The results are in....

Bravo,
        Hooray,
                 Fantabulous!

CHAMP.....you "just" move oddly, because your x-rays look loverly!  I went to a new clinic.  The clinic was in Fillmore.  It was the closest clinic to me that does Pennhips. A little over an hour from where I live.  I met Dr. Lidikay and his assistant, his wife, Shauna.   I LOVED them.  Dr. Lidikay spent time with me giving me an informed consent, because in order to do a Pennhip, the dog has to be anesthetized.  They can do a Pennhip anytime the pup is 4 mos. or older.  OFA's, you have to wait until 2 yrs. of age.  The nice thing about OFA, is many (most) Vet's can do the hip x-rays without any sedation.  The great thing about a Pennhip x-ray is that it truly gives you a more accurate picture of how your dogs hips (osteoarthritis) will be in his later years.  It is more accurate than OFA x-rays.  A Vet is able to cheat up on OFA x-rays and make them look prettier than they are.  You didn't know that, did you?  LOL  The negative side to Pennhips is that the dog has to be knocked completely out to get accurate results.  That's costly and there are some risks.  I was willing to pay the bucks to make sure Champ was structurally sound.  He is.  Thank-you Lord. :0)

The metal gadget is called a distractor

                                     

They actually roll the femurs inward to a standing position.

It measures passive hip laxity.

It was found that the hip is loosest when positioned in a neutral or standing orientation.  It was reasoned that this point is also the optimal patient position for measuring maximal hip joint laxity on an x-ray.  The looser the hip joint to the Pennhip method, the greater chance that is will develop Degenerative Joint Disease.

 

Dr. Lidikay was wondering out loud why Golden Retrievers  (just as an example) haven't become better as far as their rate of hip dysplasia in the breed.  Maybe because they are using OFA x-rays as a way of choosing their breeding stock.  PennHipp suggests using breeding stock to the left of the arrow (as shown above) in hopes that the breed as a whole will equate to expected genetic changes towards the better.

Unfortunately, there is very little Border Collie data base to compare Champ with, so he will have to be compared with the overall data base. Not sure how that plays out. They sent the x-rays in and we will wait for the Pennhip final results.  Dr. Lidikay knows how to do the Pennhip measurements, so he did his own measurements on Champ and will await to see how accurate he is with Pennhip scoring.  :0)  But, he was happy with what he saw in the six films he took of Champ's hips.

The other NEAT thing about Dr. Lidikay is that he spent a half hour reviewing the results with me.  Plus, he gave me his wife's cell phone number so I could call them when I was coming back from the beach to pick up Champ.  

After I arrived, some 5 minutes later, he became concerned about Yoko in the truck outside. He had me bring her inside out of the heat.  That earned him Kudos in my book. 

I will drive an extra 40 minutes for bedside manner and true concern for his 4 legged clients. :0)