I'm pleased you're on the breed mean average...at least thats a good thing...could have been a lot worse eh?

I was looking through last years English Setter year book and far more have uneven hips than even...out of all mine that were scored I didn't have a single one that was even, close but not even

And of course the KC recommended best practice is to breed from animals that are BELOW the BMS..........

Yep, it says well below.

These are the current stats.


http://www.bva.co.uk/public/document...Statistics.pdf

It's also important to look at the whole dog, not just a specific health test. Isla's hips were 5:2, some said she shouldn't be bred from as they were too uneven, but considering everything else about her had been spot on for me (before the cataracts diagnosis) then I would've continued plans to breed her.

If I had a dog that had a slightly higher hip score than the breed mean average, but everything else was spot on I would still breed, I'd just be extra careful to pick a sire with good hips that has produced progeny with good hips.

Absolutley agree. Also, if the gene pool is small and you try to stick to scores a lot lower than the average it limits choice even more.

In many breeds the average is lower than it should be because some people simply do not send the plates off for scoring if they look iffy. Even my vet gave me the choice but I said I needed to have a number to work with, and good or bad mine have always been scored.

Crikey...I got the quote from my vet this afternoon...I think I may have to shop around...a whopping £286.88..thats got to be a record

The breakdown is £62.24 for teh GA, £11.30 sundries, £129.34 for x-rays, £30.oo for transfer??? and £54.00 to BVA