Elbow scoring

So now we're moving on to "recommended" checks with Elbow scoring being one of them. Jess' mum was never elbow scored and there are certainly lots of dogs out there that haven't been, but during my initial research for stud dogs I noticed that most of them had been.  Like the other tests that I have gone on to do, I figured that I should be doing everything I possibly can to make sure that Jess is in perfect health and condition to breed from - the last thing I would want is to hand over puppies to new owners that go on to develop problems - especially ones that may have been avoided by doing more tests. Its a far newer scheme than the hip scoring and not as detailed - scores simply range from 0 to 3, rather than 56 for the hips. That saying, the elbow is a far simpler joint !  Like the hips, what is being checked for is Elbow Dysplasia (ED) or, abnormal development of the elbow. The scoring is simply 0 - Normal, 1 - Mild ED, 2 - Moderate ED, 3- Severe ED. Unlike hips where the scores are added together to represent a single figure, for the elbows, the worse score of the two results are taken and used, eg results of 1/2 would result in a score of 2. The recommendation from the BVA is that dogs with a grade of 2 or 3 should not be used for breeding.

There seems to be quite differing opinions on whether or not elbow scoring is important. Some people have had dogs graded 0/3 yet have spent their life as working dogs with no effect. Also, environmental affects (falls, accidents etc..) can have a considerable impact on the elbows meaning that a higher score may not affect puppies at all because the problem was not hereditary.

I got the elbows scored at the same time as the hips, at Moy Vets, and Jess' result was 0/1. Costs were mentioned in an earlier post. Knowing Jess had 0/1 it meant that it was important to me to ensure that the stud dog I used had an elbow score of 0/0 and even better to have a history of producing pups with 0/0 elbows.

The hips, eye certificate and elbow results are all published in the KC database.