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Searching the OFA Database
The OFA database can be a valuable resource for those looking for a puppy or for breeders. It can be a bit confusing if one is not used to the site so I have included some screen shots and explanations below.
Above is the first page of the OFA site. The area we are interested in is on the left in the yellow circle. There are two ways to search for a dog. If you know his registered name or registration number, you can type it in the box right uder QUICKSEARCH a Dog.
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Another method is to click the blue ADVANCED SEARCH button. This is a good method if you do not know the dog's exact registered name or his registration number. Let's see what happens when I click the Advanced Search button.
Clicking on the advanced Search button, took me to this page where I filled in some information. I have used one of my own dogs for this search. In the yellow circle I typed his name. Then using a scroll box I clicked on his breed, Curly-coated Retriever, which you can see in the red circle. To search for this dog, I can then click on the Begin Search button (green arrow).
After I clicked the appropriate buttons to search for my dog, this page came up. As you can see, it lists his name, registration number, breed, gender, color, the date he was tested for a certain health trait, his age in months when he was tested, the test result number issued by OFA, and the type of test. There is also the notation CHIC behind his name--more about that later.
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You can get even more detail about the dog by selecting his name and clicking it.
Clicking the dog's name produced this page. The dog's sire and dam are listed and so are his siblings, half-siblings and offspring. NOTE: There are occasionally mistakes in the OFA database. One of this dog's full siblings is listed as a half-sibling. This dog also has EIC and GSD clearances but those are not included in this database because the dog was tested before the OFA began listing the results of those tests.
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If you go to the top of this page, you see VERTICAL PEDIGREE listed in blue text. Clicking that will give you a 3-generation pedigree for the dog.
READING THE OFA NUMBERS
A dog gets a number for each test. One number will be assigned for his heart test result, another for his hip test result and so on.
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The OFA provides a key to interpreting the numbers a dog gets for each test. You can view that key at the OFA Website Number Key page.
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