Thread: Very interesting food for thought.

marketing or breed requirements ?
we breed under the German system so it's a requirement not just hips, shoulders and elbows too, we want to stay in the system so will continue to do so.... as do the pup owners wanting to complete the jghv tests.
we can not 'don't hip score' so orthopedic soundness is pretty bloody obvious when you see the results.

spaniels or labs you will see alot more health testing coming out of the UK for the working lines, endorsed by the trials world so don't get hung up on marketing bullshit and move with the times.

{will find spaniel rego figures from the uk to show it may not be as constant as you state}

like any working breed i would expect the cull rate to be high and not just for lack of working ability.

i saw plenty of puppy culling anything runty obviously not right and a lot of bitch pups [which nobody wanted] dogs breed for a pup for themselves and the odd mate or 3 if either parents had any ability.
where i saw some change is when hunterways and heading dogs got to the 5000 and 10,000 dollar mark respectivly then lots kept pups that mightnt have usually got kept for the chance of a payday.culling went out the window as long as the station was still paying for the grub
especially when you could get 80 buks for a dog that just looked the part or 150 for one that showed eye or barked in stocks general direction .
a dog running in the hunterways case or started in the heading dogs could be 250 t0 350 started.
heading dogs did and still command rediculous money but even tho i played the game a bit i never saw hd in mix.
pet border collies passed off as working bred sure a mate even brought a heading dog the sheep couldnt see over tussock it was that small.
resold to the hawkes bay for a small profit after i gave him what he payed for it.
im leaning with ruff in indiscriminate breeding and unsuitable dogs kept alive for a payday may be factors.
can testing immature dogs give you a real view of what might be a gradual thru to an after maturity degeneration??
yes i get people paying top dollar want some assurance theyre getting what theyre paying for but if the test is flawed or incomplete sooner or later everybody will suffer most especially the poor mutts.
could hd have krept in thru the labs desire to shag everything that moves and dogs from these trysts kept rebreed so on and so on??