@saba:
Thanks Ivoss for that info. I would have thought that by 2+yrs, there could be some considerable damage to the hip joints, (depending on diet, exercise, living conditions etc, etc), thus giving a false higher score than if the dog was x-rayed earlier. I noticed that you could get a prelim eval after 12 months. What happens if the prelim gives, for example 3:2, for hips and 0:0 for elbows, at 12 months. Then done again at 2 1/4 yrs, and the result is now 4:3 for hips and 0:1 for the elbows??? Do you document the prelim then the final score on the dogs web page/documentation, or just the final result??? I guess using my example above, you could question that the dogs hips were actually deteriorating due to possible mild/moderate H.D., or its just shows the dog didnt receive optimal care in regards to his hip/elbow health, in the first year or two of his lifeā¦... I hope Im sort of clear in this description/example !!! Just really curious, tis all.....
You are totally correct in your example.. certainly that can happen. However, I think it is pretty well documented that unless really, really badly treated as a puppy, typically your would not see that kind of deterioration at 2yrs (again from bad care and poor food/lack of food). Also since HD is not a huge problem in our breed, most of us wait till 2yrs and do the eval for the final result. Some that want to bred early will do a Prelim. And many of us post a link to the OFA database website so people can see all test results, so if there was a Prelim, that would also be there. Most times, however people only put the final score on their websites.
In the US also, it is not required that HD results be published if the results are not passing. Most of us wish all results were published.