HIPS, ELBOWS and EYES

We have taken this opportunity to share a few of our thoughts with our visitors about the BIG 3 Hereditary Defect issues confronting Labrador Retrievers.
In Australia both the Sire and Dam of a litter “must” be hip and elbow scored before their progeny (offspring)
will be registered and issued with a pedigree by a State Controlling Body.

NOTE: NO AMOUNT OF SCIENTIFIC SCREENING OF BREEDING STOCK FOR HEREDITARY DEFECTS CAN EVER GUARANTEE THAT PUPPIES WILL BE FREE OF THESE PROBLEMS.
BUT : BREEDING FROM SOUND PARENTS CERTAINLY INCREASES THE PROBABILITY THAT PUPPIES WILL BE SOUND.

HIPS – Without doubt the most “talked about” condition in dogs generally and Labrador Retrievers specifically.
X Rays are taken and professionally scored by an accredited facility.
Each hip is scored out of a possible 53 with a number of scientific measurements being taken.
The lower the score, so too the degree of “soundness”. Therefore a score of 0:0 or even 5:5 are near perfect.

On the score sheet these individual scores are added together to give a total rating.
So a 4:4 score would be a total 8 and this is then given a rating against Australian and International averages.

In Australia the total breed average median score of Labrador Retrievers prior to 2005 was total 12. Post 2005 to 2013 was 9 now in “2020 the average is 7.87”  in  “2021 is 7 ”  and the average  score is 6 for registered breeders.

We make mention here that it is a median score simply because not all X-rays are submitted for scoring?
It is more likely that if all X-rays were submitted for scoring then the “breed average” would be more like a total of 18 or 20.

ELBOWS – Elbow Dysplasia is (in our opinion) a far more serious hereditary defect affecting Labrador Retrievers.
Elbow X-rays are almost always taken at the same time as hips but elbows are “scored” very differently.
An elbow score of 0:0 is perfect whereas a score of 3:3 is seriously affected.
Each additional point above 0 reflects a millimetre of variation (or gap) in the elbow joint.

EYES PRA – A CLEAR parent bred to a CLEAR parent will always result in CLEAR offspring.
The claim “Clear by Parentage” simply means that the parents of that particular dog or bitch were both tested clear of PRA.
That individual offspring must also be genetically CLEAR of prcd PRA.

Thanks to Southbank Labradors for this easy to read Information