What does all this stuff mean????

You may see on our labrador pages some of the following, I will try and help you understand what all of it means, since it can all be very foreign to you unless you are a breeder or have done research..

OFA NUMBERS-An OFA number beside the name- That means the hips or elbows, or both, have been cleared by the OFA,Orthapedic Foundation for Animals, for breeding. Dogs are cleared for breeding with an Excellent, good of fair, Normal Elbows.  ALL  are within the OFA guidelines for breeding. You can check the site out yourself to verify that a dog has  been cleared at offa.org- you will only need to type in the dogs registered name for verification. If you cannot find the dog listed on the OFA site, you may want to ask the breeder why (preliminary OFA's may not be on the OFA site, xrays that are done at 2 and under, they are only posted if the breeder gives the OFA permission to post them, finals-after 2 are automatically posted, provided the dog has passed the OFA clearances). Borderline hips means that the xrays or results did not give an exact rating on the hips and recommended to be xrayed again in 6 months to a years. A borderline is not failing!!!

A "CERF" number, "eyes cleared" or "acvo cleared"- The labrador has been checked by a board certified ophthalmologist and receives a breeding clearance on the eyes.  If you cant find this online, ask your breeder, as many breeders do not send the forms in to CERF, they just keep them on file.

PRA/PRCD- Progressive Retinal Atrophy (PRA- the prcd form of PRA) is an inherited eye disease rooted deep in the gene pool of numerous breeds and YES the labrador is one of them.. Dogs affected with PRA/PRCD often become blind, and always have serious vision problems.

In most breeds prcd-PRA shows itself around the time a dog is at least six years old, possibly after it has already been bred. In order to develop PRA, a dog must inherit two copies of the defective prcd-PRA gene: one from its dam, one from its sire. Two recessive mutated genes equals disease in anyone's book--and there's no cure, no treatment; no way to stop it in THAT dog.                                                  

However with testing and selective breeding, breeders CAN prevent PRA/PRCD in the puppies that they produce. Testing can be done as early as 6-8 weeks old. One that has a canine family member with PRCD can tell you the importance of this disease.

PRA/PRCD CARRIER OR NON CARRIER- A non carrier of PRCD can be bred to ANY dog and NOT produce affected puppies.  If a carrier and non carrier are bred, puppies will be CLEAR OR CARRIERS ONLY, and will not develop the diease. If  I want to keep a puppy from one of my Carriers/Non carriers, i do the testing early to make certain they are Negative for the disease, OR if a carrier and I keep them for my breeding program, they MUST be bred to a non carrier. Puppies that are 'AFFECTED' will develop the blinding disease. Two Affected dogs bred together is bad news, a carrier bred to affected is bad news and to any breeder, it should be a BIG NO NO. Unfortunately, some do not care to do the testing for this. They dont have to deal with the blind puppy later!!

A CERF/EYE clearance does NOT clear breeding dogs of this disease, DNA is the only way of finding this in earlier years. After a dog gets older, 6 or so, yes the eye exam can pick it up possibly, but many times it doesnt. Eye exams see the affected dogs, ones that are on the brink of going blind, it does not pick up on "carrirers".

How do you know if a dog will be affected by this disease if the parents arent tested? YOU DONT, that is a wait and see game for 5-6 years or possibly longer, down the road when all guarantees are no longer valid- its up to you as a puppy buyer to ask these VERY important question if the answers are not on a breeders website.

Optigen- for PRCD/PRA- Contains a  table that highlights all the desirable breedings.. CLICK HERE FOR BREEDING STATEGIES..

FULL DENTITION- A must when showing your labradors, this terms refers to no missing teeth such as molors and premolars. Missing these teeth is a fault when showing.

EIC- EXERCISE INDUCED COLLAPSE- Affected dogs can tolerate mild to moderate exercise, but 5 to 20 minutes of strenuous exercise with extreme excitement induces weakness and then collapse. Severely affected dogs may collapse whenever they are exercised to this extent; other dogs only exhibit collapse sporadically. The factors important in inducing an episode can vary among dogs.