Please could you give me some information on hip scoring. I am interested in purchasing a golden retriever puppy and realise that a good hip score is required but I have no knowledge of how the score is obtained and what a good score is.Thank you

Scoring cannot be done before a dog is 12 months old. The best score is RH0/LH0 and the worst RH53/LH53 giving a total of 0 or 106 respectively. These are reached by scoring, I think eight (?) parts of the joint, noting problems and adding the totals together.

Try to find a breeder who has scored their dogs and where as many relations as possible are below the breed average (it differs for each breed and a Golden "person" will be able to tell you the breed's average).

This does not guarantee that a pups score will be low but it does help.

I think Retriever's also need eye testing but there are others here who can tell you more about the breed specifics of that

Good luck in finding a pup

Christine

just out of interest....what is considered normal for a G.Retrievers score?

Think you'll find the Golden is around 19 to 20. They are slightly higher than a Labrador. The score is made up of 9 futures with a score of 0 to 6 awarded to all futures except the Caudal Acetabulat edge, which is given a score of between 0 and 5. This gives a score for each side between 0 and 53 (total for both sides of 106) As said the average for Goldens is around 20 but that is only part of the story, rather obviously a 10/10 would be a for more desirable score than 0/20 because although one hip is perfect the other is twice as bad! Also a score made up of several features loosing low marks is better than the same score made up of few features loosing high marks.

As for Eye testing, Goldens are tested for:-Congenital Hereditary Cataract, Hereditary Cataract (these are two different forms of cataract) Central Progressive Retinal Atrophy, Generalised Progressive Retinal Atrophy, Multiocular defects and Multifocal Retinal Dysplasia.

If this seems like an awful lot of problems let me just say, very few dogs are affected by any of these problems and the reason for that is because they are tested for it! There’s no doubt that testing does help keep our puppies healthy.

If there is anything about this post you don’t understand, just ask the question and I'll do my best to answer.

Regards, John

Hello John

How are you ?

I am very interested in hips and have tried to understand the significance of the different scores :-)

Right bear with me on this.......lol

I have been told that if a score is of the example you gave, 0-20, as oposed to 10-10, then the lower score is the one that matters, as in this case 20 is more likely to have been damage which was caused as a result of an injury. This is only in the case where one hip is significantly higher than the other.

Now tell me I am being given rubbish info.........lol

Regards

Paul

Hi Paul. I'm inclined to agree with you on this and maybe the example I gave was a little too extreme! The example would have been better if the two scores were a little nearer. But, in all these things, you pays your money and takes your choice! How much of a hip score is inherited and how much is inflicted? With extremes I’m inclined to go with the inflicted. Also, the conditions a young puppy is raised under can have a profound effect on the score. Slippery floors where the puppy's legs slip out in all directions can easily do permanent damage! Often it's a slippery floor like this that has damaged one hip leading to the uneven score.

I sometimes wonder how our puppies ever make it through to adult! Maybe it's in spite of us rather than because!!!

Regards, John :)