Hip Dysplasia in Dogs

My 11 year old cousin called today to tell me that his 2 year old Short Haired Wheaton Terrier has hip dysplasia. Has anyone's dog had this? Did you have surgery to correct it? Did it help?

He's very upset, and I wanted to be able to do some research to help him and his mom out with what to do.

TIA!

Many German Shephards have this disorder. My parent's friend's shephard had this at two years old. When they first bought the dog, my father went with them and he noticed it right away when the dog was a puppy. They are usually larger than normal and seem a bit akward when walking. They bought the dog anyway.

Well after 2 years later, the dog could no longer walk and whined when it tried to. They didn't want to pay for the operation so they put the dog down...not very smart people. I'm not sure how costly the operation is though.