Anatolian Shepherd Dog

Atakan turned 1 year old on November 7th, 2009. It was time to get his hips and elbows x-rayed for an OFA preliminary evaluation. I scheduled the x-rays on November 18th, 2009. I was feeling pretty nervous but I wanted to have it done to see how he was. They did his x-rays and then took me in the back to show them to me. His elbows looked great! The vet was a little concerned with his hips. She never did OFA x-rays on an Anatolian before so she wasn't sure what to think. She thought they looked okay but wasn't sure what OFA was going to think. It was being questioned as minor subluxation or possibly rated fair. I felt devastated. I was hoping for good at least. I couldn't understand how things could go so wrong when he came from good hip lines. I was so upset and tried to hold myself together. I just had to wait it out now until I heard back from OFA about what they thought. We submitted them to give it a shot and see since they didn't look too bad but we still weren't sure. It was a grueling 2 weeks of waiting and I was just about ready to leave on vacation to bring home Nisa. I was dying to hear the results. The day before I left for vacation a coworker dropped the paper on the desk and said it was for me. I didn't think anything of it and thought it was something to file away. I looked down and saw Orthopedic Foundation of Animals and it still didn't register with me that this was it. I looked down over the paper to find the client's name and saw Mystic's Atakan of Clear Creek. My eyes didn't go any further except right to the bottom where it had the rating. It was marked EXCELLENT! I about jumped out of my chair in joy and almost started crying from being so happy. All of that stress and worry and my boy was EXCELLENT! Excellent is clarified as superior hip joint conformation as compared with other individuals of the same breed and age. I couldn't believe it! I was so excited! I calmed down and read further and his elbows are also clear of any dysplasia. We also ran bloodwork on him for his thyroid and the results were all normal. This was a great way to end my work week before my vacation. I was so relieved after 2 weeks of waiting. Those 2 weeks felt like an eternity. I'll be getting him x-rayed again once he turns 24 months for his official results and I'm hoping nothing changes in the meantime. Here's a picture of his preliminary hip x-ray. I took it with my phone and was concentrating on the hips so the knees are not shown in this one. His knees also looked good!

Atakan's preliminary OFA x-ray at 12 months of age. Rated: EXCELLENT