Hip Dysplasia by Breed in AKC Working Group

Breeds having at least 100 evaluations January 1974 through December 2003 as per OFA stats;

Breed	Ranked Working/Spits Group	Ranked amongst All 136 Breeds	Number of Evaluations	Percent Excellent	Percent Dysplastic
NEAPOLITAN MASTIFF	1	6	122	0.8	46.7
ST. BERNARD	2	7	1827	4.1	46.7
NEWFOUNDLAND	3	19	10998	6.9	26.2
BULLMASTIFF	4	22	3833	3.5	24.7
ROTTWEILER	5	28	82655	7.8	20.6
NORWEGIAN ELKHOUND	6	30	3164	6.3	20.2
CHOW CHOW	7	32	4405	6.5	20.1
KUVASZ	8	33	1428	11.7	19.5
GREATER SWISS MOUNTAIN DOG	9	35	1246	10.3	19.4
MASTIFF	10	36	7129	7.1	19.2
GIANT SCHNAUZER	11	37	3487	9.2	19.2
GERMAN SHEPHERD DOG	12	38	80663	3.3	19.1
SHIH TZU	13	39	543	1.8	19.0
BERNESE MOUNTAIN DOG	14	43	9140	10.2	17.1
PORTUGUESE WATER DOG	15	62	4249	12.0	13.9
AKITA	16	65	13864	16.9	13.7
KOMONDOR	17	67	812	10.5	12.8
TIBETAN MASTIFF	18	73	557	6.3	12.0
GREAT DANE	19	74	8417	11.3	11.8
ALASKAN MALAMUTE	20	75	11643	16.0	11.8
SAMOYED	21	78	12921	9.3	11.3
BOXER	22	80	3392	3.4	10.8
GREAT PYRENEES	23	84	4664	13.7	9.4
STANDARD SCHNAUZER	24	87	3049	7.6	9.1
AMERICAN ESKIMO DOG	25	91	645	7.0	8.7
KEESHOND	26	98	3492	8.3	6.6
DOBERMAN PINSCHER	27	105	11399	17.6	6.1
SHIBA INU	28	106	1809	16.5	5.9
FINNISH SPITZ	29	114	264	18.2	4.9
BASENJI	30	128	1436	24.0	2.8
SIBERIAN HUSKY	31	132	14101	32.4	2.0

Trends in Elbow Dysplasia as per AKC Working Group

Breed	Rank in Working/ Spitz Group	Ranking amongst all 59 Breeds	Number of Evaluations	Percent Normal	Percent Dysplastic	Percent Grade I	Percent Grade II	Percent Grade III
CHOW CHOW	1	1	264	53.0	44.7	21.2	14.4	9.1
ROTTWEILER	2	2	7293	57.4	41.8	30.8	9.3	1.8
NEWFOUNDLAND	3	5	2505	72.5	27.2	15.4	6.4	5.3
MASTIFF	4	12	2732	83.6	15.8	9.8	4.1	1.9
GREATER SWISS MOUNTAIN DOG	5	15	732	85.5	13.9	12.3	1.5	0.1
TIBETAN MASTIFF	6	22	118	89.0	10.2	6.8	1.7	1.7
KUVASZ	7	23	157	91.7	8.3	8.3	0.0	0.0
KEESHOND	8	26	130	93.1	6.9	6.2	0.8	0.0
GREAT DANE	9	33	494	95.3	4.7	4.0	0.4	0.2
ALASKAN MALAMUTE	10	38	220	95.9	4.1	2.3	1.4	0.5
SAMOYED	11	41	430	96.7	3.0	2.1	0.9	0.0
GREAT PYRENEES	12	43	196	97.4	2.6	1.5	1.0	0.0
DOBERMAN PINSCHER	13	46	702	98.3	1.6	1.3	0.1	0.1
AKITA	14	47	938	98.2	1.6	1.2	0.0	0.4
PORTUGUESE WATER DOG	15	50	845	98.3	1.4	1.2	0.2	0.0
SHIBA INU	16	54	195	98.5	1.0	1.0	0.0	0.0

Trends in Hip Dysplasia as per AKC Working Group

Breeds by Birth Year

Breed	Rank Highest Improved	Rating Total Dogs	Born to 1980	Born 1990-92	Born 98-2001	Change 1980 to 98-2001
KUVASZ	1	Excellent Dysplastic Total Dogs	1.3% 32.7% 156	10.9% 16.2% 265	28.8% 8.8% 125	2115.4% -73.1%
PORTUGUESE WATER DOG	2	Excellent Dysplastic Total Dogs	1.0% 26.2% 103	10.7% 11.0% 708	15.9% 7.9% 1019	1490.0% -69.8%
BERNESE MOUNTAIN DOG	3	Excellent Dysplastic Total Dogs	2.9% 31.8% 559	9.3% 12.5% 1274	15.7% 11.3% 2081	441.4% -64.5%
GIANT SCHNAUZER	4	Excellent Dysplastic Total Dogs	4.4% 24.1% 935	9.6% 16.2% 407	18.6% 7.9% 354	322.7% -67.2%
MASTIFF	5	Excellent Dysplastic Total Dogs	2.4% 20.1% 339	6.0% 18.6% 1011	10.1% 15.0% 1690	320.8% -25.4%
AKITA	6	Excellent Dysplastic Total Dogs	7.6% 16.9% 2143	18.3% 10.6% 2230	31.9% 7.0% 1177	319.7% -58.6%
NEWFOUNDLAND	7	Excellent Dysplastic Total Dogs	3.3% 31.6% 1835	8.0% 21.7% 1418	11.7% 22.2% 1553	254.5% -29.7%
BULLMASTIFF	8	Excellent Dysplastic Total Dogs	1.6% 30.7% 381	3.8% 22.1% 606	5.6% 20.8% 717	250.0% -32.2%
ROTTWEILER	9	Excellent Dysplastic Total Dogs	4.1% 23.5% 6694	7.8% 18.4% 16489	13.0% 14.5% 4824	217.1% -38.3%
BOXER	10	Excellent Dysplastic Total Dogs	1.2% 16.9% 248	2.8% 9.0% 509	3.8% 9.2% 782	216.7% -45.6%
CHOW CHOW	11	Excellent Dysplastic Total Dogs	4.3% 22.2% 717	6.2% 17.4% 568	10.5% 13.6% 323	144.2% -38.7%
ALASKAN MALAMUTE	12	Excellent (0.0) Dysplastic(2.2>) Total Dogs	10.6% 13.8% 3684	17.4% 10.5% 1365	24.5% 6.5% 914	131.1% -52.9%
NORWEGIAN ELKHOUND	13	Excellent Dysplastic Total Dogs	5.5% 24.8% 964	5.6% 16.9% 354	11.8% 17.6% 238	114.5% -29.0%
KEESHOND	14	Excellent Dysplastic Total Dogs	5.6% 7.5% 788	8.8% 4.4% 456	11.0% 2.9% 373	96.4% -61.3%
GREAT DANE	15	Excellent Dysplastic Total Dogs	6.4% 13.0% 2102	14.4% 9.1% 980	12.4% 9.3% 1326	93.8% -28.5%
DOBERMAN PINSCHER	16	Excellent Dysplastic Total Dogs	12.7% 7.7% 2330	18.5% 3.5% 1657	23.1% 4.4% 1416	81.9% -42.9%
TIBETAN MASTIFF	17	Excellent Dysplastic Total Dogs	6.0% 10.0% 50	3.4% 11.5% 87	10.9% 15.5% 110	81.7% 55.0%
GREAT PYRENEES	18	Excellent Dysplastic Total Dogs	8.9% 9.2% 812	13.9% 8.8% 707	16.0% 7.2% 530	79.8% -21.7%
GERMAN SHEPHERD DOG	19	Excellent Dysplastic Total Dogs	2.5% 20.1% 12378	3.8% 17.0% 12757	4.2% 15.9% 9753	68.0% -20.9%
SIBERIAN HUSKY	20	Excellent Dysplastic Total Dogs	24.5% 2.7% 4589	38.0% 1.4% 1684	39.7% 1.0% 1032	62.0% -63.0%
STANDARD SCHNAUZER	21	Excellent Dysplastic Total Dogs	7.3% 11.6% 778	6.2% 6.8% 338	11.6% 5.7% 370	58.9% -50.9%
SAMOYED	22	Excellent Dysplastic Total Dogs	8.1% 13.5% 3888	10.1% 8.4% 1355	12.4% 6.6% 1121	53.1% -51.1%
KOMONDOR	23	Excellent Dysplastic Total Dogs	12.0% 11.6% 241	3.7% 17.1% 82	16.9% 8.5% 71	40.8% -26.7%
ST. BERNARD	24	Excellent Dysplastic Total Dogs	4.7% 46.3% 758	3.1% 41.1% 192	5.3% 50.4% 133	12.8% 8.9%
SHIH TZU	25	Excellent Dysplastic Total Dogs	2.2% 16.7% 90	1.0% 15.4% 104	2.0% 21.6% 51	-9.1% 29.3%
FINNISH SPITZ	26	Excellent Dysplastic Total Dogs	23.1% 15.4% 13	16.4% 5.5% 55	17.2% 3.4% 29	-25.5% -77.9%
BASENJI	27	Excellent Dysplastic Total Dogs	33.3% 11.1% 9	24.7% 3.3% 271	24.8% 1.8% 339	-25.5% -83.8%
NEAPOLITAN MASTIFF	28	Excellent Dysplastic Total Dogs	0.0% 50.0% 8	0.0% 23.8% 21	0.0% 35.7% 14	-28.6%
GREATER SWISS MOUNTAIN DOG	29	Excellent Dysplastic Total Dogs	0.0% 25.0% 4	3.4% 16.8% 149	13.3% 16.6% 505	-33.6%
AMERICAN ESKIMO DOG	30	Excellent Dysplastic Total Dogs	0.0% 0.0% 2	4.5% 6.0% 133	9.0% 5.5% 145
SHIBA INU	31	Excellent Dysplastic Total Dogs	0.0% 0.0% 0	16.9% 4.3% 325	19.7% 3.9% 407

Breeder Guidelines

Breeders and the OFA

Progress in hip joint phenotype of dogs in the United States between the 1970's and early 1990's has been shown through results of a retrospective study using the OFA data base. This improvement was evident as an increase in the percentage of dogs classified as having excellent hip joint phenotype and a decrease in the percentage of dogs classified as having hip dysplasia (HD). The increase in percentage of dogs classified as having excellent hip joint phenotype was greater for German Shepherd dogs, Golden Retrievers, Labrador Retrievers, and Rottweilers than for all dog breeds combined. In addition, the submission screening rate for these four breeds was higher than the screening rate for all dogs. Within these four breeds, the improvement was greatest for Rottweilers, which also had the highest screening rate.

Overall, low screening rates for breeds found in this study offer some insight into the problems involved with reducing the incidence of HD. The typical dog breeder is involved in breeding dogs for about five years. Thus, informed, experienced breeders are continually replaced with uninformed, inexperienced breeders who may not be as aware of the problems associated with HD or of the importance of participating in a screening program. In addition, many breeders choose which dogs they breed on the basis of the hip phenotype of individual dogs without knowledge of the phenotype of related dogs or previous offspring. It can be very difficult to get hip information on siblings and previous offspring due to the overall low number of dogs radiographed in a given litter (most dogs in a litter end up in pet homes). This is the slowest method of reducing the incidence of an undesirable trait or increasing the incidence of a desirable trait. The use of preliminary radiographs as early as 4 months of age can be used by breeders to add valuable information on the hip status of dogs they choose to use in a breeding program.

What can breeders do?

Hip dysplasia appears to be perpetuated by breeder imposed breeding practices, but when breeders and their breed clubs recognize HD as a problem and establish reduction of HD as a priority, improvement of the hip status can be accomplished without jeopardizing other desirable traits. Prospective buyers should check pedigrees and/or verify health issues with the breeder. If suitable documentation is not available, assume the worst until proven otherwise.

Do not ignore the dog with a fair hip evaluation. The dog is still within normal limits. For example; a dog with fair hips but with a strong hip background and over 75% of its brothers and sisters being normal is a good breeding prospect. A dog with excellent hips, but with a weak family background and less than 75% of its brothers and sisters being normal is a poor breeding prospect.

OFA's Recommended Breeding Principals

Breed normals to normals
Breed normals with normal ancestry
Breed normals from litters (brothers/sisters) with a low incidence of HD
Select a sire that produces a low incidence of HD
Replace dogs with dogs that are better than the breed average

By analyzing genetic information from 414 dogs representing 85 breeds, researchers at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle discovered that the Asian spitz-type breeds, which include Pekingese and chow chows, may be the most ancient descendants of the dog's wolf ancestors. Their research is reported in this week's issue of the journal Science.

"The most surprising thing was that the breeds that first split off (from the wolf) are pretty far flung geographically. They cover Africa, Asia and the Middle East. They're extremely different in size and behavior, and yet they share a genetic signature," researcher Leonid Kruglyak says.

It has been hypothesized that dogs originated in Asia, migrating with nomadic human hunters to Africa and the Arctic. This would account for the wide distribution of subsets of that oldest group, which include the Chinese chow chow, Pekingese, Shar-Pei and Shih Tzu; the Japanese Akita and Shiba Inu; the Central African basenji; the Middle Eastern Saluki and Afghan; and the Tibetan terrier and Lhasa apso.

Also in that subset are the Nordic breeds including the Arctic Alaskan Malamute, Siberian husky and Samoyed, all of which have the closest genetic relationship to the wolf and may be "the best living representative of the ancestral dog gene pool," according to the researchers.

Surprisingly, several breeds believed to have ancient roots turn out to have been created in more recent times by combining various modern breeds.

Pharaoh hounds, Ibizan hounds and Norwegian elkhounds have long been considered continuous breeds, based on Egyptian tomb drawings and Scandinavian folk tales. But while their appearance matches ancient images, their genes don't.

"History says these breeds have unbroken bloodlines stretching back 5,000 years to Egypt and Scandinavia. But if you look at (the genes of) those breeds, you don't see the ancient signature at all. They look like they're European re-creations," Kruglyak says.