May I ask what Breeders of a GSD bitch would consider as an acceptable and safe maximum hip score?

Many thanks,
Janice.

Hi Janice
In my opinion you should not breed with a dog if it hip score is higher than 16 ish total, and also must be equal on both sides, however as many experts in the breed will tell you , hip scoring is not a science and a high hip scored Mother or Father does not neccessarily mean you would get high scoring progeny, nor does having low hip scored parents mean that the progeny will be low too.
Unless it has changed I think the general concensus is females 20 and males 25 or the other way around.
I think it's very important to know the lines and be able to see what the scores have been previously in the pedigree.
There are always the exceptions though, maybe a dog has had an accident, knock or something on one side which has caused the hips to score unevenly.
As I've already it's not a science and there are no guarantees,however it is still better to use low scoring lines and do as many checks as you can on the dogs history, also if you are thinking of breeding there are many many more things to consider.
Tracey

Hi Janice,

Although the breed average is 19 there is a bit of leeway here.

I agree in part with the above poster, but it is the males who should have a lower score than the females.

I believe the GSD Breed Council would allow a bitch to be used who scored anything up to 35!! but I would be extremely cautious when going beyond 20.

I had a bitch scored at 12:12 & was gutted at the time. She came from good hip lines & appeared fine otherwise. After taking much advice I decided to breed her to a very low scoring dog. She produced excellent scores from her first litter (average 8) & so I mated her again to a different dog with slightly higher hips. Again good scores (8's again).

Many years later I am breeding from her daughters & grandaughters who have all produced very good hips. I now have one of her great grandaughters who is also fine. Touch wood I have never had bad hips appear from that line.

However, had the first litter produced suspect hips it would have been an entirely different story. Therefore it's important to do your trial matings & study the results before embarking on a full blown breeding programme.

Hope this helps a bit,

Nicola