Belgium B hip rating - Page 1

Is anyone educated on the Belgium B hip rating and it's equivalent to the German "A" Stamp or OFA? Is there a fast normal, normal. Or a fair, good, excellent? Or HD1 HD2? Thanks John Roeslein

Belgian B hiprating would be the equivalent of HD2. The Belgian HD-Commission NSCA-CNAS (Dr. Frank Coopman - Uni Gent, Merelbeke) is working under FCI rules and quotes hips from A til E. B = Nearly normal hip joints = Fast normale Hüftgelenke Fast normal = they are NOT "normal", but "fast"= "nearly". I would not use the word: fair, there is nothing fair about those hips. Forget: "good" and "excellent". The (B) hips are not what they should be, they are not perfect. I can hear people whispering: "But who is?"

Janet, thank you for your help. John

The Belgian hip rating is VERY strict more so than Germany. and a Hip rating-B in Belgium can often get a A-Normal in Germany. I also know of a dog with a Hip rating-C in Belgium get a A-normal in Germany. So I would say any dog with a score of B in Belgium would be good but nothing is perfect in this world. The commission also decide a few years back to make it more strict which makes it VERY difficult to get an A in Belgium so most people now X-ray by the SV system in Germany.

Sparky, If the Belgium Hip rating is strict, isn't that a good thing? You would think that breeders' in Belgium would want to strive harder to breed a healthy GSD in mind and body (hips), so that people have a secondary source to look for a GSD besides Germany. I know that if I knew of someone in Belgium that bred GSD's that was sound in mind and body and that were fair and honest, I would go to them. What about elbows? Are the x-rayed also? Are they as strict with elbows? I hope so. Dawn

My HD-B female is OFA good. I don't think one can easily draw a line as to what a rating may be equivalent to in another country. Karla

You cannot directly correlate the ratings against each other. I also have been told that the Belgian ratings are "tougher" than the German. As far as ZW's???? Well - if you start talking to more people in Germany - you will hear of sooooo many pups being "sent to heaven" at 7-10 months of age because of poor x-rays. So the ZW ratings are also very skewed too! And this is sad because hips change from 9 mo to 4 years!!! I know a female who had C hips in Denmark and went OFA Good at 5 years old! Another B in Belgium [I think B not C!!] dog went OFA Excellent when done here...from what I have been told - ****most**** B hips go OFA Good...