Have been asked to add this for a friend.
What age would people get their puppies screened for hips BEFORE the 12 month assessment.
I always thought it was 6 months although have never done it but she has been told it can be done at 4 1/2 months.
What do others do age wise and also have the hips been as predicted when they have been hip scored after 12 months?

I wouldn't want to put my pups through an anaesthetic for no reason, so I don't screen at all. I wait until I am going to x-ray and just wait for the results, no matter if they are good or bad. If I thought that there was a reason (ie lameness) and the vet recommended it then I would obviously get the x-rays done so that I could decide what the best treatment would be.

I agree, I can see no god reason at all to put a dog through an extra anesthetic (especially as a pup -who wants to give a puppy more bad experiences of the vet than we have to?) nor would I want to pay all that extra money. Why not just wait the extra time? I've never heard of anyone not waiting.

I also see no good reason to do this.  I know that they do in America but I just wouldn't want to take the risk, the only time I may think about it is if my dog was having to go through an anaesthetic for some other reason.

I presume that you friend has been looking at the PenHipp procedure

Could be wrong but I don't think plates of dogs under 12 months are accepted by the BVA, if that is the case there would be little point in having the pup x-rayed just for the vet to look as vets are notorious for getting it wrong.

However if you friend has reason to suspect that there is something amiss with the pups hips then, of course, the pup should be taken to an orthopaedic specialist at the first opportunity.

I have my girls x-rayed around 15 months - as long as its mid season. 
In my breed, many 'top' breeders have their dogs hips/elbows 'looked at' around 6 months.  Where we go they are done under sedation anyway but I think the youngsters are just held in position - x-rays are not actually taken - just viewed to see if they're likely to be ok.  This happens mainly in male dogs - so I suppose if they're not going to have low enough scores to be used at stud - they're on their way to a pet home!
Certainly don't agree with that way of thinking - but each to their own as they saying goes!

The pup would be sedated and I know of breeders who do this. The x-rays are not to be sent off they are just to screen to check there are no problems there. I know people who do it to save keeping a dog with bad hips.
I haven't ever done this but I can see the 2 sides of it.

TBH sedation would worry me far more than an antithetic, as antithetic can be immediately reversed, sedation can not and if something goes wrong you just have to hope the animal comes out of it. (Unless things have been changed in recent times)

>as antithetic can be immediately reversed, sedation can not

Actually sedation can be quickly reversed - we castrate tomcats under sedative (Domitor) at work, and then reverse it with antisedan when the op's completed.

My adult dals - even Clover, and that's going back 15 years - were BAER tested under sedation, not anaesthetic, and within 5 minutes they were walking, albeit wobbly!

I had my girl's hips xrayed at six months.  She was having xrays for something else, and my lovely vet asked if I wanted her to take an xrays of her hips and elbows (no charge) while she was under.  All looked ok, so it will be interesting to see what they are like now at 14 months as she having hers done for scoring this weekend.  I certainly wouldn't have done it especially, although I have heard of a couple of breeders doing dogs (potential studs) amongst other tests. 

so I suppose if they're not going to have low enough scores to be used at stud - they're on their way to a pet home!

That's what I understand too, but interestingly on another forum, one member had her bitch xrays at about 6 months (due to lameness) and was told she had HD - and would probably need an operation.  A picture of the xrays were posted and it didn't look good.  A year later the same bitch scored 4/4.....

That's rather worrying JenP when you think about it.  My boy had his hips scored in his country of origin as an excellent here under BVA rules he was redone and had a bad hipscore, although his hips looked in place etc.  We knew that they wouldn't be fantastic but they were double what my vet and many other people were expecting.

I had one of my boys screened at 6 months as there was a lot of talk about his Dad who altho had a good hip score has other problems and he was on both sides of the pedigree...

Anyway I went to my normal place where they are only sedated and they do not sedate for screening he was just held in place, didnt give 2 hoots about it either, dont think they are stretched as much as normal, but certainly didnt affect him, the plates looked good, went back at a year for proper tests he was sedated then but still didnt care...Good results anyway !!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you JG, things have obviously changed, at one time sedation could not be reversed if say an animal had a reaction to it and you could do nothing as there was nothing one could give to reverse the sedative, so anaesthetic was far safer. Will have to ask about the reversible sedative next time I am at my vets, last time I asked I was told that nothing was available but that was a few years ago.

>at one time sedation could not be reversed if say an animal had a reaction to it and you could do nothing as there was nothing one could give to reverse the sedative

It must have been a very long time ago, because a reversible sedative was given to Polly for her BAER in '98, and Clover before that in '93. It might not have been the same product as we use now, but it was definitely reversible.

JG it still happens now from what I've heard from people in high authority, that's why I've never chanced it yet, but like everything in life I suppose everything has a risk to some and not others.

No, last time I enquired was about 18 months ago, can you tell me what you use to reverse the sedation?

As it said in the links I gave, Antisedan is the reversing drug for Domitor.

I've been working at the vet for 2¼ years now, and it was a well-established drug when I started, so it's been available for well over 18 months.

Thanks, obviously not something my vets use, had missed the link, will go and find it now and read.