I have a young German shepherd with elbow dysplasia who underwent surgery a few months ago. His surgeon is extremely nice and *very* experienced in orthopedic surgery. Unfortunately, his practice is a two hour drive away from my home. With that in mind, he recommended Dr. Gary Brown who practices right where I live. He actually called Dr. Brown a mentor to most orthopedic surgeons around. I decided to have the first guy perform surgery on my dog (I liked him and his style a lot), but I repeatedly run into the name Gary Brown - as a recommendation by a tracking buddy and former K9 cop, then by several members of a local Schutzhund club. That made me really curious so I finally decided to visit Dr. Brown for an opinion on my dog's elbow dysplasia. Boy, he did not disappoint. Dr. Brown flipped through my dog's x-rays for 5 minutes as if they were playing cards. He then turned to me and explained what was going on in a very analytical fashion, almost as if he had known my dog's condition forever. Since I had spoken with two different orthopedic surgeons prior to that visit, I knew what to expect and Dr. Brown was right on the money. He even made a number of observations that I had not heard about before seeing him. My conclusion: Dr. Brown lived up to his reputation - probably the number one orthopedic surgeon in the bay area. There are plenty of other surgery clinics in this region, many of them with marble reception desks and fancy waiting rooms. Don't pay for that, go see Dr. Brown if you live in the bay area.