Hi everyone, me again.... I've been doing a lot of research hip dysplasia and it's making me worry for our 3 month old puppy, Indy. Now, I appreciate no one can diagnose her online, and symptoms don't usually show themselves until 6 months old but I can't help but worry when I see some of her behaviour. Perhaps some of you can put my mind at rest and share similar experiences? Let's start with the good, I suppose. She is always up for play and running around the garden. She often tries to climb the stairs but we always stop her so that doesn't seem to give her any discomfort. She has been on a few small walks and happily trots along. She likes to chase balls and play fetch and doesn't seem in any pain or discomfort. When playing, she often throws herself around and doesn't seem like she's holding back due to any pain. She sometimes jumps up onto her back legs, rarely even all legs off the ground when she gets too excited - again there doesn't seem to be any pain discouraging her. She's perfectly happy to have her back legs and bum rubbed. However, sometimes when she's lying down and stands up she makes it look like it's an effort to drag her bum up, as if her back legs struggle to carry the weight of it. Once she's up though, she doesn't seem to show any signs of stiffness. I suppose she just reminds me of my old Labrador who had arthiritis in her old age and struggled to get up. She also bunny hops when she runs - both her back legs coming forward together. Does anyone know if this kind of behaviour is normal? Do I need to be worried or is it just typical lab? She is a show lab so she is a lil chunkier than her working equivelant. Thanks again!
To be honest, this all sounds like pretty normal puppy stuff. And totally normal puppy parent worries...... I may not be the best person to comment, as my girl has severe bilateral hip dysplasia, but the worries you are expressing are very common ones, and the vast majority of pups have no hip dysplasia. Try and relax a bit - yes, try and reduce jumping, stairs, too much flying runs and catching mid air etc - but enjoy your pup and try not to go looking for trouble. jac
I'm no expert, and spent an awful lot of time worrying about my puppy, but I do remember Alfie being a bit uncoordinated when he was little. He would often bunny hop when doing his over excited puppy runs and sometimes he'd tumble during a zoomie if his back legs started moving faster than the front. We had Alfie x rayed at 14 months, due to my paranoia really, and there were no problems. I am sure more experienced people will comment soon but I think at this age they re a bit like babies when they first learn to walk so can be a bit funny and unsteady. Our vet gave Alfies hips and elbows a good check at one of his check ups (i was a bit of an anxious owner so he went to the vets a lot as a young pup ) so if you re really concerned you could ask them to check her over .
Gosh, yes, puppies are just rubbish, uncoordinated gallumps. Try not to worry, limit anything obviously bad and just have the vet give a good feel whenever you're there to ease your mind. I spent puppyhood with Shadow constantly thinking he was going to end up broken because he was so ridiculous, running into things, falling off things, leaping up, down and over everything in sight. He's just fine
At this stage it sounds like normal puppy coordination! If you are worried, then maybe just check what you can influence at this stage...diet is your puppy on a good brand of puppy food designed for large puppy breeds? This is quite important as nutritional needs for large breed puppies differs from smaller breed puppies. Secondly, stick rigidly to exercise guidelines,in addition, make sure to check your floors at home are all non-slip We were completely paranoid regarding our latest pup vs Benson, they were so different as puppies in how they developed physically. Bramble would hoist herself up using her front end, it seemed to take such an effort from her! In the end we took her to the vet for a thorough physical exam, she was too young for Xrays, but at least our worst anxieties were put to bed to to speak. She is now 19 months old, and has never limped (quickly touches wood...) She is having her hips/elbows scored soon, just to check before shooting season is upon us.
Sam, now six , was the clumsiest puppy imaginable , his long legs seemed to go in different directions at times , and he bunny hopped when running . Like you , I was worried sick that he had joint issues, but his hips are fine as confirmed by Xray . One play I didn't allow was the jumping up and twisting mid air , like you see when some dogs are trying to catch a frisbie , that's always been a big no .
It does not sound unusual to me either. But you certainly can diagnose hip displasia at a very young age. You'd need X-rays and a sedative so me, with all you have given to go by, I would not do that. Would your breeder be experienced enough to take a look and see if there appears to be concerning movement to her/him? Our agility trainer pointed out wonky hip movement in one of the dogs in our class to the owner and sure enough, bad hips just starting to show up. The trainer had been watching this dog and other dogs for so long, she could see it. Not that she called it HD, mind, just that she saw the change in movement.
Like all others have said sounds more like a puppy and bad coordination. Stairs, stairs and stairs and jumping up/down furniture/car. We carried Vanilla (well I did) up and down the stairs until 6 month, lifyed her on the furniture and she used to jump up on my shoulder to get out of the car. People used to think I was mad.... We had her xrayed when she got spayed a couple of months and all good. I was very paranoid...
We didn't get Harley from a breeder and we were very worried because occasionally she would seem "sluggish" getting up or appreared stiff in her hindquarter when getting up. We had her hips and elbows xrayed when she went in for her spay at 7 months old so we didn't have to put her through a second sedation. Up to that point the vet had no concerns regarding her development or movement. Once she was xrayed the results were that there were no problems and that if we kept her weight healthy and continued exercise she would be highly unlikely to develop problems. It was a huge relief and we were even shown the xrays so we know what we saw and had it explained to us. Puppy paranoia is real.
Does he lie down with his legs stretched out behind him? I have been told that is a good sign, and tends to indicate good hips. None of our dogs have ever had a problem. We had Cooper Xrayed when she was spayed, since she was already knocked out. Otherwise I would not worry about it, except perhaps mention your concerns to the Vet.
The following is just our experience of how dysplasia did, and didn't, show up on xrays: We thought Monty seemed a bit stiff from about 4 months onwards. Couldn't quite decide if it was front or back legs, just something odd in his gait. He had bigger issues of getting rid of giardia at the time, and we/vet put it down to overdoing it a bit. However at 6 months we decided on an xray, combined with castration. The xrays showed without doubt HD in his left leg, with not quite perfect hip joint in right (but not yet dysplastic) However elbows were fine on xrays. Only a few days later, when checking his stitches from castration, a different vet commented on his front legs, just from seeing him walk - along the lines of 'in my opinion there's something not right with his elbows'. At that stage we were worried about his hips which actually had been diagnosed. So, yes his HD showed up at quite an early age on xrays, but his ED (bilateral diagnosed at 11 months) hadn't shown on same xray day yet was there all along.
like everyone else has said I think Watson, who will be 4 months on Saturday is extremely un-cordinated lol. He is a go getter though worrying is a normal I think, but do try and enjoy it, it sure goes fast!
I have a question here -- are puppies not supposed to climb stairs? Does climbing stairs at a young age make them prone to joint issues when they get older?
Yes, it's advised that you limit any impact on joints as much as possible until your puppy's growth plates have closed, because there is a link between this sort of impact and joint problems. So, absolutely no running up and down stairs; carry your puppy while you can, but when they are too heavy, teach them to walk up and down slowly, on a lead, and as little as possible. No repeated jumping onto and off of furniture. No repeated chasing after balls or other objects. All of these things put undue stress on the joints which can cause them to end up dysplastic. As with anything, though, common sense must prevail. My boy, Shadow, was a lunatic who would jump over the sofa in one bound. Luna has jumped onto the work surfaces twice. Things happen. We have two small steps up into our house - I'm not going to carry her up and down them at 9 months. I'm more concerned with slippery floors, and when we were in the UK and on slippery laminate, I laid non-slip rubber flooring. Our tiles and wooden floors aren't anywhere near as slippery, so I don't worry about those, but if they were, I'd be covering them until she was fully grown.
ahh, I didn't even think of that. Luckily I carry Aspen a lot -- I want to enjoy carrying him while I still can
