Question About Hip Dysplasia

[Cody]

My BF's Old English Sheepdog is nearly 11 and has HD.

The question I am asking is: Does he have it because of bad breeding or is it just some dogs get it?

He was from a Registered Breeder and was apparently show quality.

[Nekhbet]

can be genetic or environmental. At 11 I would expect some HD in a larger breed. Have X-rays been done on the dog?

[poodlefan]

Codygirl, most studies seem to conclude that both genetics and environment (diet, exercise etc) play a part in this condition. All you can do is lower the risk of HD but selecting a dog from generations of well scored parents and carefully raising it.

[cowanbree]

At 11 years of age in a big breed I would consider it normal for them to have some arthritis - I wouldn't call that HD

[Cody]

It is HD, the vet diagnosed it earlier this year. He was going to get it operated on but opted out of it. We got it xrayed and saw them.

When people say environment, do they mean too much excercise or too little? As my BF used to rollerblade every day and Rocky would have a big run. Sometimes even to 3 suburbs away. Would Rocky be paying for all that exertion now?

[Miranda]

When people say environment, do they mean too much excercise or too little? As my BF used to rollerblade every day and Rocky would have a big run. Sometimes even to 3 suburbs away. Would Rocky be paying for all that exertion now?

Running the dog long distances on hard, unnatural surfaces such as roads and pavements would have put a great deal of stress on his ligaments and joints, especially if your boyfriend started running him at an early age. Although the OES is a working breed they were not designed to run several kilometres at a sustained speed on concrete. The dog would have been travelling fairly fast for long periods of time and if this occurred on a daily basis, it would have been pretty hard on the dog.

I don't agree that overexercising causes HD, but if a dog has a predisposition to the disease it will certainly exacerbate the condition. In this case I'd say that yes, Rocky is paying for it now.

[Cody]

When people say environment, do they mean too much excercise or too little? As my BF used to rollerblade every day and Rocky would have a big run. Sometimes even to 3 suburbs away. Would Rocky be paying for all that exertion now?

Running the dog long distances on hard, unnatural surfaces such as roads and pavements would have put a great deal of stress on his ligaments and joints, especially if your boyfriend started running him at an early age. Although the OES is a working breed they were not designed to run several kilometres at a sustained speed on concrete. The dog would have been travelling fairly fast for long periods of time and if this occurred on a daily basis, it would have been pretty ####### the dog.

I don't agree that overexercising causes HD, but if a dog has a predisposition to the disease it will certainly exacerbate the condition. In this case I'd say that yes, Rocky is paying for it now.

Thank you for your insight.

Poor dog, sometimes our love and having the wellbeing of our dogs at heart ends up hurting our beloved furry ones in their older age. I will certainly be letting my BF know all this as he does want another OES when the time (sadly) comes.