Keeping an active dog 'in-active'!

[L&M]

We have a 3 yr old smooth fox terrier, who typically of the breed, is extremely high energy, basically adorable but bonkers.

For the last few mnths he has been occasionally and intermittently lame - everytime I decided to call the vets he has become sound again, and with covid and not being able to have a face to face consultation, have put it off. However in the last few days he has become increasingly lame - still intermittent and sound on waking, but by the end of the day is often 2/3 10th's lame on the off fore - it is most apparent if he has been asleep in the evening and made to go out for night time toilet.

So he is booked into the vets next week - as the lameness worsens at the end of an active day, and more apparent after rest, I am leaning towards joint or ligament damage. He is also high adrenaline so when has a mad half hour (or longer in his case!), assume this is also masking any lameness until he rests up later in the day. There is no obvious claw or pad damage.

He is walked twice a day, either on a long lead, or with a ball to encourage recall. His walks vary from 30 mins to and hour and we walk him with our other 2 dogs.

At home we have a large front garden which also includes a concrete yard, so when the weather is good he is always out there, but rather than mooching about like the other 2, he is always running around at 100 mph and imagine the concrete area causes more concussion than the grassed areas. The front garden backs onto a lane so any passers by are fair game for a 'play' chase along the fence, which is unavoidable unless he is just not allowed out on the front. If he can engage the other 2 he will play like a demon, for as short or as long as they will tolerate him!

The back garden is smaller and mainly to grass so less impact on his joints for moments of wild play but also wetter, so they tend to only go out there in the drier months. We could restrict him to there but he would only tear it up, and also seems unfair to limit the other dogs outdoor space, and long term could be counter productive as will only have more pent up energy.

Over the winter and whilst their outdoor play has been curtailed, he is equally manic in the house, and just when you think you have tired the little bugger out, he then starts a wall of death zoomie around the house.......so no keeping him quiet inside either.

If it is the start of any joint damage, whether short term or long term, I anticipate the vets saying that he rests, but 'rest' and fox terriers don't go together, so any suggestions?

My other concern is for his long term joint health.......but will cross that bridge once he has been seen by the vet. He is fed on James Wellbeloved and don't believe it to be a particularily high energy food, but again will ask the vets' advice on trying him on a 'low energy' diet, if such a thing exists!

Thanks for listening

 

[Karran]

Have you tried putting his food into kongs and slow feeders and puzzle toys so he gets to tire his brain out instead of whizzing about? He could also learn some basic scent games and mat/boundary work to entertain him with and also encourage SLOW!

 

[skinnydipper]

Dogs can find mental stimulation tiring. All of these suggestions can be done indoors - games like the shell game, puzzle toys, simple trick training, scent work, food from food dispensing toys, snuffle mats, lickimats

I'm sure someone will be along with more ideas.

ETA. Cross posted with Karran.

 

[CorvusCorax]

Cage rest, walk at your side on short lead, mental stimulation as mentioned, lots of (non weight-bearing/raw) bones.
Do not throw the ball.
My own vet usually recommends rest/Loxicom for a week then if it comes back, come in and see him.

 

[Sandstone1]

Kongs, snuffle mats and interactive toys should all help. Marrow bones if you can get them.

 

[FinnishLapphund]

Ditto the above suggestions. With all his running it doesn't sound as if you would have much chance of making him physically tired, even if he didn't have this injury you can't quite pinpoint. So making his brain tired and/or occupy him with gnaw bones seems like the way to go.

Besides stuffing a Kong, and freeze it, I have used a Starmark everlasting treat Fireplug, I also have the Starmark Ball, and lots of gnaw bones.

If you feed dry food, perhaps don't always feed in a bowl, without sometimes spread it out over a room, and let him use his nose to find everything. Usually it doesn't take long before a dog realise that if they rush around the room, they risk missing bits of their food.

Nosework?

Nina Ottosson's brain training toys have gotten so popular she no longer sells them through her homepage to private persons, but it's still the best page for describing her different toys:
https://www.nina-ottosson.com/?

Searching for Nosework starting kit, this Sniffing pad happened to show up:

Other than that, confining him to a smaller space so he can't run around doesn't have to be a crate, a puppy pen, or using puppy pen net to split up a room, could also work.

 

[windand rain]

Cage rest mental stimulation and lots of short walks on a lead. Trouble with mentally alert dogs is if you stimulate them they need more stimulation. If you try to tire them out by walking running them they get desperate for more exercise. It is almost like a drug so you need to wean them off slowly by all means use thinking to replace running but cut back the running too

 

[L&M]

Thanks for all the suggestions. Could someone share a link to a 'gnaw bone'? Cooked I assume?

Cage rest mental stimulation and lots of short walks on a lead. Trouble with mentally alert dogs is if you stimulate them they need more stimulation. If you try to tire them out by walking running them they get desperate for more exercise. It is almost like a drug so you need to wean them off slowly by all means use thinking to replace running but cut back the running too

Yes totally agree - it is like he is constantly over stimulated and can no longer switch off. Even at night he runs around the garden barking if he suspects a fox etc......

Will have a look at all the brain training suggestions.

Discussed with my partner tonight about fencing off a grassed area on the front to keep him off the concrete, so hopefully a smaller,softer area will be better for his joints when he does have a mad moment.

 

[CorvusCorax]

I don't feed cooked bones as they are more likely to splinter.
In the last week my own dogs have had ox tail, beef ribs and today I got some cow trachea. Pray for me ?
Just whatever the butcher/dog food guy has in. As mentioned, nothing weight-bearing as it can break the teeth.
You can get a Nylabone or similar if you don't fancy the real thing.

 

[L&M]

Sounds delightful.....! Good luck

 

[FinnishLapphund]

Note I'm a terrible owner, I don't give my bitches cooked bones because they're more likely to splinter, but otherwise I probably give them all sorts of gnaw bones which is bad for them.

My bitches have a gnaw bone, and dog toy, basket, where they have a variety of different gnaw bones which they can go, and pick something from whenever they want. And there's never only one bone of the same type, so if one bitch take a bone, there's several of the same type left for the next bitch to choose from.

Does knee caps bones count as weight-bearing bones? I think there's some old ones of those in the bottom of the basket.
There's also some parts of reindeer antlers (whole ones would be a bit too ungainly), and ditto about the buffalo horns.
There's some "Police batons", bull hide rolled together to sticks, made in Sweden which looks like this:

To be honest, I don't know if they're actually made here, but judging by the price of the ones I buy, they sure cost enough for it to be true.
There's also some twisted chewsticks etc.

Besides the bones which my bitches have free access to, they usually get something daily, used to be anything from chicken feet, pig snouts, cow or pig ears, pieces of bull penises (I buy them in their natural size, and cut them myself with a garden shearer/secateurs, saves money), lamb penises, vegetarian bones, various dental sticks, etc.
These days since Jonna's 15½ years old, I try to give them more vegetarian bones, which is milder for her old liver. Like:

Whimzees Stix medium - Houghton Country UK
Whimzees Rice bone - Petshop UK
Cerea vegetarian chews Eurostar medium - Antos UK

Not sure if medium is right size for yours, but the small ones disappear very quickly for mine, the medium doesn't last that long either, but I do give them as something that they should eat up. I think I also have another brand of vegetarian bones, but I don't remember the name of them.

But sometimes they instead get bones for example made from rumen mixed with cranberries. And as said, I'm a terrible owner, occasionally they get some junk rolled in some artificial flavour made to smell like bacon, too.
Basically, I hope that by giving a variety of gnaw bones, they won't get too much of the same crap to cause damage.

 

[L&M]

Note I'm a terrible owner, I don't give my bitches cooked bones because they're more likely to splinter, but otherwise I probably give them all sorts of gnaw bones which is bad for them.

My bitches have a gnaw bone, and dog toy, basket, where they have a variety of different gnaw bones which they can go, and pick something from whenever they want. And there's never only one bone of the same type, so if one bitch take a bone, there's several of the same type left for the next bitch to choose from.

Does knee caps bones count as weight-bearing bones? I think there's some old ones of those in the bottom of the basket.
There's also some parts of reindeer antlers (whole ones would be a bit too ungainly), and ditto about the buffalo horns.
There's some "Police batons", bull hide rolled together to sticks, made in Sweden which looks like this:

To be honest, I don't know if they're actually made here, but judging by the price of the ones I buy, they sure cost enough for it to be true.
There's also some twisted chewsticks etc.

Besides the bones which my bitches have free access to, they usually get something daily, used to be anything from chicken feet, pig snouts, cow or pig ears, pieces of bull penises (I buy them in their natural size, and cut them myself with a garden shearer/secateurs, saves money), lamb penises, vegetarian bones, various dental sticks, etc.
These days since Jonna's 15½ years old, I try to give them more vegetarian bones, which is milder for her old liver. Like:

Whimzees Stix medium - Houghton Country UK
Whimzees Rice bone - Petshop UK
Cerea vegetarian chews Eurostar medium - Antos UK

Not sure if medium is right size for yours, but the small ones disappear very quickly for mine, the medium doesn't last that long either, but I do give them as something that they should eat up. I think I also have another brand of vegetarian bones, but I don't remember the name of them.

But sometimes they instead get bones for example made from rumen mixed with cranberries. And as said, I'm a terrible owner, occasionally they get some junk rolled in some artificial flavour made to smell like bacon, too.
Basically, I hope that by giving a variety of gnaw bones, they won't get too much of the same crap to cause damage.

That's very helpful, thanks so much.