Comments on: Hip check: Is the Penn model the Beta best? http://www.petconnection.com/blog/2009/01/11/hip-check-is-the-penn-model-the-beta-best/ The Web blog of the Pet Connection, a pet-care feature syndicated internationally by Universal Press. Sun, 08 Nov 2009 01:22:31 -0600 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Christopher http://www.petconnection.com/blog/2009/01/11/hip-check-is-the-penn-model-the-beta-best/comment-page-1/#comment-392296 Christopher Sun, 11 Jan 2009 23:55:56 +0000 http://www.petconnection.com/blog/?p=4870#comment-392296 The question you should ask yourself now is, what score would cause you to not breed. This is better done before a marginal score is tempting one way or another. For tests to be valuable, they have to be able to change your decisions. My problem with OFA is that I don't think any breeder actually uses them to make a decision. What does FAIR mean in your breed? Does that mean 10% of HD, or 55%? I can tell you the answer to that with PennHIP. IMO, OFA is used as a selling point when good, and hidden when marginal, and perhaps as a breeding tool if poor. But really now, you can LOOK at a dog and how they run and see POOR. The OFA database is nice, but that's about it. As a breeder, I don't see it as crucial. I can simply ask the owners of the dogs I'm interested in for copies of their results. I know of other health databases which aren't much use because mandatory results posting is not a part of participation. People who do post Carrier and Affected results also do so on their own webpages. What makes me nervous is the unreported cases. OFA hip scoring is too easy to game the system. Thus its value is little to nothing for me. I've never heard of the other tests OFA offers being an issue in my breed or any(or many) breeders doing them. PennHIP gives me all the information I need to know, despite it not being a forum to advertise how wonderful my dogs are with good results. In fact, I rather appreciate it for that... people who do it and share results seem much more interested in actual hip health instead of the appearance of perfection and the advertising bonus that comes with OFA being more recognized. OFA is like GPA, PennHIP is like SAT/ACT. One is kind of predicative but not really consistent and the other is standardized and mathematically significant. Both can be used for a benefit, PennHIP is just better and more complete. The question you should ask yourself now is, what score would cause you to not breed. This is better done before a marginal score is tempting one way or another.

For tests to be valuable, they have to be able to change your decisions.

My problem with OFA is that I don’t think any breeder actually uses them to make a decision. What does FAIR mean in your breed? Does that mean 10% of HD, or 55%? I can tell you the answer to that with PennHIP.

IMO, OFA is used as a selling point when good, and hidden when marginal, and perhaps as a breeding tool if poor. But really now, you can LOOK at a dog and how they run and see POOR.

The OFA database is nice, but that’s about it. As a breeder, I don’t see it as crucial. I can simply ask the owners of the dogs I’m interested in for copies of their results.

I know of other health databases which aren’t much use because mandatory results posting is not a part of participation. People who do post Carrier and Affected results also do so on their own webpages. What makes me nervous is the unreported cases.

OFA hip scoring is too easy to game the system. Thus its value is little to nothing for me. I’ve never heard of the other tests OFA offers being an issue in my breed or any(or many) breeders doing them.

PennHIP gives me all the information I need to know, despite it not being a forum to advertise how wonderful my dogs are with good results. In fact, I rather appreciate it for that… people who do it and share results seem much more interested in actual hip health instead of the appearance of perfection and the advertising bonus that comes with OFA being more recognized.

OFA is like GPA, PennHIP is like SAT/ACT. One is kind of predicative but not really consistent and the other is standardized and mathematically significant. Both can be used for a benefit, PennHIP is just better and more complete.

]]> By: Cait http://www.petconnection.com/blog/2009/01/11/hip-check-is-the-penn-model-the-beta-best/comment-page-1/#comment-392233 Cait Sun, 11 Jan 2009 20:16:59 +0000 http://www.petconnection.com/blog/?p=4870#comment-392233 I'm still really NOT convinced. THe lack of an open, searchable database, a breed in which hips are not a major concern, and the ONLY local penn hip vet being TOTALLY unwilling to market her services and you know, actually return calls to answer questions mean I'll be sticking with OFA for the forseeable future. I’m still really NOT convinced. THe lack of an open, searchable database, a breed in which hips are not a major concern, and the ONLY local penn hip vet being TOTALLY unwilling to market her services and you know, actually return calls to answer questions mean I’ll be sticking with OFA for the forseeable future.

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