I am looking at buying a pup next year and have looked at some planned matings. One mating I have come across seem to have high hip scores. The average for the breed (BMS?) is 13. One parent is 24 and the other 16. Would you avoid this particular mating? The owner owns both the dog and the bitch.

:( Keep looking.  My dog's parents both had half the hip score average for the breed that gives my dog a better chance of not developing HD compared to a dog with above hip score average

Yes i would.

Unless the parents are something extra special then walk on by there are lots of nice dogs being bred from with lower scoring hips that these quite high ones

As the BMS is the same as in my breed 13 then I would also say look elsewhere. Why take the chance of using 2 dogs that are both above the average? If either one of them has something really valuable to contribute to the breed a very low scoring partner may have been worth considering but then only after long and careful thought and checking back well into the pedigree to see  if the hipscores are a one off. JMHO

What breed is it?  If it's like mine a rare breed then if only a few dogs have been scored then it's hard to know what the real BMS is and also if all dogs that have  been x-rayed have been scored!  THought I won't go anymore into that :d

unfortantly though two lower then average hip scores with the parents can produce the second highest hipscore in the breed!  :(  but unless the parents are something special and the mating looks like it might be sucessful and  the breeder is willing to pay for hipscores to make sure pups are all OK then walk away and find another breeder.

As said aswell if it's a rare/vunrable breed where gene pool is small then this might be the best mating that could happen to improve the breed.

Sorry Ice Queen, can you run that first sentence by me again.  I know that lower than average hipscores for the parents doesn't guarantee HD prevention for their pups but my understanding is that the higher above the average for the breed the higher the chances of developing HD - have I got that wrong?

Personally I would avoid a mating with both parents higher than average.   A high hip score can be down to many things - damage to the growth plates, which may be  traumatic or due to infection, and many environmental factors as well as the hereditary aspect.

If you have a really outstanding dog with suspected damage, it's worth doing a test mating to a bitch with a very low score, or vice-versa.    The pups would need to be kept in very responsible homes, with the breeder paying for hip screening at a suitable age.   Should only be thought about by a serious and experienced breeder.

But the last thing you would want was a mating with both parents over average!!

Just my opinion

Jo and the Casblaidd Flatcoats