I'm know this has been asked before, but I can't find it! What is the best age to get hips/elbows scored? Esme (GR) is coming up to a year old (where does time go?!) and was wondering if it would be best to get her scored soon after her 1st birthday or leave it until she's a little older (16-18 months)?

Personally I would not normally score before 15 months.

That was my thought Alison, just wondered what others do.

There's only one of my dogs that i wished that I hadn't hipscored until he was about 18 months as he had a growing spurt at about 14 months.  His hipscore isn't that great, not terrible but I do wonder that due to him not being fully developed whether that was why his was slightly higher than others from the same line, though of course I'll never know as you are not allowed to have them rescored.

Other than that though I've had a couple done now at 12 months (though bitches) and they've had good scores.

i had one scored at 3.5 years and that was 4 points above average so not brilliant but not disasterous, had another done around 14 months and a good score, my last male i had scored just after his 1st birthday and he scored 2, my best score yet but whether age makes much difference i dont think we will really know as you cant re-score later to see what the score would be in 1-2 years time, would be interesting to know and that would be the only way would could learn if age actually makes any difference, i think personally that the differences would be minor like only a couple of points, i think they either have good hips or not, obviously hips that are not that great will look worse with age. some people say they are not fully mature at 12 months and my male certainly wasnt mature at that age and still isnt at nearly 2, but his hips showed to be superb so i think it comes down to personal choice on when to score. good luck :)

I do think that by 12 months MOST of the growing will have been done, and good or bad hip development would show up at this age. I wonder if it is different between dogs and bitches? Anyone had an older dog scored (e.g. over 3 years) and was the score still good? It would be interesting to see if age does come into it or if a dog with good hips at 1 year is likely to have equally good hips at 10 years?

MandyC - You've just replied to my next questions without me having asked them (posting at the same time). Are you psychic by any chance?

i know thats so wierd eh! well great minds think alike :)

Had my girl Carina done at 6 years of age, she had a hipscore of 6/4 total 10.  Breed average at that time was about 18, now is at 15.  This is a dog that used to jump above my head at the age of 5 months and I'm 5ft 7" !!

about 2 to 2 1/2 in my breed as it sometimes takes this long for them to finish growing.
Although having said that if i thought there was a health issue i would have them done sooner.

A dog I bred was not scored until he was over 4 years of age adn his score was a total of 8 1 point higher but almost identiacal to his sister's who was scored at not much over a eyqr old.

He is a sound moving dog and showing well in Open as a veteran of 9 1/2.

Most people in our breed do not wait for the dog to finish growing they have them done about the 14 month mark, as do lots of breeds as one breeder told me " They have done less damage to there hips at that age so younger the better. "
Pesonally i do not agree but each to there own
You can see in the breed supplements when they were scored some of the dogs are just over 12 months old.

Peanuts