Home › Buying Guide › Health Testing
Soundness is the whole point
If this dog is going to patrol a fence line, ride in a truck, work around equipment, and cover ground every day for a decade, it needs joints built for that. You cannot see joints. You can see whether anyone tested the parents.
Hip dysplasia correction starts around 4,000 dollars per side and often ends a working career regardless. Degenerative myelopathy has no cure and takes the hind end first. Both are screened before a breeding ever happens, so a breeder skipping the screen is handing you the risk.
Hips and elbows
The Orthopedic Foundation for Animals reads radiographs and issues a hip rating and an elbow grade, with final certification at 24 months once the joints have formed. Imported and European bred dogs frequently carry the SV a-stamp or an FCI result instead, which is equally legitimate.
| Hip rating | Meaning | Breedable |
|---|---|---|
| Excellent | Superior joint conformation | Yes |
| Good | Well formed, normal | Yes |
| Fair | Minor irregularity, still normal | Yes, paired with care |
| Borderline | Inconclusive | Not until retested |
| Mild, Moderate, Severe | Dysplastic | No |
Elbows grade Normal or Grade I through III. Only Normal passes. Elbow dysplasia draws less attention than hips and produces just as much lameness in a dog that works, so ask for both results rather than one.
Degenerative myelopathy
DM is a progressive spinal disease with no treatment. It usually shows after eight years, beginning as hind end weakness and loss of coordination and progressing to paralysis. For a working dog it ends the work long before it ends the dog.
A cheek swab returns clear, carrier, or at risk. Carriers never develop it. Because the inheritance is recessive, carrier bred to clear produces no affected puppies, which makes the test useful rather than restrictive. The only genuinely bad option is not knowing.
Panels and cardiac
A breed genetic panel screens a set of heritable conditions in one run and costs far less than treating any one of them. Ask which panel, and ask for the report rather than a verbal summary.
A cardiac auscultation by a veterinarian is cheap and worth asking about, since congenital defects do occur in the breed.
Verifying what you are shown
A certificate carries the dog registered name, registration number, evaluation date, and result. Match that name against the pedigree, because paperwork for a different dog is a real and common trick.
OFA results are publicly searchable, so confirm them yourself rather than relying on a photograph of a document. Two minutes before you pay beats a decade of wondering.
Red flags
Vet checked used as a substitute for testing. Our line has never had it, which is a story rather than a screen. Testing costs too much, which means the cost moved to you. Paperwork coming later. And any pedigree the breeder will not let you verify independently.
The state veterinary college at Starkville gives Mississippi owners a specialist referral path for orthopedic and genetic questions. Find out now which local practice would refer you there, rather than working it out during a lameness workup.
The 12 questions to ask · Back to the buying guide · What this should cost
On This Page
Working line litters from health tested DDR and Czech parents, placed from a waitlist. Free to join.
Common Questions
Health testing questions
Does a vet exam count as health testing?
It does not, and treating it as equivalent is how people end up with an expensive problem. An exam tells you a puppy is well today. Health testing screens the PARENTS for inherited disease before the breeding happens, through radiographs read by a specialist panel and DNA run in a laboratory. Different question, different answer.
Where can I get specialist orthopedic work done in Mississippi?
The Mississippi State University College of Veterinary Medicine in Starkville is the state teaching hospital and handles orthopedic and genetic referrals. For a breed carrying known hip and elbow risk, knowing that referral path exists before you need it is worth something.
My dog will be a working farm dog. Does testing matter more or less?
More. A dog that covers a place daily, jumps into truck beds, and works over uneven ground loads its joints far harder than a suburban pet does. Marginal hips that a sedentary dog might carry quietly become lameness in a working home, usually sooner.
What is the difference between OFA and the European a-stamp?
Both are legitimate hip evaluation schemes. OFA is the American panel and issues final certification at 24 months. The SV a-stamp is the German scheme and appears on imported and European bred dogs. A pedigree with DDR or Czech lines will often carry the European result, which is equally valid.
Is carrier status for degenerative myelopathy disqualifying?
No. DM is recessive, so a carrier bred to a clear dog cannot produce an affected puppy. Carriers are useful breeding animals when paired correctly. The failure is breeding without knowing, because carrier to carrier is the pairing that produces at risk dogs.
Upcoming litters from documented working lines
Our recommended breeder is Companion Kennels, a small program breeding East German DDR and Czech working lines with published health testing and verifiable pedigrees. Litters are limited and placed from a waitlist.