|
What's
New
THE PENNHIP PROJECT
PennHIP Versus OFA
By Judy
Huston
It is often
difficult to know where to focus our energy to make the
most improvement and do the most good for our breed.
The White Shepherd is a herding and working breed and
most people will agree that one of the major hereditary
problems is Hip Dysplasia. Since we now have PennHIP
which is an alternate method of assessing hips, this
article is an attempt to clarify the differences and to
suggest that PennHIP could help breeders produce dogs
with tighter hips. I look at PennHIP as a possible tool
breeders could utilize to reduce affected dogs and
carriers of HD in our breed.
It seems, to
paraphrase Fred Lanting who wrote Canine Hip
Dysplasia and Other Orthopedic Disorders that using
OFA and OVC instead of PennHIP is like using an axe to
cut down a tree when you have a chain saw sitting on the
trunk of your car. OFA and similar hip-extended methods
use a grading system of Excellent, Good, or Fair, or a
Pass/Fail. Some would argue that these methods have not
reduced the incidence of Hip Dysplasia as much as
expected. There are some breeders happy with their
results, but there are many from our breed and others
who have become disillusioned. We have heard our own
breeders lament the fact that they bred two excellent
dogs and still produced HD. It is interesting that in
the ten necropsies we have on file as part of the White
Shepherd Genetics Project research, two dogs with OFA
clearances had HD. In another case in our Open
Registry, a dog had an OFA score of Good at the age of
two, but was diagnosed with mild hip dysplasia at the
age of five. Their owners thought they were “clean” but
they were not.
The
Distraction Index (D.I.) as measured on one of the views
taken by PennHIP is the predictor of a sign of risk
for eventual HD/DJD (HD and DJD both signify Hip
Dysplasia). A D.I. of 0.28 is the “magic threshold” for
the GSD. This is the D.I. under which it is virtually
certain there is no Hip Dysplasia/DJD. Over 0.70, there
is a very high risk of HD/DJD. The higher the number
the higher the risk. The lower the number the tighter
the hips. The closer the numbers are to 0.70, the
higher the risk of Hip Dysplasia.
We’ve been
conditioned to believe when we have a dog that passes
OFA or OVC that they are free of HD—or clean, but
according to the PennHIP method of evaluating hips, this
is not always the case. Some of the dogs that have
passed with the hip-extended method really have a false
negative. In other words, their hips look good with
legs extended, but when the measurement is taken to see
how tight the socket is in the hip (the Distraction
Index), the dog may have a higher than average risk of
developing Hip Dysplasia or may already have HD. It
will be very interesting to note the variability in the
Distraction Index in a group of dogs with a passing OFA
of Fair, Good, or Excellent to the distraction index.
PennHIP
states that the way to improve the hips in any breed is
to only use dogs in the top 30%
(70th,
80th, or 90th percentile). Don’t
let the D.I. index numbers or the percentiles confuse
you. Just remember the lower the D.I. number, the lower
the risk, and the higher the number the higher the
risk. If a dog was evaluated as having HD/DJD on the
PennHIP report, that information is given along with the
D.I. otherwise the dogs are free of H.D. The
percentiles indicate where a dog stands in relation to
the rest of the breed. In the 90th
percentile means these dogs have tighter hips than 90%
of the breed.
When a
report is received from PennHIP, it shows the number of
dogs in the breed at the point in time the test was
submitted. It shows the median number which for our
breed is 0.40 (as many dogs under this number as above
it), and it shows the percentile which can change over
time.
PennHIP is
an advanced tool and the conclusions listed in Lanting’s
book state:
ü
Tighter is
better (agreed on by PennHIP, OFA, and other groups)
ü
Position and
technique can discover covert laxity (PennHIP) and it is
the covert laxity that you can’t see on the OFA/OVC
views
ü
Creating
open registries and using Breed Value Data will result
in faster progress, and
ü
PennHIP is
the best diagnostic-predictive tool currently available.
At the
PennHIP/OFA seminar at my home on August 29, eleven
breeder/owners had the privilege of seeing a PowerPoint
presentation by a PennHIP certified vet, Dr. William
Schultz of Okemos, Michigan. He pointed out that with
OFA, the hip-extended position is not a normal resting
position and that extending the legs causes tightening
of the joint capsule (which could make the joint look
better than it really is) and there are repeatability
concerns. While with PennHIP, the doctors are certified
and continually evaluated. The dogs are under full
anesthesia and there are three views required: the OFA
view, the compressed view, and the distracted view—and
all MUST be sent in, unlike with OFA--if the hips don’t
look like they will pass, they often aren’t sent in. In
Doctor Schultz’ view, PennHIP is the smart way to go to
improve the hips of any breed.
A final
quote from Lanting’s book (and which was also Dr. George
Padgett’s philosophy) states that: “Hip quality, as
important as it is, is not the whole dog. A stud with
0.35 may benefit the breed more than one with a 0.28 DI
because of a combination of other phenotype features.
Better breeders keep the whole dog in mind, while at the
same time they know that the increasing DI means
increasing risk of HD.”
As a result
of the almost $20,000 received from the Cesar Milan
seminar, the WSGP is in a position to do some research
in the PennHIP area. As of today (February 26, 2007), I
have 93 dogs listed on my PennHIP chart. We already had
a family of dogs with PennHIP and we offered to pay $200
towards the procedure which can range from just under
$200 to close to $600 depending on the part of the
country you live in. Quite a few people elected to
particpate, and soon, the results of more dogs in this
family will be submitted and we’ll have our first look
at what a White Shepherd PennHIP database would look
like.
We may
approach PennHIP to list this group of dogs as White
Shepherds (with the owner’s consent of course) so that
they will keep track of our ranges, but even if they
don’t, as a result of this project we’ll have a healthy
group of dogs to work with to determine for ourselves
that PennHIP is the most powerful tool out there to
improve the hips in our breed.
One way to
start incorporating PennHIP into your breeding program
is to add the price of the PennHIP into the sale price
of the puppy. Make doing PennHIP at 4-6 months a
requirement of your contract and tell your puppy buyer
you will pay for it. Sell pups on a no breeding
contract until you know their score. Over a relatively
short time, we should be producing dogs with tighter
hips and be confident that this is one disorder that we
have under control. After all, our dogs are from the
herding group and working is what they are bred to do.
They need to be sound to do the jobs they were made for.
We also have
one dog in the project that had the procedure as a young
dog and will do it again as one example of
repeatability. We have two other eight year old dogs
that will have it done for the first time. The next
step will be to encourage dual testing so that we have
both PennHIP and OFA on as many dogs as possible.
If you have
questions about this, please contact me by e-mail.
hustonjudy@gmail.com. Clearly, not everyone is sold
on PennHIP but, hopefully, this work will educate us all
about his method.
Below is the article by Judy Huston about our last Cesar
Millan Seminar.
Cesar Millan "The Dog Whisperer" Seminar
White Shepherd Genetics Project Fund Raiser
By Judy Huston
 
In late November 2004, I arranged for TIVO to be
installed on our Direct TV system. My first attempt to
locate interesting animal-related shows to record,
especially dogs, revealed a National Geographic program
called "The Dog Whisperer" with Cesar Millan. I was
blown away by this man's ability with dogs.
After two weeks of watching and
re-watching episodes that included aggressive Rotties,
Pit Bulls, German Shepherds (including three white
ones), small dogs, big dogs, mixed breeds, I needed to
learn more. I began surfing the net and found that Cesar
Millan ran the Dog Psychology Center in Los Angeles. I
read from his site that he rehabilitates dogs and trains
people. I learned that he is a dog behaviorist who
promotes the idea of the dog as a pack animal who has
one of two roles – to lead or to follow. And, the role
is determined by one thing only – the energy of both the
dog and the human. Cesar says, "They know who we are and
what our role is 10 seconds after they meet us."
Fascinating. I needed to learn more.
I contacted Cesar's office and con-nected
with one of his assistants, Gayle Thompson. I wanted to
find out whether he did seminars and if so, where,
besides L.A. Those who know my story know that over
three years ago, my White Shepherd, Kyra, survived a
late-diagnosis of Lumbosacral Stenosis and Inflammatory
Bowel Disease that left her with side-effects that need
to be managed on an on-going basis and that prohibit
travel. Fate was in my corner and I discovered that
Cesar's show was going on the road and they were in the
process of booking the first out-of-state events.
Michigan turned out to be one of the first and we just
needed to settle on the date. It was April or August so
I picked April and got to work. Gayle was wonderful
about answering my questions and helping us every step
of the way.
I realized immediately that this
could be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to do a major
fundraiser for White Shepherd Genetics Projects. Gayle
said they required 150 participants. I didn't know if I
could get that many people, but knew I had to try.
Volunteers began offering to help right from the
beginning. My friend and training partner, Cathy
Sadowski, was the first person I'd shared Cesar episodes
with and she volunteered to help bring him here. Cathy
and Pam and Michelle Koons helped me get the initial
flyers out and spread the word to the flyball community.
The word was barely out when I had two more women vying
for who would do the flyers and registration form. One
woman did the flyers and database and the other donated
beautiful tickets that some people had Cesar sign and
kept for souvenirs. She later created a beautiful framed
picture of Ce-sar with our white dogs that we presented
to him on Sunday. Two other women explained that their
background was in managing events and one became Team
Leader and the other was our MC at the event.
Our own Pam and Michelle Koons
volunteered to do the White Shepherd exhibit. You will
see from the cover photo that their work was outstanding
and exceeded my expectations, just like everything else
about this seminar. I intended that the exhibit would
serve two purposes. The first and most important was to
bring attention to what we are doing in the purebred
world and how our breed is at the forefront of
responsible and ethical breeding and disclosure. Second,
we placed a donation jar on the table to encourage
additional donations to the project. We expect that
Cesar will use this photo somewhere on his website and
we already know that the Scottie rescue people from
Columbus have it up on their site.
When it looked like we would reach
the 150 people, I asked Gayle whether funds from
participants over the required 150 could be donated back
to our fund. They graciously agreed to donate back a
full half of their fee. This made all the difference in
the world. Now, I had the money to pay for the sound
system, screen, and piping we needed to make this a
professional presentation. Even with all the extras, we
added $7,000 to our WS Genetics Projects funds. Our
first expenditure might be the Progeny computer program
that will allow us to do geneticist's pedigrees – the
foundation tool of Dr. Padgett's work. Dr. Melissa Cox
will help us get started with this program. George
Packard, one of the founders of the Institute for
Genetic Disease Control, the first open registry, is
actively using Progeny and wants to use one of our White
Shepherd families as an example to other breed clubs of
the value of this tool. Susan Ewart has submitted all of
the Braehead data for this purpose, which is ultimately
for the betterment of the breed.
I plan to write in another article
about the magical transformations and experiences that
occurred on Sunday with the team members and their dogs
at Cesar's private consultations. We are grateful to
Cesar and Illusion Millan for their dedication and
commitment to dogs and to the well being of their owners
and for being so generous with our White Shepherd
project.
When I counted the money in our
donation jar, there was a $100 bill in there. Pam Koons
told me that Cesar dropped it in the jar. Giving is what
this man does whether it is his love and support, his
expertise, his time, or his own funds. The world of dogs
is ready for Cesar. I hope we in the Midwest gave him an
idea of what is ahead for him and his family
|
