What's the reason that you believe it's not any better than regular x-rays

I have serious concerns about the entire concept of this penhip approach to evaluating good hips.

When I was young I had very loose ligaments in my knees. I threw my knews out of joint when I got in fights, when I would step in holes behind bars at night (looking for a place to pee), when I tried to jump up on bar tops to dance. As I got older my ligements tighened and I have not thrown a kneee out in 20 years - maybe this is because I don't get in fights, pee behnd bars or dance on counter tops anymore. (I kind of miss it all.)

But the fact remains that as we get older our ligaments tighten. The same happens with dogs. Penhip measures joint elasticity. Hips can be sucked back int their socket as a dog ages. If there has not been an bone deterioration from over exercise on a young dog (a big problem in my opinion) the hip can go back in and be normal.

So for this reason I do not like penhip. I may be wrong. But I have x-rayed more dogs than 10 people own in a lifetime and many of them have been 4 and 5 year old dogs. When I used to import I x-rayed all the dogs when they came into the contry. I saw many many dogs that went OFA good who had the lowest level of hips at 12 months in Germany. The ony thing I could imagine was that these dogs hips tighten up with age.

I am the first to say that this does not happen with all dogs. Many dogs have bad hips no matter what method you use to x-ray them. Read the article I wrote on my web site about correct positioning on hip xrays.http://www.leerburg.com/hipart.htm

Sir-

Could you explain further what "over exercise in young dogs" is?
How do you know what is too much?
If the dog is enjoying his work or play, and is not exercised to near exhaustion, and given time to rest before another workout, do you think he will be alright?
This is how I work my dogs, so I hope I'm not messing them up now or long term.
Regards-
Ted

My question about over exercise is how do you stop these high drive working dogs? What is over exercise? Is that... me out there playing ball or two toys with my 1 year old crazed prey drive pup 2 times a day or is over exercise watching my high drive working dog run laps around the yard on his own. Which they will do all day if I let them. Both of my pups have full balls and sockets but both have subluxation with the balls coming somewhat out of the sockets. I now swim my dogs 3 times a week and play ball in the pool. These guys drive us crazy with out the physical activity. Especially on a good raw diet they have endless energy.

Cindy

No I do not think you should allow your puppies to determine what is right for them. You would not do that with your children.

Wolf pups do not go out jogging or for long walks. They stay near the den until they are pretty old.

Puppies have soft bones (like kids). Over exercise causes bad hips. We do not allow our small children to go jogging or workout to the point of exhuastion.

If you want a dog with good hips you will not over do the exercise, you will feed an all natural diet and you will buy a dog from parents with a genetic history of good hips.

Ed:

What research is it that you base - feeding an all natural diet (please define 'all natural') to amount to a better chance that a dog will not grow dysplastic?

What I get out of a raw diet as with humans is cooked food molecules change. With fresh raw food enzymes are in their pure state allowing the body to fully use all vital components. With cooked food you do not get the enymes you or your dog needs to grow healthier. Heat damages enyzmes. Feeding your dog raw helps prevent free radical damage thus helping prevent HD. I think most people who feed their dogs a raw diet it is composes of raw meat (hamburger, ground turkey), chicken bones (backs wings etc..) ground raw veggies.

If you go to my web site book section there are a list of books on health - I have the list below - I do not think anyone could read these books and come away without beliveing in the a--natural diet. I am going to be adding an article on what I consider is the All-natural diet.


18.Give Your Dog A Bone by Ian Billinghurst ($30.00)
19.Grow Your Pups With Bones by Ian Billinghurst ($40.00)
20.Natural Nutrition for Dogs and Cats by Kymythy R. Schultze ($9.00)
21.Natural Health for Dogs and Cats by Richard H. Pitcairn and Susan
Hubble Pitcairn ($17.00)
22.The Nature of Animal Healing by Martin Goldstein, D.V.M. ($16.00)
23.Natural Healing for Dogs and Cats A-Z by Cheryl Schwartz D.V.M.
($20)
24.The Dog Owners Home Veterinary Handbook by Carlson & Griffin,
hard cover ($28.00)
25.Guide to Skin & Haircoat Problems in Dogs by Lowell Ackerman DVM
hard cover ($28.00)
26.What Vets Don’t Tell You About Vaccines by Catherine O’Driscoll