One of my stud dogs has a hip score of 4/27, I was devastated as I had people waiting to use him but, more importantly, I wanted to use him myself.

My vet, here in Boston, is a bone specialist and, when I went to collect my boy after the x-rays, he had a long chat with me. He explained that, as his entire pedigree consists of low scoring dogs and bitches that this odd hip was very probably due to trauma. This could apparently happen after the pups are born, or even in the womb but is not hereditary. Although I wasn't aware of any injury I didn't get him until he was 6 months old so it could have been something that happened before then.

I sent the plates off for scoring as I'm a firm believer in getting them done whether they are good or bad, how are we supposed to get a mean average for the breed if breeders pick and choose which plates get sent in?

When they came back with the score I spoke to my vet again and asked what he would do. He said that if the dog belonged to him he would use him. When I took him to Newmarket for BAER testing I asked them too, they confirmed what the vet had told me about it being non hereditary. The specialist that did the hearing test also said that, in her opinion, he was a good specimen of the breed and she too would use him if her were her dog.

A friend asked to use him on her low scoring bitch, she was fully aware of the history. All puppies from the litter, that were scored, have below average hips. She used him again on a different bitch and one puppy from that litter had a high score, even on both sides, but that same bitch had produced a high scoring pup from a previous litter to a different dog.

I have used him on my low scoring bitch and, although awaiting the results, the vets think they will both be pretty low.

When pups were booked from my litter by him I requested all new owners to speak to their vets before collecting pups to ascertain the vets views on it. They all had copies of his hip score certificate and were able to show the vet the plates, if required. I didn't want them taking pup and then deciding that I had been dishonest with them. All but one of their vets agreed that there are no hard and fast rules with hips, 2 low scoring parents does not guarantee a low scoring pup and they were quite happy that I had taken onboard the advice I had been given, and passed it to the new owners.

I would never buy a pup from unscored parents, I would consider one if one of the parents was above average but with an uneven score, providing those behind him/her were of good scores.

One more thing, I once had a bitch from low scoring parents, she lived indors, in a bungalow, was fed on the right foods and her score was 22/25, her litter sister was 3/6! (Her mother was the bitch I spoke of earlier). Obviously my bitch was never bred from.

unfortunatly they dnt hip score boxers over here i wish they did , i always get my vet to look and check my pups hips and elbows also i get my girls checked purely for my own peace of mind

Are you sure about that? As far as I am aware, any breed can be hip-scored 'over here'. All that's required for hip scoring is a vet to take the x-rays and send them off to the BVA for scoring. Why would boxers be any different

Yes ........ It is not a required health test for Boxers in the UK, that does not mean it should`nt be, I personally feel, we should, the only required testing in the UK for Boxers is Heart Scoring.

You are right any dog can be hip scored, but untill it becomes a required health test in the breed, it is not something many breeders, will do, and as it has been stated before you need a percentage of the breed to be scored, to come up with a mean score, as yet we dont have one. THE US hip score Boxers .

Nothing to stop anyone who owns a Boxer to have them done for their own peice of mind. once the dogs are over the required age.

The BVA does give a mean score for the breed - 16 from 337 dogs, range 0 - 64. Obviously this is a tiny proportion of the breeding population but it does indicate that there's not a particular problem in this breed.

In popular breeds with a low number scored, there will be a high percentage of dogs x-rayed specifically because they have suspected HD, whereas in a breed rountinely scored for breeding, there will be less bias in the sample scored.

http://www.bva.co.uk/public/chs/bms2006.pdf

Thanks for that, but the fact still remains, it is not a required test for Boxers, ethical yes. Most breeders do not hip score their dogs,or if they do will keep it quiet, and beleive me, it is a problem in our breed. and untill breeders acknowlagde this we will only see a small percenatge scoring their dogs. To many dont even bother, heart scoring , let alone go down the road of Hips.

gordon bennett its hard to get through to some people to heart score ,let alone hip score,you c so many sub-standard pups due to there parents not scored or poeple breeding because they thnk there dog is perfect but they know no diffrence,its ignorance,and we should and i hope it becomes a required health test for boxers

boxers mean average is 19 but its not a routine test for breeding.

Where's this from leo? Have they published the 2007 scores somewhere? I can only find the 06 data on the BVA website.

dunno if it is the latest figure just when i looked before to see if the leos has changed it had boxers at 19.