I seem to remember that there is a 'best time' to hip score a bitch during her cycle.I knw 12 moths of age is best but do I remember correctly and if so when is the best time please
Archer

:D :D :D I know why you want to know!!!

The serious stuff is here and the 'other' stuff is there. Init?

I think the answer is half way between seasons, like the best time for spaying. For the same reasons too, hormonal.

Dawn R.

LOL Dawn... you're sooo right
thanks for the help everyone
Archer

I've always taken mine half way between cycles .....don't tell me I'm doing it wrong !

Margot

It all depends on her breed,her condiction and other influensiol matters.Mostly people say between 12 and 18 mts.I have deciced to do my Corso at 15mts.A fair inbetween,and hopefully getting the best of both worlds.

With my last bitch I had her hips x-rayed when she was 3 1/2 years old. She came back with a total of 7 :) I think that if the hips are good they are not going to 'decay' all that much over time, whereas if they are bad they will show up no matter what the age of the dog. JMHO ;)

A dog I bred has a score of 8 whn he was x-rayed ay 4 1/2, one point higher than his litter sister whose score spread was alsmost identical, and she was done at 12 months.

From what I have read of Malvolm Willis good hips will change little with age, but bad ones will get worse.

Agree with Lindylou!  I took my 5 year old 6 foot bouncer from 5 months of age to have hers done a few months ago.  She scored 6/4 and came in season 3 weeks later!  Just over a month earlier than I expected.

It's really strange as I took my nearly 5 year old to have hers done, she was 3 months late for her season she came in 3 weeks after having her hips x-rayed.  Then someone else in my breed had their bitch scored and 3 weeks after her bitch came into season early.  Oh my other girl scored 5/5 which is below the breeds average score.

I was told to avoid times too close to season as xray might damage any eggs.

Sharonb, all the eggs that a bitch will have are already there, just as they are in women!  Therefore whether you x ray close to a season or not is completely immaterial; x rays will damage all eggs regardless.