Hip Dysplasia Prevalence in Boston Terriers

Published screening figures for the breed exist but rest on relatively few submissions compared with the large breeds that dominate hip registries, so any single percentage should be treated as indicative rather than precise. The reliable summary is that small breeds including the Boston are affected substantially less often than large and giant breeds.

Because body size is not the only driver. Conformation matters too, and several small brachycephalic breeds with unusual pelvic and limb structure show higher screening rates than their weight alone would predict. It is a good reminder that the rule about small breeds being lower risk is a tendency, not a law.

It is reasonable to ask, and a breeder who has screened will show you the paperwork without fuss. In this breed, however, a patella examination, an eye certificate and a hearing test are typically the more informative screens, because those map onto the conditions the breed is actually documented for.

No. Hip conformation is polygenic and influenced by growth, nutrition and exercise, so screened parents shift the odds without eliminating risk. What good scores in both parents do reliably indicate is a breeder who tests, which correlates with better practice generally.

No, and this is the most common misreading. A breed figure is an average across a biased sample. Your dog's risk depends on its parents, its growth, its weight and its activity, none of which the average knows anything about.

They can, both because breeding programmes respond to screening and because submission patterns shift. A figure quoted from a decade-old article may no longer reflect current registry data, which is another reason to check the source rather than the number.