A rescue popped up on the news tonight asking for donations to help them care for a litter of German Shepherds that are all suffering from the same life altering orthopedic disease. The rescue isn’t specifying any more details as to exactly what the condition is. From the video in the link it looks like the dogs are poorly bred with the over-angled hind ends. Anyone know what this disease is? I’m curious for my own knowledge. I’m not familiar enough with the breed to know what this might be.
I found this - appears to be hip dysplasia.
https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2019/11/15/7-german-shepherds-nh-surgery
Ack, I was going to say hip dysplasia before reading the 2nd article. OMG a litter of 7 all needing hip surgery?
And people wonder WHY I constantly say “breeders that don’t conduct health evaluations” are the scourge of the earth? It’s not even expensive. 
:no:
This is really unusual, which means it is possible (even likely) that both parents were significantly affected, and potentially (even likely) that this condition has been seen for generations. If x-rays had been done prior to breeding it would be most likely that it would have been seen and the animals would not have been bred (by a reputable breeder).
So for everyone that think it’s ok not to expect breeders to be responsible for health testing – THIS is why. :mad::mad::no: Do not buy a puppy from breeders that don’t health test their breeding stock.
**disclaimer - I suppose it is mathematically possible that this happened despite appropriate hip evaluations. In which case the entire breeding program should be of interest to the parent club and veterinary researchers. (Meaning, I doubt it, but I am just acknowledging that hip evaluations are not 100% predictive.)
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As a veterinarian I find myself all to often looking at clients and asking WTF is so hard about being ethical and doing health testing prior to breeding. Two BYB lab litters this week with ZERO health testing done on either parent. One with no prenatal care; the other doesn’t know when the dog is due. One came in for dewormer (having no idea what she should be doing) while I was shooting OFA prelims on my youngest.
This story is near me; I question if doing hip replacement surgery on that many dogs is a wise use of limited rescue funds
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Thanks for the answer everybody! Growing up we had a Bernese with hip displaysia but it was nowhere near that severe so I didn’t recognize it.
I gave a polite “scolding” to a physician a few weeks ago after he told me how he was driving all the way from Ontario to New Hampshire to pick up an Aussiedoodle puppy. Smh. I asked him what the parents had been proven in, and he gave me a blank stare. So then I asked if the breeder had at least done some health testing, again a blank stare.
I told him “I hope for that puppy’s sake, and for the rest of the litter that they get lucky and are born healthy, with perfect conformation…whatever that might be for an Aussiedoodle. And I hope that the next time you pick a puppy, you do so responsibly.”
He looked quite uncomfortable, so I think I got my message across.
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As I understood this case from the little information the media offer, the former owner was not able to take care properly, which may include food management and exercising the pups in a healthy way.
Call me a skeptic but I don’t believe that would cause severe dysplasia in all 7 puppies before they were a year old. Could over exercising make it worse? Sure I guess. I’d like to see the xrays.
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Just reading up on this…this is the 2nd litter from the same breeder surrendered…one in July, one in September. 😞
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As soon as it comes to HD the ‘normal’ vet for me is no longer part of the game, because HD is pretty complex. Over-exercising as well as not enough exercise to build muscles plus nutrition.
Former owner has health issues according to the article, whatever this means, s/he is not able to take good care and hopefully s/he will not breed anymore.
I was surrounded by GS my whole life, I can’t help but hoping they will make it - their goofy faces are adoreable.
My point about wanting to see the xrays is that I dont think anything related to diet or exercise would make hip sockets disappear in seven 8 month old puppies. If they arent there, they never were. Maybe a puppy or two might have had fractures related to diet or exercise. Still find it hard to believe that all of them would be so severely affected by anything other than an inherited condition.
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I don’t know enough about this case. Haven’t seen all of the puppies, haven’t seen the x-rays and don’t know how competent the vet is. These pups are still growing, hopefully they have the best vet.
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i’d be surprised to find a GSD with a good hind end. I know one, personally. Most are horrible scuttling hock dragging pathetic things. The almost always make me cringe just watching…and the show dogs are the worst.
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Hind leg angulation and hip dysplasia are two separate things. You can cringe if you want, but Rumor (Lockenhaus’ Rumor Has It V Kenlyn - Westminster BIS winner in 2017) has OFA “Excellent” hips.
https://www.kenlynshepherds.com/rumor
And normal Elbows. And her sire/dam had “OFA Good” hips. And the various half-siblings shown all have “Good” or “Excellent” hips. https://www.ofa.org/advanced-search?f=sr&appnum=1646329
You don’t have to like the angulation of GSDs, but the way they look is not about good or bad hips. If you note this photo (I don’t think I can upload it) - you’ll see that it is about the length of the femur and angulation of the hock. The back is straight. https://www.kenlynshepherds.com/rumor?lightbox=dataItem-j2asb1fh4
ugh…Rumor~~!~! he is the epitome of the word “pathos”. I just have trouble witnessing crippled looking animals without cringing. I feel so sorry for the modern german shepherd.
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She is a bitch.
And again, you don’t have to like her. But she is not unsound or “crippled” so no need to feel sorry for her.
Maybe you should watch the videos of her at liberty and see if your opinion of her conformation changes. The problem with watching a dog show on TV is you really don’t get to see the animals move naturally because they are hindered by being on a short leash in a small ring with a much slower handler holding the other end.
I just recently got the OFA back on my two year old Aussie bitch, and her hips were excellent but elbows failed (dysplasia grade 2 in both). Her parents are OFA normal elbows and one good and one excellent hips. My girl will be spayed next week.
My girl’s full sister that the breeder kept, is OFA normal elbows and good hips.
Aussie breeders didn’t start doing elbows until about ten or fifteen years ago or so. Makes it hard to figure out where in the lines the elbow dysplasia is coming from.
My boy, from the same breeder, normal elbows and excellent hips.
Problem for me IS visual. It really does make me feel very sad to see scuttling hock-walking GSDs. I feel similarly when watching extreme-movement TWHs. I get to feel what i feel when seeing an animal whose structure has been altered beyond normal function by breeders. And i also get to state my feelings about that outloud. In other words, you do you and i’ll do me. I am not criticizing you, or your dog. I wouldn’t do that…it’s mean. But i will state my opinion (as a dog trainer!) about functionality of a ‘working’ dog belonging to some nonparticipating individual.
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Let me start by saying I don’t love the super sloped backs on the modern show GSDs. Hip joint integrity aside, I think it looks icky, and I do have major questions about how it impacts actual ability to work. I also wonder how it impacts wear and tear on other joints/parts of the dogs’ body as they age.
That said, I do want to point out a HUGE difference between the “big lick” gaited horses and the show GSD: dogs don’t wear any gear/don’t live a life of extreme manipulation and management to change their way of traveling. The TWH/Saddlebred/etc horses with the crazy exaggerated gaits wear huge heavy shoes and pads, are trained with chains on their ankles, often sored, etc.
I can’t say if this horse is sored/has worn chains in training, but here’s a “flat shod” TWH - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpS_H7i7sY4 – the motion is still pretty exaggerated, but you can see even just removing the heavy shoes brings the horse’s gait WAY closer to normal movement than the grotesque “big lick” horses (https://youtu.be/OKUckLYVziY?t=85).
Fine.
There are some breeds I don’t love.
My point is that your perception of whether they look “crippled” because of highly angulated hocks is not the same as hip dysplasia or other hip issues. GSD is not my breed but I am not aware of any higher incidence of dysplasia because of their leg conformation - if there is dysplasia, like in the poorly bred specimens in the OP - it’s most likely because the breeders are not evaluating for hip health and eliminating poor specimens from the breeding pool.
