How necessary do you consider health testing?

Food, Fitness and how to keep them healthy.

How important is health testing in a breeding program?

Very important; dogs shouldn't be bred without health testing
26
93%
Not so important; strenous work will show me everything I need to know about my dog's health.
2
7%
If a dog looks good, acts good, and moves good, its healthy enough to be bred.
0
No votes
I don't care.
0
No votes
 
Total votes : 28

Postby mnp13 » May 24th, 2006, 3:40 pm

I just think it is overly relied upon. Hips can't be done once, they need to be done every few years, but people get them done once and think that covers it.

Like the heart murmur that Rigg's brother had, it went away as he matured... which is very common. I had a heart murmur for a short time when I was little.

Health testing is on going, not "one time and you get a green light", and that seems to be the way it is generally used.
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Postby Romanwild » May 24th, 2006, 3:48 pm

So you beleive that dogs should be health tested but more then once on things like hips? I agree.
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Postby cheekymunkee » May 24th, 2006, 3:50 pm

I agree too! And jsut because your dogs hips, elbows, heart, whatever are good enough to prance around a ring & sit in a crate is no reason it should be bred. What about good enough to WORK?
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Postby mnp13 » May 24th, 2006, 4:02 pm

cheekymunkee wrote:I agree too! And jsut because your dogs hips, elbows, heart, whatever are good enough to prance around a ring & sit in a crate is no reason it should be bred. What about good enough to WORK?


exactly...

a wise old man once told me that OFA, etc are health certifications working your dog is a health test.

I think a dog should have athletic titles, not just OB.
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Postby Romanwild » May 24th, 2006, 4:12 pm

Still not sure where the gray area is? What's unnessasary about OFA certs if you work your dog? :?

Without both (working and certs) you're taking a bigger chance that things might not be right.
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Postby katiek0417 » May 24th, 2006, 5:26 pm

mnp13 wrote:I think a dog should have athletic titles, not just OB.


I don't know that I agree with that 100%. Sacha will title in OB this summer. Let's face it, I will NEVER title her in protection....she won't handle the pressure.

I don't want to train her for field trials...not something I'm interested in.

She is, however, a S&R dog. There is no title that is given for S&R dogs. I could try to get a Sch Tracking title...but she does not track like a Schutzhund dog (she does a lot of air scenting mixed with ground scenting; Sch dogs are methodical).

So, how do you decide if Sacha is athletic enough to breed? Who makes that decision?
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Postby Malli » May 24th, 2006, 8:32 pm

babyreba wrote:You know, I still don't understand why people are opposed to doing testing


were you speaking to me or was this a general statement?

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Postby odnarb » May 24th, 2006, 8:41 pm

Romanwild wrote:What' gray about it.

If you test and don't work the dog. That's not good.

If work and don't test your dog. That's not good.

Work and test. GOOD!

Where' the gray/grey? :wink:



Smart man!

I see a lot of working folks say that that working is a fine way of health testing. Yet, I've seen the terrible x-rays of dogs that were doing the palisade at max.

Working your dogs isn't an excuse to not health test. You CAN do both, and health testing isn't going to damage the dog in any way. There is no room for being cheap when it comes to bettering the breed.

Health testing shouldn't be the green light to breed a dog. But, it is still a very important tool to use if you actually care about screenign out the unknown.
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Postby mnp13 » May 24th, 2006, 9:22 pm

katiek0417 wrote:So, how do you decide if Sacha is athletic enough to breed? Who makes that decision?


It depends on the breed as to what the breed "should be" able to do.
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Postby mnp13 » May 24th, 2006, 9:34 pm

odnarb wrote:Working your dogs isn't an excuse to not health test. You CAN do both, and health testing isn't going to damage the dog in any way. There is no room for being cheap when it comes to bettering the breed.


true... but health testing your dog is very frequently an excuse not to work the dog.

You're right, there is no room for being cheap when it comes to bettering the breed. I hope you rail this hard on all the people breeding show titled dogs that don't have working titles... (but I know that you don't)
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Postby odnarb » May 28th, 2006, 2:26 pm

mnp13 wrote:true... but health testing your dog is very frequently an excuse not to work the dog.



And, that is a lame excuse as well.


You're right, there is no room for being cheap when it comes to bettering the breed. I hope you rail this hard on all the people breeding show titled dogs that don't have working titles... (but I know that you don't)



I don't, do I? Anybody that knows me also knows that I have no use for dogs that are titled in conformation only. The dog better have some performance titles before it even remotely gets my interest. Do you seriously think that I've never tore into a show breeder for not putting performance titles on their dogs? You haven't been around the "online APBT community" very long. There used to just be one place for us, and it was populated by everyone from naive pet owners to dogfighters. Yet, there still wasn't the polarized personalities that there are today.

But, it's true, I don't hammer the show crowd like I used to. I used to tear into them pretty badly. But, the fact of the matter is, these people have a tough time getting a freaking CGC on their dogs. They are also breeding dogs that are very low in drive and energy because they can keep large numbers of them in crates with no problems. Deadheads are easy keepers, but not good performance dogs.

So seriously, what is the point? You have your morons that are smurfing up the breed by thinking that health testing only is a green light to breed. And, you have the other camp that seems to think that a dog jumping, catching hogs, or doing bitework is a green light without looking at the scientific health of the dog. Both are irresponsible, IMO. There are very few in the middle that are doing what is best for the breed. There is a lot more to breeding quality dogs than just working, and just health testing.
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Postby Romanwild » May 28th, 2006, 8:03 pm

Odnarb wrote:
You have your morons that are smurfing up the breed by thinking that health testing only is a green light to breed. And, you have the other camp that seems to think that a dog jumping, catching hogs, or doing bitework is a green light without looking at the scientific health of the dog. Both are irresponsible, IMO. There are very few in the middle that are doing what is best for the breed. There is a lot more to breeding quality dogs than just working, and just health testing.


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