Hip Dysp.

[sweet_ceana]

I am starting to be concerned about Ceana's lack of jumping. I posted a little while back that i did not think agility was for her because she was stubborn and would not jump. Many people pointed out that she may not be jumping because it hurts to land, the thought never crossed my mind until then. Denial is so much easier. I have started thinking that maybe she doesn't snap out of no where, maybe she snaps because she is in pain. maybe my dog is fearful because she has learned to associate certain thing with the pain that I never knew she was in. I tried again to get her to jump up last night, she will only jump if she is landing on a bed or a couch. I think we may have a problem. Would pain when landing only be associated with Hip Dsyp or maybe something else? What kinds of screening should I put her through? I amost want to call my vet in Co and ask, but we have been out here since Feb, and this vet is not as hands on as my previous. I do not want answers from someone running through the motions, I want them from someone I know cares about Ceana because she is Ceana. I'll have to call them anyway, but do you all have any tips from experience with your dogs? I know you all care about my cranky bitch of a dog

[BCjetta]

Hmmm...if you're at all concerned about any of her joints, I would recommend a vet visit and x-rays under sedation (domitor/torb is a really good combo) of her hips, elbows, shoulders and back. To get really good hip rads, you need the dog relaxed so being awake doesn't work well....not to mention all the stress put on the dog by being restrained and held down etc.

So is she fine if she jumps up onto the bed? If her hips were bothering her, I'd think she wouldn't want to jump up onto anything but jumping down from something isn't too hard on the hips. Jumping down puts pressure on the front end. Its also possible she could have something going on with her back/neck so that it hurts when she jumps. If x-rays show nothing, the next thing I would do would be to take her to a canine chiropractor to see if they see anything out of whack.

Also, our aussie is just really nervous about jumping up onto things, like into the car for example. He can do it but its like he's really afraid of it and has to really work himself up to it (and we go in the car all the time, and it doesn't matter which car). If I at all force him such as picking him up and putting him in the car, the next time he's way more nervous of it for some reason and takes even longer to get the courage to jump in. Jumping down he has no issues at all, he'll come flying out of the car and land hard. He's also really slow going down stairs (until he gets near the bottom, then he jumps the last few) but will run up them. I think with him its a mental thing (ie he's slipped going down the stairs once and now he always goes super slow in case they attack him again).

[Pipedream Farm]

Tell your vet what you told us and asked him to checked for a physcial reason (joints and/or back).

 

Mark

[Patty Abel]

Donald would not jump well(he vaults). He would be lame after a rough game of fetch(the kind that teenagers dish out). He was lame after a hard herding lesson( spent a lot of time circling). It would ease up with a day or two of rest. It made me feel better to have the full body/general sedation x-rays done. He was almost two years old. It cost about $320.oo two years ago. His hips were fine, really fine. Everything else was within normal limits, but with some little bumps on the shoulder. He's just not built for repetitive jumping like you do in training for agility. His family line is more heavy built. He'sa great pet with an evil streak, ok for light work, he vaults over a 4 ft fence and will hold sheep. Don't ask him to play agility games.

Find a vet you can communicate with. Tell them your concerns and what you plan on doing with your dog and how far you are willing to go with treatment. Hope she's ok.

[Eileen Stein]

The Canine Lameness Learning Module contains motion capture studies showing patterns of movement in normal dogs, dogs with hip dysplasia, and dogs with ruptured CCLs. Don't know if it would help you in analyzing Ceana's gait, but it's pretty interesting.

[sweet_ceana]

Thanks Eileen, I will have to look at it. She does this funny hop that I do not think is normal, but then again who knows. I will look at it now

 

____________________________________________________________________________

 

Ok I just watched all the demos and that funny hop I was talking about looks like the Hip Dysp Trotting example. Her back legs bunny hop when she runs and she moves both back legs at the same time sometimes on stairs. I had my co-worker who dog sat Ceana come and look and see which one looked the most like Ceana, she picked the Hip Dysp dog as well. I'll show this to chris tonight and we will need to set up a vet appt. The bunny hop doesn't prove hip dysp, but it definetly warrants a look.

[kaos]

Yes Thanks Eileen, My Kaos moves almost identically to the dysplastic dog aswell. I found it really interesting to see the break down in movement.

Sara

[sweet_ceana]

I just found a pet insurance company that will insure ailments and treatment required for herditary problems as long as they are not diagnosed within 30 days of starting the policy. I started the policy today, so in 30 days we will be going to the vet for a 3000 point inspection lol. This will give me plenty of time to do research and make sure I ask all the right questions. i will get a couple videos of her funy hop for the Dr. and I am going to keep an attitude journal. hopefully by documenting things for 30 days patterns or the lack there of will help diagnose or eliminate medical causes.