Testing Requirements
for Australian Shepherds and Miniature American Shepherds
What tests should we hear them mention . Or see the results for. What are these tests for? What scores should I be looking for?
Great questions!!
What's OFA? ORTHOPEDIC for Animals. OFA looks at X-rays of hips sent in to them by veterinarians and grade them Excellent, Good, Fair and those are all acceptable. Mild dysplasia or moderate is not ok. Www.ofa.org is the website you will need to VERIFY that these tests are actually done. You will go to advanced and put in kennel name. You should be able to find the dog in question. You will find a hip and elbow rating IF the dog has actually been done and passed. Normal is the rating for Elbows. Some breeders prelim before 2 years and you won’t see those results. If a breeder says they pre-limed ask for proof. Don't just take there word for it. We do not use dogs with a OFA hip rating of Fair. Eyes ? Must be done by a canine ophthalmologist. Commonly called CAER test. You get a form and have the option to send this in to OFA. It cost $10 to have it listed on OFA. In order for a dog to be CHIC certified it must be there. This is a yearly test until 8+. DNA testing DOES NOT COVER ALL EYE ISSUES! Some breeders do not send these in each year. But do have copies of the exam for there records. Asked to see this. What is a paw print panel? A breeder can also do canine health check, Embark, UCL DAVIS and a few others. When ordering the panel do a full panel for these two breeds. All have pluses and minuses to them, but one of these should be done. This will give you results to the most common health issues in the breed that have DNA Markers. DNA is something where most diseases if a dog is a carrier it will be ok. Not all but a carrier for most will not be a dog that is affected with the disease. What you don’t want to do is breed 2 dogs together who are carriers. Note: Mdr1 is not a disease and is an issue that can be managed by not giving the drugs that affect the breed. Breeding a carrier to a carrier is not going to cause major issues. You as an owner giving the wrong drugs is what would cause the issue. CDDY/IVDD? ANOTHER DNA test but separate from the ones above and is an issue, but not a make it or break it issue. NAD ? Nuero Axonal Disease. Information can be found on Purdue university site. They are the only one who can test for this at this time. Do NOT breed carrier to carrier. Ever. This is a disease we need to eradicate from the breed as it is a serious issue that affects the dogs neurologically. If you have a dog that is affected it will get to the point the quality of life is so bad you will be putting down a young dog. This is just not an option anymore. All these DNA tests can be also submitted to OFA for results to be shown. Each test is an additional $10 so CEA, HSF4, PRA, DM and now NAD would cost a breeder an extra $50 per a dog total to be listed. If a breeder does not have these submitted, ask for proof of them being done.
See links below for each place to acquire these tests.