Hip dysplasia, elbow dysplasia, and other heritable orthopedic conditions cause significant suffering. Health screening programs enable informed breeding decisions that reduce disease prevalence.
Heritable orthopedic disease causes preventable lifelong suffering in millions of dogs annually. Hip and elbow dysplasia cause pain that begins during development and progresses with age — dogs with severe dysplasia face a life of lameness and chronic discomfort despite the best management. The suffering is preventable: breeds with high dysplasia prevalence have shown significant disease reduction in populations where health testing is prioritized in breeding decisions. Every dog bred from untested parents in a high-risk breed is a welfare gamble that may not be apparent until the dog is 1-2 years old. Health testing before breeding is not a legal requirement but is a welfare imperative.