Nope, not the horses.
Savanah.
This morning at about 3 am she went barreling down the stairs barking her head off. A big limb in our tree that had fallen but got caught by some other branches finally fell down now like 2 years later. I think she heard it and sent herself into a frenzy of barking.
When she came back into my room she hopped kinda funny. I told her to get back up on the bed and she just kind of bounced on her butt and cried so I lifted her up. We both went back to sleep and didn't wake up until dawn. I didn't think anything of it because shes always been clumsy and had a hard time jumping real high onto things.
She hopped off my bed alright in the morning. Suddenly my mom comes yelling "Somethings wrong with Savanah!" I charged downstairs, half asleep to see my dog wandering across the yard sniffing like she usually does. I shrugged "Whats wrong with her?" I didn't see anything. She walked like she normally did but when I called her instead of her speeding over to me she couldn't even break a little jog. She wanted to. I threw her ball. She hobbled over to it and smacked it around with her front paws in her usual manner. She stopped and looked back at us like "I can't do it, I don't know why"
I don't know if this is hip dysplacia or the combination of my sister taking her for a 2km run then the next day going to my friends to play with her dogs or her jumping off the bed weird this morning. Either way I am worried, like I said she has always had a hard time jumping up on things.
A question for you dog people out there: Does a breeder registered in the AKC or CKC (canadian kennel club NOT continental kennel club who would give papers to a squirrel if you asked) have to acknowlege the mother/father have hip displacia? If so would it be printed on papers? Or be accessable to a person owning the dog in question. I have a sneeking suspicion, as responsible as my breeder seemed (they specified no breeding or showing rights unless we wanted to pay a 2000$ fee) they know more about the breed history than they were letting on to. I think theres some nut head back someplace in Savanahs breeding because her brother is not at all like her and neither are her other full brothers and sisters that are well on their way to national titles. They are calmer, more sensible and with hardly any training. This dog is harder to train than my horses! Sheesh!
Either way I am gonna see if I can get ahold of my canine vet, if not my equine vet does small animals I'll call him and see about how much glucosamine and chondroitin to put her on for the usual problems hopping up and now the ever apparent lameness.
8 comments:
Hmmm, I don't know about papers and breeders. It must be a bad day for dogs though. Harley has been throwing up all day. It started this morning before I left for work. The husband called this afternoon and said he threw up in the field, in the pickup, in the tractor, etc. He must have gotten into something.
Hope it's nothing serious with Savanah.
I don't know much about breeders but I have heard that breeders will/can certify that the hips are "hip displasia free" or something like that, I am not an expert.
But I do have alot of experience in dogs having hip dysplasia. My German Shepherd mix that I had to have put down a year and a half ago had HD and it got very bad. She had a hard time walking towards the end and would just fall over. She was diagnosed at around 3 yrs old. She also blew out her knee at 7 yrs old and had to have knee surgery. My Aussie Bailey was diagnosed with HD at 6 months, my vet says they usually don't show signs until around 2-3 yrs but Baileys is so severe that he started limping at 5 months. My vet said the more muscle he built up would help that hip stay in place or we could do surgery. We decided to wait, he hasn't limped since. He probably will show signs when he gets older though.
HD is not fun. Especially when the dog gets older. We also feed glucosamine and chondroiten.
I hope Savannah is going to be ok. I also hope it is not HD!
Wow, that really sucks! I wonder if I called my breeders if they would give me a certificate saying their dogs are HD free. I doubt it though. I show with them and they can be kind of stuck up people.
If they are a reputable breeder, they should have had the parents checked by a vet to make sure they don't have HD before breeding them, HD is hereditary. I believe this is how they certify puppies. You could call the breeder, if they refuse or don't want to do it than they are not a reputable breeder. I than would never do business with them again, if a breeder is on the up and up, they will do whatever makes their clients/customers happy.
Good luck!
I don't know much about HD. I do know that we bought a dog for breeding and that we have to get her hips x-rayed at two years old to see if she is even approved for breeding. I would call the breeder and ask them if either parent has HD. I would think they would tell you. They should be more than comfortable with telling you things about the breed they are breeding.
Yeah but people lie. Should they be able to give me a certificate saying their dogs are HD free?
Hey thanks Sydney on the info about the bridle rosettes....I'll check it out! Sorry about Savanah! Yes, there's lying people in every animal breeding business! Unfortunate! Especially dogs and horses!
Aww...I hope it's not hip displasia. We had a GSD with HD and she suffered for over 12 years until she wasn't able to get up the stairs anymore where our bedroom was and hubby couldn't carry her anymore. That was the worst as she wanted to sleep with us. But she was 14 years old and her other functions were going too, so it was time to take her away from her pain.
We had a great vet who believed in homeopathic remedies, and back before Glucosamine Chondroiten was so well known (over 20 years ago now). The vet had us feeding our GSD fish oil every day and that got our girl through most of HD isues.
Come to find out I ended up with hip displasia in 1995 and started taking fish oil, too. Proved to be very helpful when I became prego with my twins. My hips were in agony until I upped my fish oil.
A few years ago, the fishy burps got too much for me, though and I switched to the GC and take several tablets a day. I can barely walk without 'em (even without my knee injuries. lol!).
We have another GSD now. She's a year old and I worry about her having HD.
Sure hope your pooch is going to be ok.
~Lisa
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