As above - central Scotland ish.

Ideally use digital and willing to retake to get the positioning spot on.

Oh and sedation

:)

Thank you for the information.  At what age should I have my bitch x-rayed and what is the average cost?   Do you know?

The actual cost of scoring is only £55, but the main expense is for your vet to take the x-rays and that varies wildly.

The cheapest I have been able to get it done is £150ish by a specialist, and for that I do a round trip of 150 miles.

Locally it would cost me almost double as no-one around here will do them under sedation choosing to do them under General anaesthetic, which costs more

The rules for the safety of the operator require the dog to be under deep narcosis, sedated, or be  anesthetised.

Just had a friend trying to find a vet to do them under sedation in Scotland, total nightmare.  She managed to get her vet to do it albeit unwillingly. 

She lives near Kilmarnock.

Just had her score back 4/5, so pleased, breed average around 13, but few score much under 10 or over 20.

If everyone agrees (and I do) that hip scoring is essential, why does it seem so bloomin' difficult to get it done? And is this why so many pups are coming from non-hip scored parents?

> why does it seem so bloomin' difficult to get it done?

It's not diffic7utl to0 get it done, it's just a nightmare finding a vet who doesn't insist on using the most expensive option of General Anaesthetic.

Apart from cost many of us do not want our dog to have needless General Anaesthetics.

I see what you mean, it's not really desirable unless absolutely necessary. It's a pity vets are so reluctant to use other methods. Is the actual procedure very uncomfortable for the dog, does the joint need to be manipulated? Or is it more that they need to be absolutely still for the xray? I've never had to have it done as I don't breed.

Here are the procedure notes: http://www.bva.co.uk/uploadedFiles/Content/Canine_Health_Schemes/hip-dysplasia-scheme-procedure-notes-july-2015.pdf
"4.2 Positioning
A standard position for radiography must be employed as follows:
(a) the dog should be placed on its back with the pelvis over the middle of the cassette or detector and the X-ray beam centred on the midline between the hips (i.e. the centring point should be at the level of the cranial edge of the pubis, by palpation).
(b) in order to avoid lateral rotation, the body should be supported in a straight line using a cradle or sandbags. The thorax must be upright and symmetrical since tilting of any part of the dog's body is likely also to cause tilting of the pelvis and asymmetry in the appearance of the hips. Lateral tilting of the pelvis can be recognised as a disparity in appearance between the ilial wings and obturator foramina on the two sides. It may be corrected by raising the pelvis slightly on the side on which the ilial wing appears wider and the obturator foramen narrower on the radiograph.
(c) the hind legs should be fully extended and adducted so that the femora lie as near parallel to each other as possible: they must not be over-adducted (i.e. they must not converge towards the stifles).
(d) the legs should be inwardly rotated so that the patellae lie centrally in the femoral trochlear grooves i.e. the stifles are upright.
(e) suitable ties or tape placed around the distal femora or stifles should be used to achieve correct adduction and inward rotation; ties must not be placed around the proximal femora, pelvis or or hips and radiographs showing restraint at this level will be rejected.
(f) poor positioning which allows either lateral or longitudinal tilt of the pelvis or incorrect positioning of the femora may prevent accurate radiological assessment of the hips; such radiographs may be rejected."

Here is how the scoring relates to the physical parameters and has pictures of how a dog is laid for the x-ray: http://www.bva.co.uk/uploadedFiles/Content/Canine_Health_Schemes/Interpretation-and-_use-of-BVA-KC_Hip-Scores(1).pdf

Thanks Brainless, that certainly clarifies the procedure. It's certainly not easy and I can see that there must be considerable discomfort for the dog during it. So when your dogs are hip scored, do you prefer them to be sedated? Or is there another way. Sorry if I sound gormless.

I prefer the reversible sedation, that way the dogs are able to walk out get in the car and are normal by the time we reach home.

The procedure isn't uncomfortable for the dog, but it would mean someone would have to hold them in place and that's not acceptable for a person to be present during the x-ray.

My vets don't like to do it under sedation saying the positions the dogs have to put into are painful. I've always had sedation with Marilyn and not one dog has cried out in pain or really caused a fuss, the main part is being on their backs which is nt something they enjoy, the other part of positioning once on their backs is no issue to them.