The Finnish Lapphund Club of Finland (Lappalaiskoira ry) is recommending changes to the PEVISA scheme, their proposals will be voted on in March and if approved will be valid from 1/1/2025. The recommendations include only permitting matings between dogs with A to C hip scores, and that a dog with hip score of C can only be mated to a dog with score of A, or alternatively the combination must have mean hip index of at least 101 (the higher the score is over 101 the better). Additionally, dogs must be elbow scored before mating – but there are no planned limits on the values used. The rationale behind the hip score change is that simply having mandatory testing has not brought about an improvement in hip score, and whilst recommendation has been that the hip index should be over 101, 40% of matings did not reach this score. A more robust approach is therefore required, plus the new Animal Welfare Act will exclude the opportunity to use D scored animals. Elbow scores are suggested to enable a picture of the health of the breed to be built up, and mindful that some widely used dogs are not x-rayed. (Overseas dogs are exempt from this requirement).
Additionally the proposals recommend reducing the limit off offspring from 70 to 50. Further lowering is to meet potential enforcement possibly being set in legislation. We await the update after the club meeting.
Full details of the Recommendations from Lappalaiskoirat ry
