I am so glad Lilly is doing better. I think she'll do fine.

Yes, Carrie (I have a daughter by that name), we do have that problem in almost every medium to giant breed and even in some of the small breeds. It can be related to some of the puppy mills and some of the backyard breeders, but there are many "reputable" breeders that are so in love with one dog or bitch in a line, they line breed a bit indiscriminately. This is also a fault of the judges at AKC shows. We must remember that breeders will not breed something (generally) that does not do well in the show ring. Unfortunately, many judges have a tendency to look at the wrong end of the lead and award the prizes based on who has the dog in-hand rather than whether or not the dog is of merit. I know a woman who co-owns a lovely Border Terrier bitch with another woman and they both show in "Bred-By", with SISTERS, mind you, and the other woman's dogs ALWAYS finish before the first woman's, even if the first woman has the better puppy/dog/bitch (she does really well when the second woman isn't in the ring). Add to all this the fact that for years everyone wanted their show dogs to "grow up real fast" (especially breeds like the Rottie, Dobie and Goldie, etc.) and you have the beginnings of the dysplasia problems. Look at the American-bred German Shepherd show dogs -- they couldn't herd a dandelion puff if they had to. They have been bred in recent years to be so low-slung in the backend that they are practically gaiting on the back of the foot almost to the hock. We need to get back to the "functional" aspects of the dogs and worry less about the "beauty" aspects or who has the dog on the lead. Okay, sorry, that's one of my soapbox topics.