That is absolutely true, and that is exactly why we applied to GRROW. We needed a housebroken animal who could go to work with us every day. Max is perfect.
Our friends thought we were being foolish, adopting someone else's "cast off" dog and predicted all kinds of trouble. They are amazed at the sweet, beautiful Golden that we adopted. I feel obliged to mention that they just bought a fancy yellow lab puppy from someone tht they met at a dog training class, and I'm just not too sure about that pup. I note a lot of stiffness in the hind legs when their puppy -- now about 10 mos old -- gets up from a nap. She runs it off after a while, but her gait reminds me of my old (now deceased) Golden when she was over 15.
I certainly hope that their pup does not turn out to have bad hips. I know that you cannot predict that outcome untill the dog is over a year old and has a full X-ray exam.
Actually, if they are really bad, they may be able to tell on a prelimn now. Were the parents OFAed? Of course that is not a guarantee, but it does help improve the odds.
Also, one of my old dogs (bought as a show prospect from England) was severely dysplastic. He was never bred of course, but I kept him and he lived pretty comfortabley to age 10 (died of something else entirely). He had a little trouble getting up if he lay on the tile floor the last couple of years of his life, but he did amazingly well. And his hips were AWFUL. So, maybe, even if your friends puppy has dysplasia he will be ok, if they keep his weight down and monitor things.
And, there are other things it could be as well....
susie