To add to Kale's mess....

I'm no vet but a chip in the joint doesn't necessarily mean dysplasia. I could be wrong though. From my understanding dysplasia is more of a deformation of the socket or bone that goes in to the socket.

I would talk to your vet about it and take the xrays in so you don't get charged with new xrays. I also wouldn't do surgey for dysplasia (if it is that) at 8 yrs old. I would go with pain management. 

It's definitely a chip. Saw the x rays myself... And I've seen alot of bone chips just on a MUCH bigger animal.  We don't always remove those either. Depends on location, damage to the joint, extent of pain... age not quite as big a concern for some reason. We lay horses (older ones) down and do surgery quite quickly and regularly. I realize this is quite different.

I would likely allow them to do another set of x rays. These were free and I'm sure they'd rather look themselves what exactly is going on in the joint. Our shots are a bit "rough" and I'm sure they can do a better job than we did. We didn't really know what we were looking for, other than she wanted to rule out the two types of cancer that can be seen via x ray. Which we did... but now there's a different issue...

 I think at 8, if it is displaysia, he has been living with it for some time.  I'd go with pain management too.  Jesse lived with hip displaysia all her life and did quite well, as long as her weight was managed, and her nails were trimmed properly.  She lived for 15 years and would have gotten much older I believe had it not been for the food contamination issues.

This is a stupid question, but what do their nails have to do with this?

If a dogs nails get too long, you'll notice that it bends the toes out and makes the dog walk a tad bit off. That can send pain through the legs and the hips. With dogs that have arthritis or other hip issues, it's really important to keep the nails trimmed. 

Thanks..

 What Julie said.  Sorry I should have clarified in my post.

Hmmm...

If it were my dog, and he was in good health otherwise, I would probably get the surgery.  I have a 16 month old lab with elbow dysplasia that was diagnosed this past May.  A week after he was diagnosed he had arthroscopic surgery and had a bone chip removed.  The vet said that could have been born with the chip, but in the 10 months that he was alive before the diagnoses, the chip did significant damage to the joint.  The vet told us after the surgery that we should expect nothing better than a limp at the walk and a very noticeable limp at the jog after the surgery.  He has recovered nicely and has done much better than the vet thought he would, but he still has a bit of a hitch at the jog, and has to be on a special diet and supplements to keep him drug-free.

If you dog's elbow has started to hurt, that probably means that the chip is damaging it, and it will only get worse.  In addition, there is only so much that pain meds can do--even the powerful ones.  That's actually how we discovered Jack had a chip--it did not show up on the x-rays and the vet said he had ED that surgery would not help.  She put him on high doses of Tramadol and Rimadyl for a week and he got no better.  We brought him back for further testing, they did the arthroscopic surgery, and found and removed the chip.

Obviously this is a big decision and there are concerns with the dog's age, but that's just my 2 cents based on my dog's experience with the condition. 

If it were my dog, and he was in good health otherwise, I would probably get the surgery.  I have a 16 month old lab with elbow dysplasia that was diagnosed this past May.  A week after he was diagnosed he had arthroscopic surgery and had a bone chip removed.  The vet said that could have been born with the chip, but in the 10 months that he was alive before the diagnoses, the chip did significant damage to the joint.  The vet told us after the surgery that we should expect nothing better than a limp at the walk and a very noticeable limp at the jog after the surgery.  He has recovered nicely and has done much better than the vet thought he would, but he still has a bit of a hitch at the jog, and has to be on a special diet and supplements to keep him drug-free.

  I agree; Jessie is nine and had a lump removed 2 months ago and did fine; she had completely recovered from the anesthesia and was acting like herself by dinnertime. Our vet and most others do blood work and a physical before surgery to make sure the dog is healthy; that minimizes the risk of something going wrong.

ya, we are seriously considering whatever needs to be done. He has some lumps also that need to be removed for esthetic reasons and might as well do his teeth while he is under... etc etc... he does handle down time well... Currently he is getting the best HA money can buy and is doing well. Lubrisyn for anyone with arthritic animals or yourself... it's the best stuff!!!! Tastes nasty, but works great! Pricey, but worth it