Lee - The pup in question was out of a working hog dog line mulipule trail ch. and most (but not all ) behind this pup were actively hunted on boar, some on 'coon. For this breed that's about as preformance tested as it gets. the obvious fact with hunting dogs is one can't haul a group of witnesses out on a hunt...and get any hunting done. Bay trails serve a vaild pupose. "A simple fact is less than the best dogs can get titles. Agreed? After all, your bilaterally disabled dog was able to." Which only means that at that point in his life 2- 2.5 years he was able to work through what ever pain he had and get his job done better that they other dogs. Dogs which I had personnal knowledge that were not x-rayed and who's owners tend to have the "if he don't bay or hunt...I won't feed him" outlook on dogs. So did my dog beat a field on crippled dogs or healthly ones? As to Shutzhund or Ringsport.....They are stardardized tests to show aptitude....nothing more. I've yet to meet anyone serious about either that makes any claim beyound that that. "How ethical is it to not address the questions presented to you when your "points" are discredited? ..... Discredited??? Only in your mind :lol: I really don't want this to be me vs. you. The topic is breeding. Of course "historically" man has breed for trait by trial and error, I don't argue that. However, it's 2007, breeders in the USA have the ablilty to use medical screen to acchive the thier goals with out breeing cripple pups into the world until the point that they start finding the few pups in each successive litter don't have health problems or more likely are carriers. For the 2nd time I'm not infavor of replacing preformance test, it has it's place, along with temperment testing, conformation to standard and medical screening.