hips

[pamella]

would someone mind explaining the do's and don'ts regarding hip protection please?
our gsd is currently 12 weeks and we pick him up on saturday so i am trying to gen myself up in a week?

[Caryll]

Gentle excercise for the first 6 months or so with no real strain on the hips for at least 12 months was what used to be advised. But things may have changed!

[pamella]

thankyou for that

[lozzy1]

hi, i think it depends on who you speak to. im no expert on the subject but its seems to be a grey area. storms breeder told us that by not allowing her to excercise and build up muscle through free running, beach walks, swimming etc would actually make things worse! the other thing she did say was that excercising on concrete puts strain on the joints as there was no cushoning as with grass or soil. i did used to carry storm to the field for the first few weeks but she got too heavy lol

i just use common sense. i wouldnt think taking a 12 week old puppy of any breed for a three hour hill walk would do any good but at the same time i dont agree with this 5 mins for every month etc. someone i am sure will have the explanation behind both theorys xxxx

[LOVEGSD]

Gentle exercise, don't overfeed your puppy and don't over exercise them.

I'm sure Pam says off lead exercise is better than on lead as the pup can then decide when it's had enough.....

[wildmoor]

Yes agree with both Lozzy and Lynn
It is primary genetics if the dog has a predisposition for bad hips then exercise is irrelevant it will get bad hips.
By giving the dog free running on soft ground you allow the gluteal muscles to fully develop, these help to stabalise the joint, the dog will also develop good forward reach and not have hackney action on walking.
Some things that will make it worse if the dog has the predisposition will be obesity (overfeeding) and forced exercise on hard ground.

My current male had free running several times a day on the field, when scored at 13mth it was 0:0, I have had his hips re-xrayed at 5 years old and there is absolutely no sign of wear/tear or of any degenerative changes.

What was the sire/dams scores and that of their sibblings? what were the ancestors scores?

[pamella]

mum was 6.5 and dad was 5.5 i think.so we felt that that was a decent score.

[wildmoor]

yes they are good scores do you have any of their sibblings or ancestors scores?

[pamella]

there is five generations and they are all much the same.

[wildmoor]

Originally Posted by pamella

there is five generations and they are all much the same.

That is good then, dont worry to much, if you are concerned you could look at using synoquin growth but it is expensive.