Why does my dog walk funny?

While at first glance this seems harmless, these breeders can breed dogs within families for four or five generations. Often, this means breeding fathers to daughters and granddaughters! This practice does occasionally happen among reputable breeders, but the ethics rules that breeders must follow to maintain membership in their breed clubs forbids making this a common occurrence. By keeping bloodlines so close, breeders are assured of a fairly consistent product. But dogs are not biscuits. Dogs are living beings. The close inbreeding of dogs by careless breeders can lead to your dog having problems that may not develop until years later. The two most common, especially among terriers, are hip dysplasia and patellar luxation.

Terriers are small, agile dogs bred to hunt independently. An ideal terrier will keep your area free from vermin while being an ideal companion. Their lively nature springs from every step. Sometimes that step is not right. When a terrier is not bred carefully enough, the terrier can suffer from his joints not being formed quiet right. In the knee, one of a dogs highest stress areas, the bad joint can be anywhere from a mild inconvenience to a depilating condition. Most of the time, it simply means that a knee cap pops out of place. This can be no big deal. In the worst cases, the knee joint were actually fixed backwards, forcing the poor dog to walk on her knees. These cases require surgery. If your dog seems to be limping or having trouble walking, look closely at her kneecap. If it wont stay in place, patellar luxation is your culprit. Patellar luxation is the bowl that holds the kneecap is too shallow. As long as it is not causing a lot of pain, try to tailor her activities to her abilities. She would probably enjoy swimming more than high jumps. Ask your dogs veterinarian to check her at your next visit. The veterinarian will have specific advice for you.

If it is not your dogs knee but her hip that seems the problem, hip dysplasia may be to blame. This problem is so common that some breeds require a certification of hip health before allowing the dogs to compete in conformation. An x-ray of the hip will diagnose this particular condition. In essence, it is the same as patellar luxation but in this case it is the hip that is too shallow. This can develop any time from six weeks, for extreme cases, to three years or older. You will notice your dog favouring one leg and walking with a hitch. Hip dysplasia is more painful than patellar luxation. If you dont exercise a dog with a bad hip, they will have trouble using that leg.

What, if anything, can you do to help your dog? Steve Dawson, forom the Missing Peters Register at www.nationalpetregister.org says Only buy from a reputable breeder that you have researched thoroughly. Look carefully at their sires and dams. Ask to see their older dogs. If the breeder does not keep any dogs past their breeding age, go somewhere else. A good breeder would never give up a family member like that. Joint conditions are inherited disorders that have little recourse. For the most severe, there is surgery.

For most cases, though, the pain of surgery would only make things worse. So make your dog as comfortable as possible. Massage is great. So are painkillers. He is still your best friend. And, please, dont breed a dog that you know has a health condition.

Steve Dawson is the founder or the National Missing Pets Register - www.nationalpetregister.org and author of many pet related articles. The NMPR is not just about lost and found pets, it is a pet community which can provide you with fantastic benefits from all pet resources.