If the hip score was above the average mean score in a Bitch by 8 points or so and the owner wanted to breed ( not My Dog !!!! )
and the stud dog was well below and the both dogs had not got any history of HD would it be wise to let the bitch have a litter.
                                                       
what would be the chances of the pups having bad hips?   

Also what would have made the dog have an over average score if the parents, g/parents etc  showed no history of HD before

Just a wee queery as wondered why this dog has not got as low as score as her relations as I thought HD was hereditary and not common in Airedales

Looking at the BVA it's not that uncommon.  Scores between 0-91 with the average at 16. 

What other things has she got that would improve on the breed if anything? 

The dog is I think myself , is typical of the breed a good looking dog and up to breed standard, she is good natured, obedient and moves well.has good breed lines with alot of champions ( apparently that does not count ??? ) in her pedigree, she keeps well and has had no apparent problems with her hips.

This is my opinion but would it not put a strain on the bitch if she was to have a litter i.e when whelping ? I would be worried about that as well as the offspring having dodgy hips.

I would think twice about mating a bitch with a higher than average score, but would also take into account the gene pool. If she has litter mates that are going to be bred from then I would possibly think of buying in a puppy from them, if they were the lines I wanted. There again, if this bitch is so much better than them and the score isn't too bad then why not? I would consider a bitch (or dog) if the score was up to about 10 points above the average (ducks and waits for the flack) unless the score was particularly bad on one point. Evenly spred scores are far better than one or two areas that have high scores. I know we are trying to bring down the hip score, but there is no guarantee that good hips will produce good hips. You may not get the excellent scores from the pups, but you may also get decent scores that can be worked on in future generations. Good scoring sires from good scoring families are a must though.

The Clumber Spaniel has a bad average score, but that doesn't stop them breeding from them. They are working to get the score down, but it will take time.

Under the Sale of Goods Act - any puppies from a bitch with a known score, higher than the median, developing HD would be difficult to  defend in court. As a dog breeder one would have to prove that every best effort has been taken to produce healthy puppies as a 'product'. Scoring -then ignoring that score would not look responsible IMO.

Sad times but almost certainly the way things are going.

It would be hard to put up a robust defence for a breed with a large gene pool with few conflicting health issues but could be regarded as reasonable in one that might have severe limitations.
Perhaps if the rationale for using such a dog was detailed in the contract you would then have the signed agreement from any buyer that they understand and accept the decisions taken.

It depends what the score is as there is radiographic perfection, and then there if functionally normal.  A score of 10 per hip would never cause a problem.

HD is not purely hereditary, but affected by environment and rearing.

I find it helpful to use our scores in conjunction with the comparison chart on the OFA site here: http://www.offa.org/hipgrade.html

You will see that under their grading system a dog would not classify as dysplastic until it was scoring above our 26 - 35 total score.  and the same for FCI gradings, scores up to 18 would be normal, and 18 - 25 borderline.

Have seen said dogs hip score results from BVA but cannot work out how you can tell if the dog is good,fair etc or what the results would have to be to class dog as Dysplastic.
All the results give are the scores for each point I.E Norberg angle ,subluxation, acetabular edge. Scores are evenly scored for each hip.

Basically I do not understand what they really mean !!!!!

Think I need to read upon the anatomy of the hip anyone suggest a good book with pictures ? !!!

Have a look here It's American but the terms are the same

Thanks moonmaiden
explains things well and with the diagram it helps me see things more clearly.

The above link, shows the comparison of our numerical evaluation against the main category based systems.

Interesting it would seem they use the same grading numberically as we do in UK but don't give the result in those terms only a grading, wonder why?