01/16/2026
My hot take: I don’t believe health testing is the end all and be all.
I often see LGDs with excellent health testing results that I am certain would break down on our farm. Official health testing is only a piece of the puzzle, really. The day-to-day functionality of a dog on our rocky, strip-mined acreage proves more than any single radiograph does. It has happened over and over here — dogs that don’t have the structure and health to withstand those rigors will break down.
That said, however, most True North dogs are imported, or from direct imports, with sparse, if any, health testing behind them. While I have focused on tracking down lines with longevity, among other things, I am often relying on anecdotal evidence of working ability and health that may or may not be accurate. Despite back-stopping stories as much as possible.
So, in that regard, health testing helps build a record here, a historical foundation of data for new(er) lines to the US. Both OFA and PennHip provide valuable data on both the current state of the hips and the potential for health over time. I’m looking forward to tracking how the ratings and numbers compare with how dogs do over the course of their lives.
The Ides of March litter (Fiala x Hugo) is 10 months old. There were a number of reasons I wanted to do this combination. One was that Aylin, who is sired by Hugo and is 3 years old now, is a lovely, intuitive LGD but has very questionable hips, based on scans at 14 months. That was a big reason why I decided not to breed her.
Now, it is entirely possible that Aylin will never show signs of wear and tear. Time will tell. Perhaps if I already had a long standing program, with a lineage of sound hips going back generations, I could have attempted to use her as an outcross to continue work ethic, hopefully without affecting the hip quality.
But these dogs are the founding generation for True North. My initial goal is to establish lines that have sound, steady minds, and natural stock aptitude and working ability. You can improve structure as you go along. Minds are harder to “fix.” Health is also important, especially for imports. So, I decided to try breeding Hugo to Fiala.
Both Fiala and Hugo have lovely hips; she rated OFA Good (PennHip .29/.39) and he earned an A/A European rating. Given Fiala’s strong work ethic, and his track record of throwing steady, work minded dogs, I wanted to see if I could pair those things with better hip shaping than Aylin has.
Fiala did fail one elbow, however. Based on my repro vet’s analysis, and my assessment of her daily activity, it seemed to be an old injury. I wanted to breed her, because Fiala has been one of the best and truest sheep guardians that I’ve had. There is no perfect dog, but she’s pretty darn close to being as plug and play as you can be with sheep.
And, outside of a soft tissue injury after she tussled with a fox in 2024 (after her OFAs), she has never been lame on that leg, despite working some of our steepest terrain.
Hugo rated 0/0 on elbows. And tested DNA clear of all diseases. Knowing what I did of him as a proven sire, it was worth a try.
The result? The Ides of March litter is a great blend of Hugo and Fiala’s temperaments and structure, so far.
But there’s still that question of whether the calculated risks one takes in breeding are worth it. Were Aylin’s hips and Fiala’s elbows one offs, or were they going to affect this next generation?
Given the questions, I wanted to get a jump on data collection. Based on Umbra’s results from PennHip scans and a sneak peek at elbows earlier this month, this breeding may have paid off regarding hip and elbow health. Umbra still has to continue proving herself as a working dog, and will still be OFA tested after 2 years, but I’m excited about the hips and ecstatic about the elbows.
More data will be collected on this litter to see whether there are good trends. Truly, I want to see 2-3 generations of consistency in any of these areas. There are other things I will be tinkering with as I go along as well.
But this is an encouraging start.
— Rebecca
