Hip and elbow score meaning

[snazzychair]

Hi,
Please can someone tell me if a dog has elbow ebv of 15 and hips ebv 19, what does this mean and is it bad? That's for a stud dog that has fathered some puppies we were thinking to see.

Those are pretty awful scores - hips and elbows should be as close to zero as possible, especially for a stud dog.

Ah ok, forgot to mention dad is a GR and KC registered

This is quite helpful.

goldenretrieverclubofscotland.com/welfare/health-tests-explained/

What are the actual hip and elbow scores? Not the estimated breed value. Estimated breed value depends on number of generations it's based on so can be a useful indicator but may also not mean that much.

For a lab I'd be wanting elbow scores of zero and prob a max of 6 on either hip and relatively even.

That's a good point I just checked kennel
Club and says score NA. That sounds like it's not been done? I thought you couldn't be kc reg without health testing and hip scores

Yes, puppies can be registered without hip and elbow scores. I wouldn't buy a Golden that hadn't though, which it sounds as if maybe this one hasn't? Knowledge is key, and what you do with it.

That said, hip and elbow scores don't need to be 0 (although the scale is very different - hips are scored from 0 to 106, elbows from 0 to 3).

Most hips aren't 0, and even something up to 20 isn't the end of the world if mated to a bitch with a very good score.

Elbows are obviously less tolerant due to restriction of scale, and maybe a 1 mated to a 0 wouldn't be a cause for concern if all else was good.

Dogs need some genetic diversity, and all is a balance, so people can't just use the 0 scores. Hips and elbows are also multi-factorial and can be very much impacted by environment (food, exercise, injury etc.) as well as genetics - so it is not just the parents that should be taken in to consideration if a score is a bit higher.

Someone's making stuff up - elbows are scored 0-3. And you want 0 ideally.

With hips some breeders give you a total (ie 19 in this case) but ask for the individual sides - 19 could mean 0 on one side and 19 on the other.

Ideally you want lower than average for the breed and balanced (eg a Labrador average is 16 so you want 8 or less on each side but something like 4/5 wouldn't be awful but I'd be wary of 2/7).

So I wouldn't go near a dog with 19.

Incorrect. You only need to prove pedigree

those scores, or lack of, I’d walk away

Just to add I used lab scores as I knew those off the p of my head. Just looked and GR average is 19 according to the breed club

Someone's making stuff up - elbows are scored 0-3. And you want 0 ideally.

The OP is quoting estimated breed values not hip and elbow scores

I got it wrong, I quoted the breed average rather than the actual dogs score. Looks like the dog hasn't been tested and the mother hasn't either. We will have to leave the puppies in that case

Well done. HD and ED is crippling both physically and financially. Not worth the risk.

Blimey. My Lab is 0/0 on elbows and 3/4 on hips!