Reading Elbow and Hip Scores Across Registries: What the Letters Mean

The letters and numbers printed beside a dog's name on a pedigree are registry notation, not a universal language. "HD" records a hip dysplasia result, "ED" an elbow result, and the letter or digit that follows encodes a grade inside one specific scheme. Reading a foreign pedigree correctly means identifying the scheme first, the grade second.

How do European registries record elbow dysplasia results?

European elbow screening largely follows the International Elbow Working Group framework: elbows are graded 0 through 3 on radiographic criteria, with each FCI-member kennel club operating its own scheme and database. The recorded result typically combines the grade, the scheme's abbreviation, and a studbook or certificate number that allows verification.

What do the grades A to E on a German pedigree actually mean?

German pedigrees print hip results under the FCI-derived letter scale: A records hips without radiographic signs of dysplasia (often subdivided A1 and A2 in SV paperwork), B records borderline or near-normal hips, C records mild dysplasia, D moderate, and E severe. Elbow results appear separately as ED grades. A pedigree line reading "HD-A1, ED-frei" therefore claims normal hips and normal elbows under that club's scheme, not a generic statement of joint health.

The abbreviation layer around those grades is dense: breed survey classes, studbook numbers, trial titles, and screening notations share the same line of print. The German-language Saargold Magazin keeps a Kürzel-Verzeichnis that translates each abbreviation on Belgian Shepherd papers entry by entry, with its source and date, including the HD and ED grades in German pedigrees. It is the kind of reference that turns a cryptic pedigree line into readable data.

Why do identical letters not always mean the same thing across countries?

Because the letter is shorthand for a verdict produced under local rules. The grade boundaries, the required projections, the evaluators, and the minimum age all differ between schemes, so a letter that means "acceptable for breeding" in one country may sit on a different threshold elsewhere. The same problem affects elbows: a dog recorded Grade 1 under a national IEWG implementation can return Grade I or Grade II under OFA consensus review, as our grading systems comparison documents.

Hip results show the widest vocabulary gap. North American certificates use words rather than letters: the OFA grades hips Excellent, Good, Fair, Borderline, Mild, Moderate, and Severe, published with a searchable certification number on the OFA hip dysplasia program. Mapping OFA words onto the European A-to-E scale is approximate at best, and the official tables published by registries describe the mapping as indicative, not equivalent.

A practical reading order for foreign pedigrees

1. Identify the scheme. The abbreviation or logo attached to the grade tells you which registry issued it; the grade is meaningless without it.
2. Verify the number. Studbook and certification numbers let you confirm the entry in the issuing registry's database.
3. Check the age at screening. A normal result at 12 months under a lenient scheme is not the same document as a certification at 24 months.
4. Read hips and elbows separately. Breed clubs often impose different minimums for the two joints; a strong hip line does not imply clear elbows.
5. Compare within the breed. Breed-level expectations differ, particularly for mastiff-type and molosser breeds where screening rules are written into club regulations.

The bottom line on letters

No letter travels well on its own. A grade only says what its scheme measured, under its own thresholds, at a recorded age. Verified against the issuing registry and read beside the breed's own requirements, the same letters become the most useful lines on the page.