top of page
HEALTH TESTING MATTERS!
Any dog I breed has had hip/elbows scored, heart, and thyroid, at very minimum tested. When possible they will also have eyes tested (clinics only pop up a couple times a year & fill quickly, no vet within 3 hours does this screening). Unless both parents are DM clear all puppies will receive a full DNA panel that will be provided to each puppy owner. If I get a dog as a puppy I do PennHIP and will not breed anything over a 0.5.
Does the Laizhou Hong Have Health Problems?
Currently, the only "health issues" we are aware of are hips/elbows and the potential for DM. DM is described in a detailed chart below. The most important thing about DM when choosing a breeder is knowing at minimum one of the parents tests as DM clear. I recommend requesting to see the actual test of at least one parent there have certainly been breeders caught lying about their results. The breed has only been in the western world since 2017. China does not health test so a few breed pioneers in the UK put in a lot of work importing and screening dogs to start adequate programs (thank you Mel & Junior). Until this year most dogs were testing equivalent to OFA fair, and the majority of dogs being bred are OFA Fair equivalent. The most common hip/elbow scoring scheme used is the ANKC/BVA method. Due to the prevalence of DCM in GSD's, its also recommended parents have heart tests done as well but no issues have been found yet.
UNDERSTANDING HIP SCORING SCHEMES
INTERNATION HIP SCORE MATRIX
Understanding hip scores is important for owners, not just breeders and is not as easy as most people think. I believe it is important to also see the x-rays, not just the score. Some people lie about testing, and some schemes especially FCI don't seem to line up with this chart accordingly and finally, for a proper evaluation to be done the X-ray should be clearly visible or serious markers of CHD & CED can easily be missed.
Current Average & Median Scores for CRD & Breeds known to be used in CRD foundation
Click to view full list of breed averages for each scoring scheme
All hip scoring schemes may vary in exact breeding reccomendations, however they all reccomend breeding from dogs that score below the breed average and/or breed median score when possible.
BVA/ANKC/KC
HIP/ELBOW SCORING SCHEME
The British hip scheme (BVA/KC/ANKC) advises breeders to breed from dogs below the breed mean or median score. Of the 9 parameters scored on each hip, only the Norberg angle is measured objectively, the rest are subjective assessments. The scores for subluxation are also affected by positioning as the hip extended view (view used by OFA) can artificially tighten the hip joint. The 9 parameters scored are listed in detail below. It is important to understand where the numbers come from as some parameters are more concerning than others.
The image to the left is of a hip joint and illustrates some of the hip examination parameters. Femoral head/neck exostosis & recontouring is unlikely to show up before the age of 2, especially in large breed dogs, so if a dog scores above a 10 before the age of 2, it is important to have the imaging repeated after the age of 2.
The major disadvantage of the BVA/ANKC scheme is that it can produce false negative results and many dogs actually have an unacceptable degree of laxity and will go on to develop osteoarthritis. However any dog with a high hip score will have bad hips, meaning no false positives.
The pennHIP system is rapidly gaining acceptance world wide and is poised to be the next standard hip screening method. The scores for subluxation are also affected by positioning as the hip extended view can artificially tighten the hip joint.
The ANKC also advises that any single hip score over 10 is indication of either gross instability or of clearly established secondary change.
Example Hips & Scores
Ever wonder why OFA has 24 month requirement?
OFA won't give an official score until age two because the man (Ergo) who started OFA was a GSD man, and he noticed that GSDs would occasionally have differences between 12 and 24 month rads.
When it comes to elbows: OFA took the IEWG's methodology (3 views from 12 months onwards) and decided to cut it down to *one* view at 24 months. Per the OFA's website, they did this because it's more "cost effective" to only do one view, and it keeps the elbow age in line with their established age for hips.
BVA/ANKC (same method is used by both) is one of the most researched hip/elbow scoring methods aside from PennHIP. Whilst the BVA recognizes that scores over 10 total done before 24 months could change and therefore should be redone before breeding, however scores under that are unlikely to significantly change. This finding is in line with OFA's finding, ie that dogs with an excellent prelim score are 100% likely to score normal on finals; they also provide stats for individual scores on their grade, however it's important to recognize that OFA only has 7 possible scores. ANKC/BVA has 106 (with almost 3000 ways to reach a certain score), and how those scores are interpreted is extremely breed-specific and nuanced. It's not just "Good." It's "here's an individual score for every individual part of each hip, and a total score for each hip.
Other Interesting Facts when Comparing Schemes
The first radiographic sign of HD, may be subtle or absent on the standard extended hip view but is readily detected by the PennHIP® method of radiography, meaning that PennHIP is the only scoring scheme that doesn't produce false positive results.
Hip joint laxity cannot be assessed from the extended hip view (which is the only view used by ANKC, BVA/KC, OFA, and every other hip scoring scheme except for PennHIP®)
How should all this affect our selection of breeding dogs?
More Health Test Info to come soon
Currently, the CRD's average score is just over 11 and the median is 9.5. Based on the dogs I'm aware that have been tested by PennHip, I estimate the average to be around 0.5. This breed is however very new, and if we cut out all dogs testing over the breeds avg/median, we are going to end up bottle necking ourselves. So when is it acceptable to breed dogs deemed inadequate by these scoring schemes? There are exceptions to the rules and a good breeder will be happy to explain to you why they are choosing to breed a dog outside of these guidelines. You will get a different answer from everyone, but personally if such a dog tested over the mean/med, I hope the dog would have 00 elbows, was tested either via PennHip, or after the age of 2, and the dog MUST have something exceptional to offer the breed. What qualifies as exceptional? A few things I would consider exceptional enough to consider breeding such a dog is the level of work in which it has accomplished, unfortunately at this point in time I don't believe conformation titles really don't say much about the dog as if it even remotely resembles standard and can be touched by the judge it can become a champion by beating just a couple dogs at a couple shows and those dogs are often not of the same breed. Something such as a working career, or a high level sports title, such as master level agility, rally, obedience, nose work, IGP1, PSA1, etc... Bloodlines is another HUGE factor, if the dog in question is from bloodlines in which there are several other dogs with same lineage but with better scores, I wouldn't even consider breeding one unless it was the only one within those lines to be DM free, and if such a dog is considered it should certainly be within breed standard. Finally, if a dog is the only one from a certain bloodline, especially if its DM free, I would absolutely consider breeding it, even if its colors are out of standard. Breeding a dog that carries blood from more than two of the most common bloodlines that tests much avg should really not be done given how many other adequate dogs from the same bloodlines are currently available. The conclusions drawn in this section are not to be taken as fact, however these are certainly the things I would hope other breeders would consider when choosing their breeding stock, and things I will consider as I make breeding decisions for my program.
bottom of page