Hi I have a rottweiler, so I was just looking at the pictures on this site and I was just wondering what is a hip score

Hi

A hip score is done at no less than 12 months old.
The dog or bitch is taken to the vet with its kc papers and the vet x-rays the dogs hips and sends the plates of to the BVA
(British Veterinary Association) for their panel of experts tochecks angles lengths etc etc and they then award EACH
hip a score ranging from 0 to 53.The owner is then given a certificate with the dogs score on.
The LOWER the score the better.

All breeds susceptible to Hip Dysplasia should be hip scored before breeding to make sure that their hips are OK as HD can be hereditary & is a debilitating & painful condition for the dogs affected by it. Unfortunately, even breeding from low scoring parents cannot guarantee low scoring offspring, but it does reduce the chances of severe HD. All responsible breeders of large heavy breeds like Rotts should hip score before breeding.

Not just large breeds some medium to small breeds also have a problem but because they, in the most part, are not scored we do not know how bad the situation is. Small or dogs of low weight will not show the signs that larger dogs do, and the dog will manage to move even if the hip is non-existent, but it would be better for the breed if the hip situation could be improved along one must say with the knee joint, which is very bad in some of the smaller breeds.

Breed mean score (The average) for Rotts is a total (The score of both hips added together) of 13. This is quite a good score but unfortunatly, although the average is good there are also some very poor scores in Rotts.

Regards, John

jackie - you're right, I was being lazy not mentioning other breeds! Sadly, testing for slipping stifles is not as advanced in small breeds, but certainly breeders could do more to try to prevent it occurring.