Reading a Breeding Dog's Full Health File: Hip and Elbow Scores Beside the Eye Certificate

Buyers fixate on the eye certificate because it is the document they have heard of, and I understand why. But a serious health file for a herding-breed dog holds more than one page: parental CEA DNA results, the litter eye examination, hip scores, elbow grades and often a broader DNA panel. Learning to read those documents together, rather than in isolation, is what separates a papered dog from a screened one.

What makes up a complete health file?

At minimum, I expect to see five items for a herding-breed puppy or breeding adult. The CEA DNA certificates for sire and dam, the litter's eye examination at six to eight weeks, hip scores for both parents, elbow grades for both parents, and the DNA panel results covering the other conditions the breed carries, MDR1 chief among them. Each document answers a different question, and no single one substitutes for another.

The eye side of that file is covered in detail in our guide to reading the CEA certificate. What follows is the rest of the paperwork.

How do elbow grades actually work?

Elbow dysplasia is scored on radiographs, but the scale depends on the scheme. Some systems grade each elbow from 0 to 3, others report a binary normal or abnormal, and a few record the component lesions separately. The grade on the certificate is meaningless until you know which scheme issued it and what the breed average looks like.

That is precisely the gap the canine elbow dysplasia database was built to close. It aggregates prevalence statistics and compares the grading methodologies used across countries, which lets you place a number from one scheme in the context of the others. For a breeder importing stock or a buyer reading foreign paperwork, that comparison is the difference between understanding a result and guessing at it.

Which results are examinations and which are DNA?

The distinction matters because the two kinds of document age differently. A DNA result is permanent: the genotype does not change, and a test done once is valid for life. A clinical examination is a snapshot: a hip score reflects the joints on the day of the radiograph, and an eye certificate reflects what was visible at that examination.

This is why I tell buyers to check both the date and the scheme on every examination document. A five-year-old hip score on a breeding dog may still be acceptable where rescreening is not required, but you should know which standard applied. The overview of kennel club health requirements explains which registries demand what, and where the results are published.

Schemes differ between countries

In the UK, hips are scored under the BVA/Kennel Club scheme, which reports each hip on a scale where lower is better, and elbows on a 0 to 3 grade. In the USA, the Orthopedic Foundation for Animals issues ratings such as Excellent, Good and Fair for hips, and grades elbows on a separate scale; the OFA elbow dysplasia reference sets out how those grades are defined. FCI countries follow the International Elbow Working Group guidelines, which use yet another notation.

A score that looks alarming in one system can be routine in another. When paperwork crosses borders, convert before you judge, and when in doubt ask the issuing body rather than a forum.

What should you ask for in writing?

Request the documents before any deposit changes hands. Registered names on the DNA certificates must match the pedigree, examination certificates should name the specialist or the scheme, and orthopaedic results should state the scheme and the date. A breeder who has done the work produces the file without hesitation; hesitation is itself information.

Once you have the file, read it as a whole. Clear eyes beside poor elbows still mean risk, and an excellent hip score does not compensate for an untested MDR1 status. The point of the file is not that every line is perfect but that every line exists, is legible and can be verified.