so what about zw - Page 1

so i read the post about how the zw score works but what does it start out at considering there is no offspring yet? 100?

No my dogs ZW number is 77 and he has no offspring. It is determined from the parents ZW #'s (i think its the average of the two????) My dogs Dams ZW# is 79 and the sire is 80 and then He went 'a' Normal along with his littermate so that brought it down also... if he or his littermates get a bad hip score it would go down hope that helps Jessica

TCall, my dogs hip rating before any breedings is an 84.....to arrive at ZW take your dogs parents and add both of their ZWs then divide that by 2 to arrive at your dogs ZW rating

Tcall36917, if you go to the S.V.'s website they do provide a detailed explanation of how the rating is determined. A dog with passing "a" Normal hips but without know ancestry or progeny typically recieves a ZW of 100. 100 is the mean that is used for the calculations. In very simple terms the puppy's ZW is the average of the parents until the puppy himself is evaluated by the S.V.. Depending on the outcome, the ZW of the puppy, and his parents, can go up or down. It also depends on the results from examined siblings. For example, if the sire has a ZW of 90 and the dam has a ZW of 80, then the puppy is born with a ZW of 80. Now, if this puppy recieves an "a" Normal, he will probably maintain the rating of 80 or possibly less. If his hips are "a" fast Normal, then his score will rise several points and the score of his parents will probably rise one (1) or two (2) points. The same applies if the puppy is determined to be noch Zugelassen or worse. The ZW is an important tool, but is is only a good tool if all progeny are examined. And this is seldom the case. It is not the be-all-end-all for the successful determination of a puppy's ability to produce offspring with passing hips and should be used as a guide. Bob-O

Excuse my mistake: The puppy would have a ZW of 85, not 80.

Can anyone confirm that the new breed mean is now 90 not 100. If so I think this is a step in the right direction.

Can anyone confirm that the new breed mean is now 90 not 100. If so I think this is a step in the right direction.