What age should hip test be done to be reliable?

bmgillespie

Here in U.S we usually wait or should I say I wait until two years and is it the same for male and female. It has been explained that females reach full growth earlier than males doesthis mean they can be tested earlier?

Ronindobe · Posted: Sun Jun 28, 2009 9:13 pm Post subject:

Hello,
Here's the deal. Here we wait till 2 years because that is what our rating orginazation requires to issue a certification. Check OFA.org section on preliminary hip eval. Bottom line, it is very likely that hips rated good to excellent in dogs as young as 4 months will be normal at the 2 year radiograph series. It is also very likely that bad hips can be ID'd that young. It's the gray area pics that are the issue. And, hey, guess what, people sometimes don't get good data [ good angle, crappy film/ equip ] and the owners don't buck up for new shots. If you want to breed a dog, in my opinion, early you, can get a real good idea about the current conditon of the hips quite early and the stats carry at least to 2yr. If you were to get poor news, always get a new series done. Also there is a new device that holds the dogs legs and hips in the best orientation for this observation during the xray. It should become the SOP.
So good pics, competent rgraph reader, line history should allow you to make responsible decisions about earlier breedings. Alot of us Americans have been operating on less than that...that's why I have shifted my line choices.

bmgillespie · Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2009 4:57 am Post subject:

Ronindobe · Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2009 1:41 pm Post subject:

Well the common school of thought is "females mature earlier", but what is meant by that? I think generally they're talking physically. And I think I would agree in the cases of height [skeleton/joints] and say 95% of their weight [muscle not adipose Laughing

]. However I think they stabilize after recovery from their first or second heats.

For sure there is little reason normally to pay for a OFA style series before the group will grant a certification. Yet it is handy to do preliminary pics when considering buying older pups particularly from stock with scarce background info. Keep in mind that over here [ and I suspect in Europe ] there are probably many fine dogs that never get seen or compete living out on farms with old dudes that really know their stuff. If you stumble over one of these types there will be generations of nontitled, non-certified stock. These animals are largely lost to the global breeding program, but it doesn't mean there isn't some gold lurking out there in the woods. My first Dobe, Apollo was one of those. I was fresh and I got lucky.

Like any other exposures, tho, I like to limit xrays to the minimum.