Hip dysplasia is an inherited condition of the coxofemoral, or hip joint, that is manifested as excessive looseness of the joint with resulting degenerative joint disease and arthritis. Dogs may be severely affected early in life, or the disease may lead to a slower degeneration of the joints. Lameness may be obvious while the dog is still very young, or the onset of lameness may be more gradual and in a few cases may be apparent only after 6 or 8 years or more.

Many people think that hip dysplasia is a problem only in the popular breeds of dogs. That is a myth. Hip dysplasia has been found in every breed of dog that has been checked so far, as well as in mixed breeds.

People tend to assume that dogs that work eagerly and well in the field or herding could not be affected with hip dysplasia. This is another misunderstanding. Many dogs with hip dysplasia show no visible signs prior to onset of arthritis. In fact, a dog that loves his job and works eagerly, will be less likely to show any signs of pain while working. Conversely, a hard working dog which shows signs of joint stiffness or lameness may not have hip dysplasia, but could have an injury or could have developed arthritis due to a joint injury in the past.

Hip dysplasia can only be diagnosed by skilled evaluators from radiographs or x-rays. While the worst cases may be obvious to even an inexperienced person, expert evaluation of the x-rays is necessary to find out whether mild dysplasia is present. The Orthopedic Foundation for Animals (OFA) and the Institute for Genetic Disease Control (GDC) are the two organizations in the U.S. that evaluate canine hips for dysplasia and register or certify those that are found free of hip dysplasia. PennHip is a program to evaluate for potential hip dysplasia at an earlier age, but does not provide certification (for more information on PennHip, contact International Canine Genetics, the company that provides this program).

Since some working dogs can have hip dysplasia and still work well, you may wonder why you should be concerned with hip dysplasia at all. A dog with hip dysplasia is likely to have its useful life shortened by crippling arthritis. Young dogs with hip dysplasia may not yet have arthritis, but unstable hip joints can cause severe pain even early in life. Living with constant pain can cause a dog to become irritable and snappy.

In the past, very few English Shepherds were checked for hip dysplasia, but of those checked, a portion were found to have hip dysplasia. As of 15 July 1997, the OFA statistics for the English Shepherd breed are: 36 dogs evaluated, 5.6% rated excellent, 30.5% found to have hip dysplasia. Please note that this does not mean the entire breed has a 30.5% rate of hip dysplasia; the incidence rate in the breed is not known. What these statistics mean is there is no doubt hip dysplasia exists in the breed, and it is not confined to one or two lines. The English Shepherd Club is working to educate breeders and owners about hip dysplasia, to help reverse the spread of this disease in the breed.