I have read about hip problems in Goldens and understand the importance of the breeder checking the hip scores of the intended parents of a litter. I also believe that a lot depends on the way you bring up the puppy when he is young (no jumping out of the car; climbing stairs, etc). But if the breed average hip score is about 20, is anything below this acceptable, or should I be lookig for a maximum of, say 10 for each parent?
Thanks,
Sarah

It does depend a bit on what the breed average is. rule of thumb the lower the better! Wjere the breed average is rather high then it is more important to try and have at least one of the parents scoring quite a bit better, to hopefully gradually reduce the average score.

A score of 20 would still allow a dog to lead an active working life, as I beleive that this is the range that Police dogs can score and pass for work.

Most breeders set their own personal goals, and priorities withing acceptable ranges for all traits, hips among them.

Anybody know if there is a site that gives the latest adv. scores for the different breeds, know you get one when you get a score back but wondered if you can check at other times. Ja:)kie

Hi Jackie

Don't know of any site but I think they only update the averages once a year (October ?) so if anyone has had a dog x-rayed since they they will have the latest scores.

Christine

Sorry, can't do links - breed mean scores and numbers of each breed shown are available on the BVA website. Try this page - www.bva.co.uk/about/canine.html. Like Christine, I believe that they are updated in October each year, and that is the most up to date info on this site.

Marina

Breed Mean Scores

This site is quite interesting www.showdogsupersite.com/hips.html ,

Others will advise. But if you contact the breed club, they will advise on hip scores etc. This is useful because the mean hip score is over a long period of time and the breed club may well have a recent average which is lower.

When you look at a dogs hip score, just the number isn't enough, you have to look at each side. e.g. 5:5 giving a hip score of ten is better than a score of 1:9 giving a hip score of 10, as the first means even hips and the second means one hip is more dysplastic than the other.

Hi,
Thanks to everyone for taking the time to reply to me.
I have found the two websites that were suggested to be very useful (the breed mean scores and the hips discussion article). The second had several points in it which I have taken onboard.
Thanks again,
Sarah