Quote Originally Posted by R2L
I don't know what's each degree exactly out of my head but you should be really careful putting an animal with PL in the ring. Some luxate very easily and don;t shoot back out it self. The dog can have gameness all he want but all he has left then is 3 legs. I guess your dogs Jack didnt have such bad degree, just a little loose patella's. With something worse then that i personally would never do any sport nor breed the dog cause its a genetic fault. If u still want to do WP the dog make sure the surrounding muscles are very strong.

Actually, Ch Hammer had hip dysplasia too. Hammer was considered a "low ability" dog because he was always on the bottom. The truth is, Ch Hammer was an unbelievably-tough, unbelievably-smart dog who figured out how to adjust to his handicap ... nullify from the bottom anything his opponents tried to do to him ... and who would always turn things around and stop them in the end. His last victory was over Lou Lewis' Chainsaw in 1:58 (I'll let you guess as to how the dog earned his name).

So, yes, in a way Ch Hammer compromised the otherwise great structure of the Hollingsworth bitch I had in Trinx, but he added a level of toughness and intelligence that the Hollingsworth dogs never had themselves. I have tried to select for the most athletic dogs out of my stock, and so the problem is almost non-existent in my line anymore, especially via Silverback who actually has the most powerful backend and hip structure of any dog I have ever owned ... and, in the exact opposite fashion of Ch Hammer, Silverback has never been down once, he is such a capable athlete and wrestler.

Jack