Hip grade guesses? Please - Page 1

Any idea what you think these hips might come back as:

Fair, maybe good;  I would like to see the sockets deeper but this looks like a young dog? Male?  What breed?  Positioning could be a little better particularly on the right hip.  Best of luck  Nan

thanks, hes a 4 year old male german shepherd. 

I think he's good, I can't see close ups of each ball and socket but I don't see anything bad.  I agree positioning could have been better. 

Don't know if it is the positioning, but I do not like the looks of the one showing on right side of the scan. The mouth of the sockets seem very wide open to me. I am by no means trained to look at the x rays though. Best wishes that I am very wrong.

How old is the dog and what breed?
Prager Hans

poster says is 4 year old gsd

 Im not an expert but can usually guess pretty good on what hips are going to be: however, not so with these.  They are on their way to the OFA but I am nervous about the evaluation.  Im concerned about laxity, depth of the sockets, and the little indentation on the dogs left femoral head.  Also it dosnt seem like the balls are as large/round as they should be to create the "u" that excellent/good hips are supposed to have.  Here is the other Xray they took:

since he's already 4, he will get good or maybe excellent.

Good examples of the importance of correct positioning. It almost looks as if we are seeing 2 different dogs.

IMO the 2nd xray should get a good, the first might only get a fair. I don't see laxity and the flat spot on the head is normal, it's where the ligament attaches. Some dogs have smaller femural heads; that seems to run in certain families of GSD's, workinglines more so than showlines. The sockets could be deeper, but they are deep enough to cover half the ball, there are no signs of remodeling and the rims of the sockets are not showing the wear that would be evident on a 4 year old dog with subluxation. 

It's impossible to second guess OFA, they are not always consistent and the ratings can vary from reader to reader. No reason to think this dog won't get a number, the rating is the question, always is. I don't get hung up on ratings anymore; fair, good, excellent, all normal hips for breed and age.