Wanda joined this thread a while after the other original puppies but she is 8 now as well. Given that it's fairly certain whoever bred her did not put considerations like hip scoring etc into the mix Wanda has been on a mobility supplement for some time. At the moment she is fine most of the time, charges up the stairs in the morning as usual and if on the rare occasions on a walk she is off the lead and a pheasant flies out of the hedge she'll still give a good old chase - the only thing she doesn't now do is leap in the air to try and fly after it but that's probably because she has finally worked out that however hard they try, dogs can't fly! She will occasionally be a bit stiff on one back leg when getting out of her bed but it generally doesn't last more than a few minutes.
After 'missing' the jump into the car yesterday Jet worked to refute my allegations of a bit of joint stiffness, He even had a rare attack of the roomies outside. I'd forgotten just how fast he is when he's running "eyeballs out".
Ollie (springer) is 11 now and has arthritis in his elbows. He takes YouMove daily, and then has two-monthly Cartrophen injections. We restrict his walks - generally it's two 20 minutes walks per day, but he is off lead for most of that and runs around. We stopped throwing a ball for him a couple of years ago as the twisting and turning to catch a bouncing ball would aggravate it. He has occasional bouts - about a month ago just walking down the road he suddenly started limping and wouldn't weight bear on his front right. This eased over the next couple of days and he's been fine since. On the odd occasions we take him on a significantly longer walk, he'll be stiff later, but gets back to normal over the next day or so. This is one of his elbows:
They also have YuMOVE. Cookie has hip dysplasia, which we’ve know about since before he was one. It’s probably developed into arthritis so he’s permanently on the lexicon now. Phoebe developer obvious pain in her leg over the summer. Painkillers have helped. X-ray shows no joint issues or breaks or fractures. Possibly soft tissue or nerve. Maybe just old age. After her cancer lumps earlier in her life she’s started getting fatty lumps. Ones been removed, the other one is staying for now. Cookies had about 6 teeth out in the past 18 months, plus a huge fatty lump removed. In comparison to human years, they are into their fifties now. So signs of ageing are appearing.
I think Yumove is supposed to have protective effects because they do one for younger/agility dogs which is supposed to help them stay competitive - that's a vague recollection but if you look on their website at (I think) Yumove Active (or something) it should explain it.
After a discussion about what we are doing next week at dog class (the last one of the term) I was inspired to contribute this to the 'unexpected plot twists' thread.......
It was the last day of term and the day of the school nativity play. The teacher was already wishing they'd just done the usual 'everyone brings their favourite toy' day instead.
It wasn't going well - two of the wise men were having a tug-o-war with a teatowel that was meant to be the head-dress of one of them. The teacher tried to bring some order.....'Can everyone sit in their places please - come on now, listen to me I want everyone to sit....Mary please stop sniffing....now where are the gifts from the wise men...oh Joseph they weren't gifts for you to open they are for the baby Jesus and you didn't need to rip the paper to shreds when you opened them did you? Mary will you stop that sniffing please. Wise men - yes I know mangers are usually where the food for the animals goes but there's only baby Jesus in there today so you can all come away and just sit nicely for me.'
There was suddenly a commotion as the Angel appeared and before anyone could stop her grabbed the teddy bear/baby Jesus out of the manger, charged out of the barn and into the paddock and began ripping his face off.
The teacher sighed - maybe a nativity hadn't been the best idea to finish with for the Intermediate Obedience class at the dog training school.....
(I don't think we are doing the 'dogs nativity' next week although it was the suggestion that Wanda could be the Angel that prompted this idea!)
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Dog walking
May 2013