The Scottish Newfoundland Club
Elbow Dysplacia

Everything you need to know

Elbow Dysplacia

Elbow dysplasia is characterised by varying degrees of elbow incongruity, bony fragments (bone chips), and ultimately, severe arthritic change. The term was introduced to describe generalised osteoarthritis (arthritis) of the elbow joint.

Breeders are encouraged to have their dogs elbow scored and to take this into account when planning matings to reduce the incidence of this problem in the breed. As a large breed the incidence of some evidence of elbow dysplasia can occur in 31% of all puppies bred to parents who score 0/3 but this rises to 56% where both parents score 3/3. Some dogs are very affected by an elbow problem whilst others can score 3/3 but it cause them no difficulty other than arthritis in the joint in older age. This is because the condition can be caused or exacerbated by the way a puppy is reared regarding weight, exercise and injury. See Newfoundland Dog Health for further details.
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