RIPLEY WHIPLEY 

6I have been asked about Ripleys Penn hip results.  Penn hip testing is accepted as a final for his certifications.  It is harder to understand the results compared to OFA hips.  OFA gives you a rating like Good, Fair etc.  Penn Hip looks at a cross section of the Golden Breed and gives you a number based on where he is vs all the Goldens tested.  The lower the number the better.  The Golden Breed central range (or 90% of Goldens tested) is .32 to .79  with .52 being the average.  Anything below .32 is above average hips.  Ripley is .22 on both hips, so is way better than most Goldens tested.  Per the report, Ripley ranks in the tightest 5% for Goldens.  What would equal an Excellent.  If you have any additional questions, please call and ask me, I can also send you an electronic copy of his results if your interested in getting a pup from him.                                                                             Also, in regards to his elbow, when Ripley was 6 mos he was playing in the hose as I was cleaning and got the zoomies, he tried to run into the kennels via the flip door set in cinder blocks and hit his elbow on the cinder block wall.  he yipped and limped, I had him on rymidyl for 7 to 10 days then a couple weeks after the accident, he was still limping on and off, so we did Xrays, the vet said he had a bone bruise.  We sent in the Elbow Xrays as OFA prelims, and they came back as Normal even tho you could see the bone bruise area.  We also had Penn Hip Xrays done.  At 2 years, we did final OFA hip & elbow Xrays, and it came back on the one side as an elbow issue.  My vet looked at both Xrays and said it was the same bone bruise marking as was in the 1st Xray.  We sent in the info and reports to OFA, they said if it had been cracked they would rule it by just the other elbow which is normal.  But as there is no crack, even tho there is documented vet reports saying it was an injury, OFA is still ruling it as an issue.  After talking with my vet who does the OFA & Penn hip Xrays, she said that even if the elbow was an issue, which we have proof it is not the case, Goldens tend to not have elbow issues as readily as they have hip issues.  As Ripley's hips are the best she has seen in 40 years, and most Golden hips are really not very good (see above Penn hip info), she said either way she would use him as a stud.  So I am taking her advice, but I will only use him with girls that are normal on their hips.  If you have any additonal questions, feel free to contact me.       Thanks Alice