police dogs?

Question

Hi, I have a question i recently adopted a year old male german shepherd and both of his parents are police dogs. I forgot to ask the owners if he was ofa cert but i lost the number. If a dog was a police dog does it have to be AKC AND OFA HIP CERT in order to become a police dog. I do NOT plan on breeding him but i am concerned about hip problems as he grows older

Answer 1

* I am a dog trainer for our State Police & the dogs they accept are both OFA and AKC !
All states may have their own criteria for dogs they accept!
You are wise to be concerned! It is tragic to watch these magnificent animals when they fall victim to hip dysplasia as I am watching one of my dogs in decline & lost another one a few months to the same affliction!
I do know that OFA will not certify before the dog is two years old!
http://www.cotondogs.com/health_certified_dogs.htm

Answer 2

All PSD's are x-rayed but not always OFA , often they are or have a german A-stamp or eqiv rating from a differnt country in Europe.
You can do OFA PRELIMS at SIX months but the dog must be 2 yrs to get a formal rating. The Prelim will give you alot of insight and its alot easier to return the dog after six months than two years of loving it. Also the earlier you catch HD the easier it is to manage with treatment or surgery if need be. If your puppy is AKC you can look on your puppy (blue) papers and see if an OFA number is listed by the sire and dam's names and akc #'s. Otherwise check their names in the OFA online database to see if they are there. If they are NOT ofa then by all means contact the department and explain you have a puppy from one of their working dogs and ask for info regarding the x rays they have.
Having imported and sold pups to various depts in the US I know that MOST will not purchase a dog for their program who doesnt have doccumentation proving both hips and elbows are sound. A dog with weak joints can not work as long as hard as a sound dog..... a dog that has to be replaced costs the dept money.

Hope this helps!

Answer 3

The answer to this question could be yes or no, depending on what part of the country you live in, among other factors. Police departments get their dogs from several different sources. Some get their dogs from specific breeders, others go through brokers that deal with many breeders and trainers. Some departments will train a dog themselves because it's cheaper to buy an untrained dog, while others import already fully trained dogs from Europe. The parents may be AKC, but if he comes from imported lines they may not be (really, AKC is not the be all, end all of dogs...they just happen to be the oldest and largest registry in this country...they don't even have anything to do with the quality of the dog, all they do is keep a list of dogs and what dogs produced what litters). Ideally, any breeder who is selling dogs to be trained in police or protection work is doing OFA/HIP CERT, as well as testing for the other common diseases and disorders that would interfere with a dog's working ability. But let's face it, in a world where the bottom line is what's important some departments or trainers may be purchasing dogs from sources that don't do those sorts of tests because they are less expensive.

The best thing to do is to track down the number of the previous owner (after all, you had to find it somehow before you got the dog...someone else gave it to you or you found it online) and ask them if they know. If you are concerned about hip problems, get him x-rayed yourself. Actually, even if you do somehow manage to find out for sure that his parents were tested for hip dysplasia you should still get your dog tested as it is not uncommon for non-dysplastic dogs to produce dysplastic offspring. Vets are not really sure what causes hip dysplasia, and while genetics do seem to play a very strong role in the disease it most likely only one of many factors.

Answer 4

A dog only needs to have OFA certification if you need to have documented proof of his or her genetic tendency toward hip problems. A dog has to be two years old before such radiographs can be taken and submitted for evaluation by OFA. Having a radiographic study of your dogs hip taken under anesthesia and having them read by a board certified veterinary radiologist is a fine alternative to gain your own personal ease of mine.

Answer 5

At one year old he is to young to have his hips OFA'd.

However you can try looking up his parents OFA information here http://www.offa.org/search.html

His hips can be OFA'd when he turns two.

While it is probably preferred to have dogs with AKC reg. and OFA cert, it probably isn't a strict requirement.

Answer 6

Darn good question. I would just call up the Police department and ask. Don't call 911 haha. Just look up the number and ask for a k-9 officer. I guarantee they know the answer.

Answer 7

No they dont if you are worried get the dog xrayed. Besides they usually wait until about 2yrs old anyway unless there is a history

Answer 8

Is this the same dog that you said was '"your friend's" and it was a husky? If you're a German Shepherd Lover,you should have know that it wasn't a husky.You're playing games with people.

Answer 9

call the police department and yes don't call 911 and ask but the department should know!

Answer 10

Yes, Tammy C...It is the same person, different name, same pic, same dog from someone elses ad....