Estimation of heritability for hip dysplasia in German Shepherd dogs in Finland

The heritability of dysplasia in the German Shepherd Dog was estimated by a pplying the animal model and theRestncted Maximum Likelihood (REML) method to a data-set which consisted of the hip scores of 10 335 dogs. Fixed effec ts of the model were the month and the year of birth, screening age, the pa nelist responsible for screening and the origin of the animal's sire. The l itter and the breeder had only minor effects on hip joints. Heritability es timates were moderate (0.31-0.35). The moderate heritability, which was fou nd in this study, enables a much better genetic gain in the breeding progra mme, if proper evaluation methods, such as BLUP animal model, and effective selection is used Instead of phenotypic selection.