@lumiere Of course! Everybody learns so much more from a conversation than from a screaming match lol.
Yes. The FDC breeders aren't ideal. They really should be doing all the health testing and getting some sort of proof that the dogs have stable temperaments. But they are miles above puppy mills and better than the majority of back yard breeders.
So. By GANA do you mean the golden doodle association of North America?
I did a quick search on them.
https://www.goldendoodleassociation.com/about-gana/health-testing-requirements/
Here's their page about what they require from their breeders. For basic membership they only require hips and heart to be tested. Now, there are a lot more health tests than that that should be done.
They also have three tiers of membership.
Bacis: requires just hips and heart
Red: requires hips, heart, eyes, pra, von willlebrand (kind of, they say it wont be reuaired anymore after 1/1/19),
Now this is where it gets a little confusing. The chart says there are two more tests ( GRPRA2 and NEWS) that need to be done for red ribbon status, but the text says that those are only required for blue ribbon status.
Blue: everything that red requires plus elbows, patellas, GRPRA1, ICH and DM
https://ofa.org/chic-programs/browse-by-breed/
These are the health tests for a standard poodle. Note, hips and eye exams must be done. Then they have a list of three more tests and say to do at least one of them. These tests are Thyroid, heart, and sebaceous adenitis. In terms of poodles, GANA only encourages a hip and eye exam to be done. Now, they really should be doing that third/fourth/fifth test. And keep in mind, to be a basic member you only need to do hips and heart on applicable dogs. They don't recommend heart on poodles so for the standard poodles you'd just need to do their hips.
https://ofa.org/chic-programs/browse-by-breed/
Here are the health tests for a miniature poodle. They need to hage PRA, eyes, patellas, and hips.
https://ofa.org/chic-programs/browse-by-breed/
And toy poodles need PRA, patellas, hips.
Now, they're not encouraging everyone to do all of these tests. Patellas and eye issues are super common in small dogs and the only ones screening for that would be red breeders (only for eyes) and blue breeders (eyes and patellas). So they are letting people with incomplete health testing be members of their organization.
Goldens need hips, eyes, elbows, and cardiac.
If they just did hips and heart they could be basic members. So they're not really trying to get everyone to do all the necessary health testing.
They also say having a Dr. Wallace report for hips is fine. I have never heard of the Dr. Wallace report before and googling didn't really give me much, so if you have some resources on that I'd love to see them.
Now, I have a few more issues:
To qualify for hips, the say this:
"Prelim OFA or Dr. Wallace report for hip scores of Fair, Good, Excellent, for x-rays taken 4 mos. of age or later. Note that for any dog receiving a Fair rating prior to age of 2 yrs. (OFA prelim rating or Wallace report), a Final OFA or Wallace report with x-rays taken after 2 yrs. of age or later is required to remain as a qualified breeding dog"
To me, it sounds like if you get a preliminary score of good or excellent that's good enough for them and they think breeding off of these results is fine. Now it's really not, because hips change as dogs age. I have seen dogs go from good hips at a year old to fair hips at just over two. So they are encouraging breeding off of preliminary results. That's really not good.
For cardiac, they say this:
"OFA Permanent heart clearance (Golden Retrievers and Goldendoodles only). A stud may qualify for breeding prior to the age of one with a OFA Cardiac prelim clearance. In this circumstance, the stud will need to have a OFA Cardiac final clearance after the age of one."
So they think breeding a dog that's under a year old is ok? It's definitely not. You can't have full health tests done at that age.
I took a quick peek at their code of ethics and all they want is a two year health guarantee for genetic diseases. Now, this is a problem. What if the dog develops hip dysplasia? They're breeding dogs with prelim results so it could happen. What happens if the dog has progressive rod cone degeneration? It's genetic, but it only shows up at 3-5 years old. What about GR-PRA1, which shows up at 6-7 years old?
Now, my question is, to what extent do they enforce any of their goals/requirements?
I will go through some of their breeders later and see whether they're actually doing the health testing GANA seems to be encouraging.
Overall, I'm not very impressed. I think the breed clubs of the poodle and golden retriever are much better resources.
The poodle club has a super comprehens list of health issues and how to test for them.
https://poodleclubofamerica.org/health-concerns/
If breeding doodles, I recommend consulting this website to learn about health testing as it is much more comprehensive and it's quite easy to understand.
https://grca.org/about-the-breed/health-research/health-screenings-for-the-parents-of-a-litter/
And here's the website for goldens. It's quite comprehensive. If you wanted to use goldens or golden mixes in a breeding program I would point you toward this website, and not GANA.
GANA did miss some things that the breed clubs recommend, like annual eye exams by a board certified opthalmologist for all dogs used for breeding.
I believe GANA started off with the right goals but they're encouraging breeding with incomplete health tests so that's a huge, huge, huge red flag.
I will be going through a few of their breeders later just to see if they're doing health testing. If you'd like to see them, here's the link:
https://www.goldendoodleassociation.com/guest/memberbreeders.aspx
One thing I noticed while just scrolling through the list is that almost all of them are blue ribbon members, so they should be doing quite comprehensive health testing.
You also asked about links to show my points. What exactly are you interested in? I use the OFA website for just a quick check on what health tests breeds need. I have linked that above. If I'm taking a super close look I'll also consult the websites of the breed clubs for their information on health testing as sometimes they have a few tests they recommend but that aren't mandatory. I have also posted the links to golden and poodle clubs of America, so you can take a look at those if you like. If you're still wondering where I'm getting some information from or if you're curious about other organizations or breeders please let me know and I'll do my best to get you that info.