT pass it on to its offspring. the 2nd category is Cleared but a carrier means that they themselves do not have the disease but they DO carry the gene & may possibly pass it on to their offspring. & the third category is affected & carrier, this means that the dog does have the disease, & will pass it on to its offspring, a dog that is affected should

never be bred. vWD is a disease that is primarily found in all varieties of poodles, not the retrievers.

Therefore only the poodles need to be tested. If the offspring of a 100% clear parent is a breeder

he/she does not need to be tested, because we already know that there is no way possible that

they can have the disease if their poodle parent was tested & 100% clear. If you see the VetGen

Logo next to one of poodles or doodles you know that they are 100% clear from the vWD

disease, either through the DNA test themselves or they are the offspring of a vWD cleared parent.

Elbow Dysplasia- Is also an inherited disease that retrievers & standard poodles suffer from, It is recommended that all Standard Poodles, Labradors & Golden Retrievers have their Elbows Xrayed to rule out ED, as you can see from the Chart below (Source: OFA official website) Elbow dysphasia is not that prevalent in the breeds but it IS there, & breeders DO need to be conscious about it.

Stats:

Breed: # Tested % Normal Abnormal Ranking

Labrador 28402 88.1 11.7 20

Golden 11939 88.1 11.7 21

Std Poodle 323 98.5 1.5 57

Congenital heart diseases in dogs are malformations of the heart or great vessels. The lesions characterizing congenital heart defects are present at birth and may develop more fully during perinatal and growth periods. Many congenital heart defects are thought to be genetically transmitted from parents to offspring; however, the exact modes of inheritance have not been precisely determined for all cardiovascular malformations. (the above paragraph was copied directly from the OFA website.)

Below is the stats for Congenital heart disease from the official OFA website

Breed # Tested % Normal % Equivocal % Affected Ranking Labrador 1442 98.8 0.6 0.6 15

Golden 8726 98.8 0.8 0.4 19

Poodle 73 100 0.0 0.0 41

The International Labradoodle Association is a Labradoodle only registry, because Labradoodles are not AKC registerable breeders & owners needed a way to keep track of the labradoodle pedigree, the ILA is basically doing what the AKC does, but are a little more strict, the ILA is doing a great job in my opinion of keeping breeders straight, & keeping the integrity if the ILA high. The ILA has breeders guidelines that require a ILA breeder to follow or their membership will be void. You always want to buy a puppy from a breeder that belongs to it's breed club, no matter what breed you are purchasing.

We are a Goldendoodles.com Recommended breeder, it takes along time to be recommended on this Doodle Breeder's list, there is minimum health testing that is required in order for us to be recommend, Most importantly with this list it is "Owner Recommended" meaning that the owners of our puppies have gone to great lengths to recommend us as a doodle breeder. I am very proud to be apart of this list. There are several other wonderful breeders that are not on this Goldendoodles.com breeders list, there is a fee associated to compensate the website designer & some breeders have chosen to not pay the fee.

To the right is a picture of OFA rated "GOOD" Hips, the hip socket is deep, & round, the hip "ball" fits nicely into the socket, it is greater than 2/3 seated. There is No sublaxation present, & the femoral heads & necks are nicely formed with no degeneration present. This dog is a great breeding candidate for breeding,

(Hip picture courtesy of Mis B-Haven's Rebecca)

Pink Arrow points to the Femoral Head & Neck

Brown Arrow points to shape of ball & socket

Green arrow points to lack of sublaxation No Gap!

I left the other hip alone so you can look at it to compare with out the arrows in the way..

To the right is a picture of OFA rated "MODERATE HD" Hips, the hip socket is shallow, & irregular in shape, the hip ball is not round & does not fit nicely into the socket, there is also sublaxation showing in this dog, the gap at the top of the hip socket & ball is sublaxation. There is remodeling of the femoral head & neck, compare to the GOOD X-rays above to see the difference. This dog lives pain free & no outward signs of HD.

(Hip picture courtesy of a dog from another breeding program, )

Pink Arrow points to the Femoral Head & Neck

Brown Arrow points to shape of ball & socket

Green arrow points to sublaxation, there IS a Gap!!

I left the other hip alone so you can look at it to compare with out the arrows in the way..

To the right is a picture of OFA rated "SEVERE HD" Hips,This dog has No visible hip socket or hip ball, degeneration has completely taken over in this dog, Total Hip Replacement is definitely needed in this dog. Remodeling of femoral head & neck is evident in this dog,

(Hip picture courtesy of Darby a wonderful labradoodle, please click here to view her website to learn more about HD, )

Pink Arrow points to the Femoral Head & Neck

Brown Arrow points to shape of ball & socket

Green arrow points to sublaxation, there IS a Gap!!

I left the other hip alone so you can look at it to compare with out the arrows in the way..

Patellar Luxation is when the patella, or kneecap, is part of the stifle joint (knee). In patellar luxation, the kneecap luxates, or pops out of place, either in a medial or lateral position.

Bilateral involvement is most common, but unilateral is not uncommon. Animals can be affected by the time they are 8 weeks of age. The most notable finding is a knock-knee (genu valgum) stance. The patella is usually reducible, and laxity of the medial collateral ligament may be evident. The medial retinacular tissues of the stifle joint are often thickened, and the foot can be seen to twist laterally as weight is placed on the limb, (the above statement is copied directly from the OFA website)

Breed Rank Number of Evaluations Percent Normal Percent Affected

Labrador Retrievers 5 195 82.1 17.9

Golden Retrievers 12 97 92.8 7.2

Poodle 16 467 93.6 6.4