Hip Dysplasia Scores- how to understand them?

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shadowboy

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We are looking to buy a large dog and have been researching certain breeds and breaders, many of the adverts are showing comments such as Hip Score 2:5 and 5:5 and another with 10:12 and another with 0:2

what do these numbers mean? how do you work out which has the best score? What should I look out for.

Many thanks
 
0:0 means no hip dysplasia, according to the x-rays. Each hip is x:y

10:2 isn't bad. I wouldn't breed from anything, male or female, with less than a total score of ten. i.e 5:5, 8:2.
But you can breed from two HD-free parents and still have a high score. I wouldn't breed at all these days, but hey.

There are people on here with more experience than me...some dogs can have horrific scores but be sound their whole lives, some people breed regardless ("there's no point, it will be there anyway" - my best mate's mum, different breed), others take the more responsible route.

Some popular studs with very low scores throw pups with high scores, yet the owners keep breeding them. Which is why we don't, anymore.
 
Thanks very much for your help- at least the numbers are starting to make more sense now and it will elp evaluate the parents more effectively.
 
As I understand it, low score means more "correct" hips, and the first number is for one side and the second number for the other side. But as a GSD owner on this forum (MurphysMinder?) could tell from first hand experience, and me from what I know about the subject, sadly HD is a hereditary jungle. You can have two parents with good (=low) scores + grandparents with good scores etc. and still get a dog with HD score above 30.


The reason for still checking the HD, is that the risk for getting a dog with a high score is much, much lower when using dogs with low HD scores. But sadly due to some recessive still unclear hereditary ways, a pedigree full of dogs with low HD scores still can't guarantee a HD free offspring. Of course, if you have two litters to choose from where the parents have equally good temperament, the breeders offer the same support etc, then I'd go for the litter with parents with lower score.



There is also the fact that even if your dog doesn't get the wrong HD genes, you can still overfeed it and/or over-exercise it to young and cause the dog to develop HD faults (maybe even lack of exercise can cause it). So though I'm glad my bitch got the best HD score you can get in Sweden and that the stud dog I choose also has it, I personally value temperament higher than good HD score. I see it as I'd rather risk getting a dog that might get HD problems with a good temperament, than risk getting a dog with lower chance of HD problems but with a bad temperament.



So unless the parents have really bad HD scores (or no scores at all), I advice you to not stare yourself blind on it. It is important but a dog with 2:5 could be as good or maybe even better, than a dog with 0:2 when you judge them based on several aspects put together.


from Sweden.
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the lower the number the better the score. However, I do know a very good stud dog (rottie) who has a high score on one side due to an injury when he was a puppy. There is nothing hereditary about his problem at all so he can be bred from. Always worth asking if you see an odd number against a very good number (but always get proof of why the score is so high, ie vet letter etc).
 
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10:2 isn't bad. I wouldn't breed from anything, male or female, with less than a total score of ten. i.e 5:5, 8:2.


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I'm confused, is that a typo? Less than 10 would be an excellent score
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LOL

The lower the number the better but each breed has an average score and it's the scores the same or lower that are considered acceptable for breeding although as has already been said some people carry on regardless.

All our bitches are hip scored before breeding and our stud dog has been done, we've used a couple of unscored studs and they've produced low scored pups.

I don't have the JRs scored though.
 
As FLH said, things can go wrong even with parents with low hips scores as I have found, my Buffy has a hips score of 16:12, her dam was 7:5 and her sire 3:2 , such is dog breeding
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Most breeds have a guideline breed average, some breeds do have quite a problem with hips and the average is quite high, otheres considerably lower but that is a good guide. In GSDs the Breed Council has a guideline for suitable hips scores to breed from, not sure what it is currently, used to be 25. In an ideal world it would be nice to say only single figure hip scores would be bred from, but if one did this you would remove a lot of excellent dogs from the genepool imo. As important as the parents hip scores is what scores they have produced in their progency, but realistically it is only possible to assess this if a stud dog has had a lot of puppies, otherwise you get a a false picture. With all the puppies I have bred over the years only a very few have been hip scored, because they have gone to pet homes and unless there is a problem people don't go to the expense of having them x rayed.
Good luck with your search, I would suggest you contact the Breed Clubs or better still Breed Council for the breed you are interested in and they should hopefully be able to point you in the direction of some good breeders.
 
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That was another typo on my part *hangs head in shame* I meant 0:2. There should be a breathalyser on my laptop.

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Haha!! Festive season and all that. One of my bitches used to jump a wall into the next kennel for several weeks/best part of two months before we were able to sort it out properly and whilst the side she wasn't jumping from scored a 5, the side she was jumping from scored a 10 so it shows how wear and tear can affect the scores.
 
Re uneven scores, I had a bitch who scored 21:4, litter mate scored 4:5. Malcolm Willis was of the opinion this score was trauma related and knowing her pedigree she would be okay to breed from. I kept a daughter whos scored 6:4 and she in turned produced a score of 4:4, so think when there is a great discrepancy between hips it is definitely worth further consideration.
 
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