German Shepherd puppy hip scores: How to know good from bad?

Question

Hip scores?? What’s a good one and what’s a bad one I’m buying a german shepherd puppy and looking at the parents hip scores I can’t make heads or tails or it I think it was 6=3 is that a good hip score and what’s a bad hip score

Anna M., DVM · Accepted Answer

Hello, and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach The British Veterinary Association (BVA) uses a scoring system where each hip is evaluated and assigned points based on degree 9 criteria of hip dysplasia in each hip. Each hip is then scored independently and given a number from 0 (best) to 53 (worst). So, a dog may get a total value from 0 to 106, with lower scores being better. A "good" score is anything lower than the breed average, which can fluctuate a bit over time. The current average score for German Shepherds is 18, so anything lower than 18 is a better-than-average score. (Of course, the average is only taking into account those dogs who have been submitted to receive a score, which I would expect to be better than the population at large, since the dogs being submitted are generally those being shown or bred). If your paperwork is indicating that one of your pup's parents received a total of 6 and the other a 3, I would consider those very good scores. Alternatively, it might be indicating that one of those dogs received a 6 in one hip and a 3 in the other hip, for a total of 9...which would still be well below (and therefore better than) the breed average. Either way, I'd say those look like good scores. :-) Hope this helps!

German Shepherd puppy hip scores: How to know good from bad?

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