Better Bulldog Breeders Association Health Certification Program
The Norberg Angle Method states that average scores range between 55 and 115 with 105 being considered  normal dog hips
and the lower scores representing dogs with excessive hip laxity. After scoring all available x-rays using the Norberg Method
and comparing them to already graded hips we have found that our system for scoring hips does correlate with other styles for
evaluating dog hips. At this time our passing grade will be an average Norberg  Angle of 100  and our conditional pass will be an
average Norberg Angle of 95. Dogs that receive a conditional pass will only be permitted to breed to dogs with a score of 105 or
greater. All x-rays are available to the public!

Contact admin@bulldoggecanada.com for info on Hip screenings or to view a dogs score.
The following is a out line of the test needed to pass and ailments that the dogs must be free of in order to be
BBBA
Blue Ribbon Certified .
Example of a Blue Ribbon Health Certification form
Red Ribbon Health Certification
Here at the Better Bulldog Breeders Association we are
striving to produce a healthy and fit alternatives to the CKC &
AKC Bulldog trademarked as the Dhomhnuill Style Bulldog
TM.
To do this our group of breeders work with a health
certification program called
The Blue Ribbon Program that
was put together for us by Veterinarian Dr.Sarah McTavish.
..
We also have
The Red Ribbon Program for screening hips
based on the Olsen Norberg Angle Method.
Our Red Ribbon Program is a hip certification we use for the dogs in our program. We have been able to view and screen many alternative
Bulldog and Olde Bulldog hip x-rays to help us find a base line for the breed. We have also scored many x-rays using the Norberg method that
have already been OFA scored as excellent through mild. To better help people understand how our hip certification program works we have
provided examples of excellent through mild scored X-rays as well as there Norberg Angle score.
LEAVITT BULLDOG X-RAYS
113 avg. N.A.   (GOOD)
98 avg. N.A.   (BARELY PASS)
Dogs that are certified Red ribbon will have there litter
registration fees waived
.
Contact
admin@bulldoggecanada.com
for Blue Ribbon forms or instructions for
submitting x-rays.
All scoring is free and can be submitted by
both BBBA members and non BBBA
members for entry to our alternative Bulldog
hip data base
Frequently, breeders want early knowledge of the hip status on puppies in a given litter. Preliminary hip evaluations are a valuable tool for a
breeder. This allows early selection of dogs for use as show/performance and breeding prospects.

The OFA accepts preliminary consultation radio graphs on puppies as young as 4 months of age for evaluation of hip conformation. If the dog
is found to be dysplastic at an early age, the economic loss from the cost of training, handling, showing and so forth can be minimized and the
emotional loss reduced.

A recent publication compared the reliability of the preliminary evaluation hip grade phenotype with the 2 year old evaluation in dogs and there
was 100% reliability for a preliminary grade of excellent being normal at 2 years of age (excellent, good, or fair). There was 97.9% reliability
for a preliminary grade of good being normal at 2 years of age, and 76.9% reliability for a preliminary grade of fair being normal at 2 years of
age. Reliability of preliminary evaluations increased as age at the time of preliminary evaluation increased, regardless of whether dogs received
a preliminary evaluation of normal hip conformation or HD. For normal hip conformations, the reliability was 89.6% at 3-6 months, 93.8% at
7-12 months, and 95.2% at 13-18 months. These results suggest that preliminary evaluations of hip joint status in dogs are generally reliable.
However, dogs that receive a preliminary evaluation of fair or mild hip joint conformation should be reevaluated at an older age (24 months).

The BBBA will also except preliminary evaluations following these same guide lines only using our Norberg
Angle Method for grading.
Better Bulldog Breeders Association Hip Screening
Policies
Next we have included an x-ray of what a Vet has consider to be NORMAL dog hips and two pictures of x-rays taken from Leavitt
Bulldogs off of the Leavitt
Bulldog Association Web site. These two dogs scored
8/10 GOOD and 2.5/10 BARELY PASS.
ALL X-RAYS INCLUDE THERE NORBERG ANGLE SCORING