I've had to answer this question for myself already. My 5 year old has moderate hip dysplasia. It was heartbreaking to find out that my dog who had 17 derby points (with me as handler) would not be breeding material. I had him neutered, no question for me. There are plenty of nice studs out there that have good hips, including his brother who has good hips as did 6 of the 10 in his litter who were xrayed. I have a nice pup out of the brother and continue to run Riker but it is sad to see that one leg lag just a bit behind the others on a dog who should be in his prime
Hi Laura, your post raised a few questions in my mind and I hope you'll answer them.
I can see not breeding a dog with 17 derby points. He's proved he's a good marker but there were probably 15 or 20 dogs who had more derby points that year. So on derby points of that year alone and nothing else, there would probably be 7-10 male dogs ahead of him on the derby list, and some of them would be breedable. (I love making up statistics

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BUT! I wonder about the neutering. Did it have any affect on his drive???????? Do you feel he wants birds just as much as before? Did you notice any change, no matter how subtle?
When I first got started I trained with two guys who each had hip displasia in one hip of their dogs. One dog was an FC/AFC and the other only got his AFC. Neither were bred but neither ever showed signs of displasia until they were quite old. Both died at 12 but they were both ambulatory up until they died. I honestly can't say that either dog ever showed any signs of being displastic. I mean I expect 11 and 12 year old FC/AFC's to be a little stiff.
In the years that I've trained I haven't been around any other displastic dogs that I know of. I've kind of felt that at least in field lines of labs, that while you don't want to breed to a displastic dog, they were usually pretty sound and would have a normal career. You are finding that not true with your dog? Does he get out of the crate a little rough? Does he start limping after a little work? Can he go 4 series in a day? Will rimadel, etagesic, or some other "magic" pill bring him back to chasing around like a puppy again?
I want to know if you find this crippling, slows him down somewhat, or has no affect?
Thanks for your time. I haven't been around a field dog who was symtomatically displastic.