Young dog that is stiff.

[ameeyal]

I have 4 gsds that lead a very active life, i have been looking after a friends 12 month old gsd that does little work, he spends most of his time in the house with them as they work from home. Its now day 3 of having him and today he hasnt stopped running around/playing going for long walks, but tonight he is very stiff in his back legs, do you think this is normal for a 12 month old to be stiff? is it because he isnt used to being active? or do you think he is going to have problems with his back legs? now i have seen him like this im going to limit his exercise as i have him for another week.

 

[CorvusCorax]

He's probably pulled a muscle or tweaked something while hooning if he is not used to it - sorry to all of you who have read this before as this is the umpteenth time I have posted this

The grey dog in my sig was very stiff and I was convinced his hips were shot. Had all x-rays and his hips were fine but he had tweaked his back - I then remembered he had jumped right off the A-frame a few weeks earlier, he pulled up fine at the time but obviously he damaged himself. If appeared as stiffness, lots of stretching and just a hint of lameness/short stride on one of his hind legs.
Just to say, a tweak in the back, shoulder, neck, can present like stiffness or lameness.
He was right as rain after a course of anti-inflammatories.

I don't like over-exercising/jumping/doing high impact stuff with GSDs when they are under 12 months to let their joints grow and develop properly so one one hand they are doing the right thing but on the other this is clearly doing him no favours either!

As you say restrict exercise and if they are concerned ask for hip, elbow, spine x-rays with a vet used to treating GSDs. I have heard of dogs being written off before now because they were a bit hocky or loose, but x-rays with other vets turned out fine, dogs firmed up with maturity and exercise and went on to live long, healthy lives

 

[MurphysMinder]

I would think he has just overdone it if he has gone from being inactive to running round all the time. I would definitely restrict him a bit more for the rest of the time you have him. Perhaps suggest to them they build up his exercise gradually now he is over 12 months. Depending on which part of Cheshire you are I can recommend my vets for hip x rays if you or his owners are concerned. They don't use GA and the vet will give you a pretty accurate idea of the predicted score.