Spring 2016  Saber Tails 29    

Petit Basset Griffon Vendéen Club of America

Hip Dysplasia Testing As a Requirement of CHIC

PBGVCA Board Recommendation to Remove OFA Hip Dysplasia Testing from CHIC

By Jo Quintenz on behalf of the PBGVCA Officers & Board of Directors

A 

parent club such as the Petit Basset Griffon Vendéen 

Club of America exists to safeguard the breed it 

represents by promoting breeding practices that conform 

to the breed standard and insure to the highest degree 

possible the health and soundness of those dogs bred 

to that standard.  The Board of Directors of the Club has 

a responsibility to identify critical health issues and to 

target these issues with programs that have the potential 

to improve the overall well being of the breed.  Success-

ful initiatives will have the effect of improving the results 

identified by health screening and perhaps ultimately 

lead to a reassessment of the need for specific health 

screening measures.  Recently the Board has reviewed the 

data relative to CHIC requirements and has elected to add 

POAG testing and plans to delete OFA hip evaluations 

from the criteria.

T

he PBGVCA became part of the Canine Health Infor-

mation Center (CHIC) program in 2007.  The CHIC pro-

gram provides an important tool for the parent club to 

monitor and improve the health of the breed with regard 

to the conditions or diseases it targets.  With appropri-

ate and universal testing, the frequency of the targeted 

condition will decrease, possibly significantly.  Individual 

dogs who are screened for these conditions and whose 

owners agree to publish the results of that screening are 

assigned a CHIC number and the results of those tests are 

published on the OFA website (www.offa.org).  The CHIC 

number does not reflect a passing score on the designat-

ed test but it does indicate that, whatever the result, it is 

available on a public website.  Initially, the Club identified 

hip dysplasia (screened by OFA hip evaluation) and eye 

problems (screened by CERF testing).

F

or CHIC to be an effective tool for breed clubs to use 

to address health concerns the following conditions 

should be met:

• the disease must present a significant threat to the 

health or well being of the dog that exhibits it

• it must be reasonably common in the breed

• there should be a genetic component to the disease 

whether it is understood or not

• there must be a screening test for the condition that 

predicts to a reasonable degree the genetic risk to the 

offspring of parents which test positive for the condition

• the cost of testing for the targeted conditions must 

be considered, as with any screening program is only 

useful if it is widely utilized.

A 

condition which has little or no impact on the 

health or quality of life of the dog that exhibits it 

(color, coat texture, eye color, etc.) would be an inappro-

priate target for screening.  Because of the limited gene 

pool created when a breed is established as distinct 

from other breeds, there are conditions common in one 

breed but rare or absent in others.  In general, a condi-

tion is a good candidate for screening if the incidence in 

a breed is significantly higher in the targeted breed than 

in dogs in general.   For instance, primary open angle 

glaucoma (POAG) is a condition that is more common in 

PBGVs than in most other breeds or dogs in general.  

T

o be an appropriate target for CHIC screening, 

breeders must be able to use the results of the test-

ing to make informed decisions. POAG testing can pro-

vide the breeder with very specific and definite informa-

tion about the risks of producing an affected puppy.  

An example of a screening test that is less definitive 

(at least in PBGVs) is OFA hip evaluation.  According to 

data made available by the Orthopedic Foundation For 

Animals, 773 hip evaluations have been completed be-

ginning in 1987 through the end of 2015.  Extrapolating 

backwards from data provided by AKC, this probably 

represents about 16% of the total number of PBGVs reg-

istered over the same time period.  The overall incidence 

of radiographic hip dysplasia (HD) (as distinguished 

from clinical HD in which the dog displays the symp-

toms of HD) in the tested population is approximately 

11%.

  

The overall incidence of radiographic hip dyspla-

sia (HD) (as distinguished from clinical hip dysplasia in 

which the dog displays the symptoms of hip dysplasia) 

in the tested population is approximately 11%.  In order 

to determine the usefulness of hip evaluations in pre-

dicting clinical hip dysplasia it would be important to 

know the long term outcome of the dogs undergoing 

these radiographic evaluations.  Unfortunately, this in-

formation is not generally available as most of the dogs