hi all, so buddy is just wonderful, so loving, soft affectionate, and at 16 weeks even starting to chill out a little (when he wants). The trust and bond is incredible.... he’s classic still, steals socks, chews stuff, loves his food, has his mad half hour etc, but I was just wondering what to look out for in hip problems. I posted a while back about a puppy/lazy sit, sometimes he sits with his knees pointing out, sometimes pointing in, one more so than the other. He is perfectly capable of a straight sit when we are training etc but just wondered if this was normal? Also he has a very slight wiggle when he walks slowly, also wondering if this is normal? Perfectly straight when he trots, he runs fine, and doesn’t show any other problems. I mentioned it to the vet and she said you can’t really tell until 6 months wether they have problems or not, she was very happy with him, especially body condition as we are conscious of that, and also said less exercise the better as a pup, which thanks to this forum we haven’t been overdoing it. As this is not just my first lab, but my first dog altogether, I wanted to know what everyone thought, thanks in advance!
It seems like most labs have "Lazy Sits" All of ours have been likely to sit on one side, when they are relaxed. Cooper's back wiggles when she walks but she is incredibly fast and got a clear on her hips when she was knocked out for her spay.
Hi Isla is just the same and she's nearly 8 months old now. We just love her wiggly bum when she walks slow. She also sleeps on her back with her back legs splayed open,such flexibility!
Thanks guys that’s good to hear... forgot to say that parents have good scores so fingers crossed it’s nothing to worry about!
Kyko has such a lazy sit he's almost sitting on his back and not his bum, but he can do a good sit when training. All of my 4 labs have had a lazy sit & none have had problems with their hips. On the rare occasion that Kyko has been in a full out run he seems like one leg flies out to the side but I really think his back legs are moving faster than his front legs and he's trying to keep up with himself. This is Kyko's fave sleep position too, he's so cute when he does it & he looks exactly like Scrappy Doo too
As far as hip dysplasia, it is really hard to give any concrete early signs to look out for. One of my dogs would lie in ridiculous positions with legs looking like they were falling off, and I really dreaded her hip results - but she got a good score of 4/5. BUT: Lazy sits. Yes, these can be a problem. The thing is, a puppy's joints are not firmly connected in baby puppyhood, everything is loose and waggly. They are growing fast, making them uncoordinated, and their muscle strength often isn't enough to make up for the laxity of the joint connections. Couple all this in with the slippery floors which many people train on, and you have a problem. The pup ends up sitting weirdly, and the handler reinforces this, and soon the weird sit has become trained in permanently - and it is not always a 'good' way for a dog to sit, lifelong - with legs out like skis either side of them, or on their haunches etc etc. HOWEVER, there is a way to fix all this, which is 1) always train on something grippy like carpet or a piece of vet bed and 2) teach your pup to beg so that you strengthen abdominal muscles and get those rear legs under their body, where they should be. If you can teach a solid 'sit up and beg' behaviour, then you can teach a sit which is straight - because it's the same thing just with the front paws down... Beg is impossible to do unless the dog's legs are under them (parallel, not over on one haunch) and properly under them, not out like skis. At first, your dog may need to support themselves with a paw on your legs whilst you train - but over time their abdominal muscles will get stronger and they will be able to do it without support. Here's how:
As always Jo, great advice and response, thank you. His ‘training’ sit is fine, but I had not thought of it being on a carpet, a very good point. Sometimes we do it in the kitchen where there is a slippier surface, so I will focus it more on carpet or in the lounge, thank you!
Yes for sure, if you can train it alongside sit in the first place, it will help your sit become a straight sit with legs underneath!
Thanks again Jo. We have laminate down thriughout but went and bought a large rug before we picked Kyko up & have from day 1 trained on this. We also have taught him beg albeit he needs to hold on still (leading to terrible scratches on our hands ). We didn’t know this was a good one to teach for strength we just really did it as he had picked everything up so quick & this just seemed a good ‘trick’
I think lazy sits may sometimes be related to the dogs basic geometry. Cooper has long back legs and actually looks uncomfortable when she does a proper sit. She normally only does a proper sit when she wants to be ready to move quickly. She did get her hips checked when she was spayed, and the vet gave her a no hip problem score. (don't know if she actually has a number, but we aren't breeding her) I have heard that dogs that can lie down with their legs extended behind them generally have less likely hood of hip displasia. Anyway Cooper does that and so far seems to have great hips.
Thanks, this sounds like buddy, he has very long back legs I realised yesterday when I looked at his siblings, thank you.
Mango also has longer back lags than front, he has a lazy "down", but not "sit". He did sit like he was drunk when he first came home, but not anymore. He had x-rays of elbows and hips last Monday, the vet says everything is normal there. As I have mentioned, Mango had a limp, and still not sure what it is, but vet suspects OCD in his shoulder. The change on an x-ray is really bearly visible, so we have to repeat in December. Fingers crossed it was just a shadow.
