You've received a hip dysplasia score for you dog - what next?

Understanding your results

1. Hip Certificate

The hip score on your certificate is made up of the total number of points given for different features in the hip joint, it is representative of the severity of the condition. The lower the score the better. The minimum score for each hip is 0 and the maximum is 53, giving a range for the total score of 0 to 106.

• The first 3 components are known as the Primary Changes. These are assessments of the conformation of the hip joint. The poorer the fit of the femoral head (“ball”) to the acetabulum (“socket”) the more dysplastic the hip, the lower the score, the less dysplastic the hip appears.

• The second 6 components are known as the Secondary Changes. These are the assessments of the arthritic response to the underlying dysplasia in various parts of the joint. They are likely to increase as the dog ages and the arthritis progresses.

The lower the primary changes score, the less evidence of hip dysplasia there is, and the lower the total score, the less evidence of hip dysplasia and secondary osteoarthritis there is

2. What is hip dysplasia?

Hip dysplasia is a common inherited orthopaedic problem where abnormalities occur in the hip joints. These abnormalities include changes to the shape of the hip, ball, and socket and the development of osteoarthritis (a common form of arthritis).
In a dog predisposed to hip dysplasia; changes to the hip joint will begin at a young age as the puppy starts to become more active and will get worse over time. These changes can lead to excessive wear and tear of the joint, causing one or both hip joints to become defective. At this stage the hip joint(s) may be painful and can have serious effects on the health, behaviour, and welfare of the dog.
The severity of hip dysplasia can vary from a poorly shaped hip joint with osteoarthritis (a common form of arthritis) to a very deformed hip joint with advanced and very painful osteoarthritis.

3. How to use hip scores in breeding

These scores are collected together and used to create breed-specific statistics, including an average (median) score across the breed. You can find out the median score of your dog's breed here.

CHS recommends only breeding dogs with hip scores below or close to the published breed medians. Where EBVs are available these should be used. It is also advised to take into account the hip scores of a dog's relatives.

4. Publication of your results

If your dog is registered with the Royal Kennel Club, the results (and EBV's, if they are calculated for your breed) will also be published on the Royal Kennel Club website.

5. Robust appeals process

The schemes have a robust appeals process, which is open to any breeder or owner who disputes the score for their dog. You have 45 days from the date of scoring to request an appeal which must be lodged by the submitting practice via their online portal.

Upon appeal, the X-rays are re-evaluated by two further pairs of scrutineers who are unaware of the original score/grade and then reviewed by the Chief Scrutineer. The final appeal result is therefore based on the professional opinion of up to five expert scrutineers. Find out more here.