Would you use a boy that has fair hips?

sure if I had a girl with a strong background of no issues.
he might have everything else going for him, and a Fair is still passing!

Absolutely. My last litter was with a Fair OFA hip score (passing BTW). I love my keeper.

I sure would and have twice. Look at the family history around the dog, not just him. Would I used a Optigen B, sure with an A girl, would I use an EIC carrier sure with a clear girl. Don't just breed to clearances. Breed to what you need for your girl.ic9a

Yes, I did, and my keeper has Excellent hips! If everything else was there, I wouldn't let Fair hips stop me from using a dog.

I once had the same dilema. The stud had fair hips and I did not know his background on hips as well as I would like to. Decided to have faith and trust in the soundness of my bitch line and did the breeding. My 3 generations of girls all had OFA Good hips. More important though, they only produced sound hips. Final result was 2 bitches kept with OFA excellant and passing elbows. Rest of the litter was sound as well.

This question actually has an easy answer. - YES.

It would depend on what the familial hips look like - if he is fair, has siblings/parents/offspring with fair or worse hip scores, then no, I would not use him. If he is fair and the familial hips are strong, then sure, if he had everything else I was looking for. There are some mice boys out there with fair hips that have weak hips in the pedigree and I would not breed to that - I want to maintain and improve and there are a lot of nice studs to choose from without breeding to a weak joint history.

What about a stud with clearances missing (elbows) in mother and grandmother?
Stud has all clearances.

You could always ask.

2 breeder friends have used boys with elbow fails close up in the bitch line of the stud dog. One had issues with elbows right away in the first generation an the other had issues pop up in the 2nd generation. FYI

A Breeder's Practical Guide to minimizing Disease

Carmen Battaglia says if there is something you want to avoid make sure it is not in the first 3 generations. And I learned this is true the hard way.