If the OFA rating of any individual dog is worthless, why do breeders and breed clubs push the ratings?
A. The obvious answer is that the road to hell is paved with good intentions; it’s the same path that destroys a breed by focusing on form over function. Unfortunately, very few breeders have any sort of scientific training and just don’t understand what is required to implement the OFA protocols.. Those few that do understand the science involved know they don’t have enough dogs or historical data to make the system work. However, what most breed clubs and breeders do understand is fashion and political correctness, and they want to be seen as attempting to address the “problem” (the fact that Hip Dysplasia is not an issue in the Ridgeback population as a whole is beside the point). Unfortunately, improperly selecting against one genetic component unnecessarily jeopardizes the gene pools diversity. It is just another shameful example of how selecting for “looks” and “appearances” can destroy a breed. Moreover, for the truly Evil breeders, they can find the one dog in a lineage of unbr
