The vet stated that he did not think they would pass the OFA prelim score. He said his hips are not terrible and he can certantly work out. At this point my interest is to see what others think, was he possitioned properly and is there any chance that this can correct it self within the next 6 months when he turns two.
At the sametime I want to know if having hips like this can allow the dog compete in weight pulling ?
thank you all in advance I am posting this public on this forum unlike the others because of the level of respect of the members and knowledge.
Let me know what you think? I am getting the OFA prelim grade in two weeks.
Jess,
he limped on his back right leg, the limp went away however. Thank you for the links, I have a lot to read. I think as long as I take care of his regimen and feed him supplements he should be in good shape to exercise but not compete as I wanted him to. Everyone is telling him that he has good muscle development that will help him so I will continue to build his rear to keep his hip as tight as possible.
i'm no vet, but if i compare your dog's x-rays to the examples found on the ofa home page ( http://www.offa.org/hd_grades.html ) i would rate those moderate hip dysplasia. maybe even severe on the right side, that socket looks really shallow. regardless what your vet says, I would absolutly send in those x-rays for evaluation.
i had an amstaff-female with c/d graded hips (mild/moderate) and i trained very light wp with her to train up her muscles around the hips so that she would become more stable. personaly, i wouldn't train wp with a dog that has moderate or even severe hip dysplasia on both sides. but you should absolutly continue training your dog, but have his hips in mind and do not push him hard. instead for weight pull you could train some very light drag weight instead. take long walks in woods/over fields and let him run lose. that is good for him aswell. let him rest a lot between training sessions. my female got very stiff when she got older (even though i always would massage and stretch her after work out) and one could tell that she was in pain when she woke up. but when off leash she would run like a panther. i think she liked to run because hormones produced during work out work as painkiller. good luck.
[quote1292428462=LillaSophie]
i'm no vet, but if i compare your dog's x-rays to the examples found on the ofa home page ( http://www.offa.org/hd_grades.html ) i would rate those moderate hip dysplasia. maybe even severe on the right side, that socket looks really shallow. regardless what your vet says, I would absolutly send in those x-rays for evaluation.
i had an amstaff-female with c/d graded hips (mild/moderate) and i trained very light wp with her to train up her muscles around the hips so that she would become more stable. personaly, i wouldn't train wp with a dog that has moderate or even severe hip dysplasia on both sides. but you should absolutly continue training your dog, but have his hips in mind and do not push him hard. instead for weight pull you could train some very light drag weight instead. take long walks in woods/over fields and let him run lose. that is good for him aswell. let him rest a lot between training sessions. my female got very stiff when she got older (even though i always would massage and stretch her after work out) and one could tell that she was in pain when she woke up. but when off leash she would run like a panther. i think she liked to run because hormones produced during work out work as painkiller. good luck.
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Thakn you for the feedback, what would you recomend for dragging weight. He weighs 78 pounds? He has a very soft orthopedic matress he sleeps in his crate and he def gets ridiculoous ammount of sleep, he goes to bed at 9pm and wakes up at 7-8 am so he has a good time to recover. I also want to learn how to properly stretch the dog after a workout or before pulling. I do rub downs after work but with this weather and my recent allergy break out I havent done them.
well, it is quite hard to say how much he can and should drag. that depends on how long you are planning on letting him drag weights, on what ground (snow, sand, etc) he will be draging weights, if the landscape is flat or if there is a lot up and downhill on the way, etc.
if we take my male as an example.
he weights 70,5 lbs (little body fat) and has b hips (ofa fair i think it is) on both sides. he is 4 years old in january and has been training all his life. right now we have snow and temperatures are no colder than 14F (under that temperature we do not train). he has 88 lbs chains behind him and drags 0,6 miles, the landscape is quite flat. he could easily drag 22 lbs more, but we don't have that many chains. if we go longer, he gets to drag about 55 lbs, but then he has to drag up and downhill a lot.
now, when you think about what the surroundings are there where you live and what temperatures you have. then, you have to think about how much body fat there is on your dog. because he cannot work with fat and it is dead weight that he has to carry (with dysplastic hips!). then you have to think about how much he is trained, both strength and endurance. in the beginning he should drag a weight that is so light that one doesn't notice that he is draging and after his work out he should show no signs of pain. it is actually quite hard to tell from a distance, not knowing the dog and not seeing it when he works. but i wouldn't let him drag more than 33 lbs at most for quite a while and i would increase the weight up to 33 lbs slowly and the distance slowly aswell to about 1,8 miles at most to start with. if he starts limping after work out i would cut back on both weight and distance again and i wouldn't start training again untill he has stoped limping.
the most important thing is that you keep him as slim as possible. in summertime i would let him sim as much as possible. simming is imo the most gentle form of training and the best way to gently build up muscles.
somtimes, proffessional pet massagers will come to pet stores. you can book a meeting with one and he/she will show you how to properly strech and massage your dog and what to think about regardning his hips. you can also see if you local dog club offers couses or ask you vet if he/she knows of any. a dog trainer at your dog club will be able to help you further with proper training. then, there are quite a lot of good videos about dog massage and streching on youtube aswell. if i find a nice example, i will post it later. i don't have quite time for lokking for one right now.
I'm not sure those xrays have his legs in quite the proper position, but then again i can't remember what my vet said about the positioning. :*) Having a less than perfect hip joint doesn't necessarily mean that he'll show signs of HD. If it were my dog and less than fair rating, i wouldn't do w/p, or lots of jumping. most other things should be fine though.
He is trained on weight dragging he has very good endurance and strength. The highest he ever went was a car tire with a 10 pound chain for a couple hundred yards. I need to get chain because it is easier to measure the weight and more stable than a tired or dumb bells. He just got a pro WP harness so I think this will help him with his form.
This is him right now he hasnt worked out in a month he is at 78 pounds:
@ ABBB:
Milo is a purebred AmStaff, mostly White Rock Line and a little Woods Forrest.
@davidfitness:
yes, chains are better for the reasons you've mentioned. another reason for chains is that they very hard get stuck to roots, sticks, etc. that happens much easier with a tire. but if you see that your dogs starts limping every time you train wp nomatter how little weight he pulls, you will have to find another training method. and as i sayed, do send in those x-rays because we can only guess how his hip status is.
He has never limped from pulling, he limped playing with the flirtpole and I will never do that again. I can work on straight prints but the quick turning and stopping is not good for a dog with his build.
he does look good on the pic, so if he hadn't any trouble training wp, he shouldn't have any in the future as long as you don't push him (no competing).
Yes, there are. I have a physical therapy/ rehabilitation rotation next semester. There are several exercises, stretches, as well as underwater treadmills and other therapies. Most of the dogs who go through orthopedic surgical repair for whatever joint issues do some PT here as well. Interestingly enough, little dogs are seen more often than big dogs. Little dogs tend to refuse to use the limb post-op more often than big dogs. However, bigger dogs tend to re-injure the limb or the opposing one from lackj of follow through in the owner's part (or sometimes just added stress from weight bearing).
Since I saw this thread reactive I guess I'llet you know that ever since I leaned him out and supplement him with vitamin c and glucosamine Bernie is better than ever lol No limping, no issues at all, he moves like a deer on the loose lol
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