More info on GSDs and associated problems - myth? Health

Hi,

I want to post this as I truly admire the GSD breed, I think they are such majestic dogs, however, I have alarm bells in my head with regards hip displasia.

I know this is a problem associated with many larger breeds of dog, and even smaller (on my work experience, I witness orthapaedic surgery on a 9 month old Border Terrier for hip displasia).

However, I have fallen across GSDs in great suffering and with their lives cut short because of this.

My question is: is this because I live in the Midlands and backyard breeders have done this or is it a nationwide problem that ethical breeders are constantly battling with?

A lot of BYB can take some responsibility for this, but breeders that don't health check for HD are to blame too. All responsible breeders are constantly battling with this problem

Unfortunatly, German Shepherds are prone to HD, but, getting a dog with parents that have good hip scores we will hopefully see less and less cases of this sort of thing

German Shepherds are prone to hip dysplasia, have been for many years, but not more than several other breeds, & they were among the first to bring in a system of measuring the problem.If you go back to the 70's hips were either a clear, or a nearly clear equivelant I believe to about a maximum of 6 total or they were a fail, because of this most breeders didn't hipscore. When the GSDs brought in a hip scoring scheme I was told by many friends in other breeds o we don't need this its only gsds that have a problem, now its known that the breed average for many of these breeds is far higher than the GSD average. Even then scoring does not guarentee good hips, some dogs with good hips do not pass them on & some of the problem of hips is not genetic so its not a simple problem. If it were simple, in Germany, where hip testing & only satisfactory dogs allowed to be bred from has been going on for over 30 years, they would not still have a problem.

I have owned ten GSDs and the highest score one of mine has had was 2:4 (6), although I have had 1 with OCD of the shoulder and 1 with ED,

Another thing you have to watch for is CDRM, this is what my 8yr old GSD Jasper got, it is horrible to see them decline with it. He was an extremely fit and active dog until he got this, we used to do agility, working trials the works. Then he got CDRM and this made him disabled dragging his legs, we had to make the decision to have him PTS to avoid suffering.

http://www.provet.co.uk/health/diseases/cdrm.htm

DM or CDRM is a miserable thing in that there is no cure but it can progress at different speeds so don't despair if told your dog has it. One of mine was diagnosed with it at 7 & it had not got much worse when he died of cancer at nearly 11. According to the vet it just can't be predicted how fast or slowly it will progress.