(GOLDEN RETRIEVIEVER)I would be very interested if any one who knows of a big differance in the scores from a young bitch and a  4  year old. Hip scoring? I would love to have a litter from her this year she has been eye tested clear. Her mother now is 10 this year and I would like to keep my line going ang keep a pup or 2.  I bred my girl who is from a top champion good hip scores and my girl 7/8( who was hip scored at 3 1/2) is bred and JW mother.
Regards Sunny

Can't help on the hip score question but If she is already 4 I think you are pushing the age limit for a first litter..JMHO
Archer

Hips will by that age have started to deteriorate due to fair wear and tear but the difference would only be marginal. A point or two at a maximum. To all intents and proposes what the score is will not be very far out.

If you are really determined to have a litter then I have to say that you will need to sort things out quite soon. I always intended having a litter from my Anna but for one reason or another the time has just not been right. She will be 6 in May and reluctantly I have had to accept that I have missed the boat.

Regards, John

I had a bitch scored at 5 when she was spayed, in the days before our breed was routinely scored. She had a score of 4/4 - nearly half our breed average now.

there was a recent article in the vet record about hip scoring and it reccomends that hip scoring be done as soon as possible around the dogs 1st birthday as the longer you leave it the more deterioration of the hips you get so say your bitch wouldhave scored 10 by the time she is 4 she may score 16 and then by the time she is 8 she would score 28 and so on as there is always arthritc changes with any joints, this is not to say that you shouldn't have your bitch scored as to get a true mean average you should be scoring dogs of all ages and not just the young ones.

I feel a rise of 12 marks is way over the top. A rise of a couple of points or so is about it. If a dogs hips are wearing that much in 7 years what would a human's hips be like after 70 years?

One year is also to me a bit soon to score. Certainly my Labradors are nowhere near full size at that age and therefore the hips have not finished growing. I think the US have it about right by nor scoring before two years old.

Regards, John  

I had my bitch scored in Oct 02 at the age of 5. The vet told me before sending the plates off that they looked ok but would probably have been better if she were younger. The score came back 2.2 which was the same as her mother.  We had a litter from her just shortly after that and all was well although she wasn't as good a mother as her mother, who had her first litter at the age of 4.  I don't think 4 is too old for a first litter providing the bitch is healthy and fit.

if you believe what is written then when a dog is 8 years old its 56 in human years so i presume hips of a 56 year old are worse than those of a 7 year old when the dog is 1yr old, these scores were just an example as i can't remember what the true ones were in the vet record but it was an interesting article and it did say that hips should be scored on or around the dogs 1st birthday.

i always get my dogs hips at 1 year and 1 day,the result of 3 gene are 4/4 total 8. 3/3 total 6 3/3 total 6,plus plus all my dog a on lead walking untill a year old.

earler the better i would say

That story went out years ago Maxisleepi. after saying 7 years they then changed their minds and said with modern foods it was 5 years. That would make an 8 year old dog equivalent to 40 years old. Since then they have changed their minds yet again and now say that the comparison with humans is not linear which makes far more sense to me. Either way, at my advancing years, by your calculations I should be using a zimmer frame!

John