My much loved 10 year old GWP has been diagnosed with hip dysplasia, I have to say I feel totally gutted to see such a fit, strong, proud, loyal, intelligent dog now struggling to get to her feet,it is heart braking for me. I worry about how much pain she is in.

Her history is that at 3 years old I had her hip scored and she came back with a very low score for her breed so I thought that this would not affect her in later life. In August this year she started struggling with a stiff back end and couldn’t run as fast as she used to. I took her to the vets, they said they could find no major problems. I did cut back her exercise hoping she would get over it. Over the next 4 months she didn’t seem to get much worse or better, on Thursday 19th December she was jumping about when I went to take her daughter out for a run so I took her with me and we ran 4 miles which she seemed fine with. She seemed just the same on the Friday and Saturday, no problems just a bit stiff with the back end as before. Sunday morning she was just the same, I went out with the younger dog at 2:00pm when I came home after 6:00pm she couldn’t get to her feet.

Monday morning I took her to the vets; she has had a steroids injection and is on a 14 day course of anti-inflammatory drugs. I have order a orthopaedic bed for her and a some Glucosamine. I am trying to give her two 10/15 minute walks a day, shorter if she is struggling and her legs give way too much. I am trying to get her weight down, not that she is fat but perhaps could loose a few pounds to be whippet thin.

Apart from not following me absolutely everywhere which she did before, she seems ok in herself, her eating is fine esp tip bits, her tail wags and has no problems with her bowels ect.

Seeing her hips were fine at 3 years old (although I am told HIP scores are not totally reliable as they only give a static view of the hip) is it possible that running in the wind rain and cold of South West Scotland has caused the issues, although I read that exercise is good for the hips. She had no running with me until she was over 2 years old, just free play with other dogs until then.

Any advice on this welcome.

Thanks

Kev