The procedure is quite simple. A veterinarian must palpate the dog's patellas and fill out a form indicating that the patellas do not luxate. The OFA recognizes and describes in their written material the four grades of luxation presented in the last article. The DVM will then fill out the OFA form indicating that either the dog's patellas do not luxate, or that they do luxate, and to what degree. The OFA will issue a registry number only to dogs whose patellas do not luxate.
Any licensed veterinarian can obtain the forms and perform the evaluations.
If you, or your veterinarian, are not comfortable having a general practitioner evaluate your dogs, then ask to be referred to a board certified orthopedic specialist. If you live in an area where there are no board certified specialists, there still may be a veterinarian in your area who is particularly interested in this field, and may have a lot of experience in orthopedics. Many IG owners already have the name of someone who specializes in this field, in the event they have a dog suffer a broken leg. Generally speaking, these veterinarians should be good candidates to evaluate patellas. The OFA requires that a dog be 12 months of age or older in order to be entered in the breed registry.