6 Month Old--Weak Rear - Page 4

How about an uphill tread mill, say around 45 degrees, and put resistance weights on him... That should fix the problem ;( by the way, I just happen to have a jogadog for sale.

This pup is too young for a treadmill and weights.....A water treatmill maybe, but not a regular one, especially at 45 degrees and especially not with weights.

Walking in sand and swimming will work over time. He's just growing fast and having trouble keeping up. His isn't going to change over night, but will improve with time.

I'd suggest going to an adult kibble instead of a puppy food. I usually change mine over at about 4 or 5 months. A grain free feed with a lower protien percentage. This will slow his growth and give him a chance to catch up.

I've seen much worse that have grown into beautiful sound adults.

Well he certainly looks brighter eyed in the latest photo.  He still seems pretty underdeveloped generally to what I am used to seeing at six months - and in comparison to the black bitch posted on here. (I don't know that her being probably WL makes a lot of difference).  I confess the idea that you might be over-supplementing with calcium occurred to me as a possibility too.  Yes you do sound a caring owner  (and I am the last person to insist one cannot cope without a garden / yard, believe me !) - but you also sounded like you were a bit of a muddled one ?  The fact that you say you only recently realised that growing puppies need proportionately more food than adult dogs, for instance ?  That's pretty basic.  And you said the early pictures were better than some others you've got - that  just made me wonder how bad he looked in the others.

if x rays are ok, he will tighten up with maturity.

sand is great for conditioning and if he enjoys swimming, start doing that also. It's very low stress and a lot of output in a short period of time.

I do not feed puppy food. There is no benefit to the higher levels of protien and I don't want to increase growth rate either.


good luck and keep posted on x-rays.


Rik 

It's not exactly basic if nobody tells you. I was getting mixed messages from the breeder on how much to feed and whenever I asked other people they said to just go with what I had been doing or not to fuss over food so much. Nobody ever told me he might need more. I think his food was a balanced amount a couple of months ago but it should have been upped with his age. Part of the problem stemmed from the difference with cats--with cats if you fed the amount the packaging tells you to you'd have pretty fat cats. I assumed dog food was the same (because the same brands make food for both) but it doesn't appear to be the case anymore. Some things you just don't know until somebody tells you. I read a ton of books on raising dogs and not one of them mentioned upping food as they aged, just training stuff. 

We have a small garden out front where he goes potty, but that's all we've got land wise. We're lucky we have trails across the street from us and that we love hiking.

Some of the pictures are where he's doing weird stuff so it makes the problem look worse. Other pictures he looks better. That picture with the eyes being brighter was taken the same week as the picture with the "dull" ones. It was just the lighting/angle of the photo that created whe poor eye brightness, not the eyes themselves. 

Definitely something to note then. I think I might start mixing adult food in with his food and see how he reacts to it and then switch. Grain free alternatives are eh. ToTW has a higher calcium content than CalNat does, and Orijen is about the same. CalNat has a grain free food with very low calcium (.7%) but it's almost twice as much $$ per bag so I'd rather go with the 1% adult formula that costs the same. He's been on nature's variety and taste of the wild (initially we were feeding him a mix as per the breeder's instructions) and his poops were constantly soft (despite fecal tests and deworming). Now they're firm. 

Thanks SitasMom :) Very encouraging. I'll keep up his exercise. Just waiting for those xray results.

You do not have to own a yard to be a good owner, just having them in the back yard does not exercise them. I will agree that the weights are way to much for a pup like yours. Hip Dysplasia is environmental as well as genetic. Good exercise is needed to give muscle and ligament tone as the joints grow to form a well rounded socket. Heavy angulated dogs need more exercise but can really fly if fit. Exercise can also flatten down a roach back. Don't give up on this pup or let others tell you what he can't do, just because they can't train a show line doesn't mean you can't. A new crate is absolutely necessary.   

I would NOT add anything higher in calcium. Just talked to another ortho vet who just saw a Mastiff whose well-meaning owner fed it TOTW and the dog is a mess. That is moderate puppy food you're feeding, so I wouldn't be too concerned. Just keep in mind that when an adult food gives a percentage of calcium, that your pup is going to be eating more than that due to the increased nutrition needs a puppy has. Pay close attention to the supplements. This pup must have some kind of genetic predisposition to this, but a normal pup can get all messed up (like my technical term?) from too much calcium, so be especially careful w/this one. 

He will likely mature ok, if he gets enough exercise. I think many/most dogs don't get what they need as far as free running/self-exercise. I think a lot of our orthopedic problems are the result of many generations raised in unnatural environments. 

Of course a pup shouldn't be on a tread mill. But the op saying she thought having a six month old drag weights was a good idea, thought she might like the idea of tm.

I would like to ask what is the evidence that a diet high in Ca causes problems ?...since it has been suggested as such. IMHO, excess Ca just gets excreted in urine. For those not in the know, there is a free calcium and a bound calcium. The free ca always remains more or less the same. Its the free calcium which is used to regulate body processes. Infact, I would venture to say that any ca from the usual diet (as in this case), is not an issue. 

I posted a bunch of links in another thread...can't remember which one. Basically, it's the entire reason behind the advent of "large breed puppy food." 

Here is one really basic, plain-English, short article. The vet journals have a ton on it, but you have to pay to subscribe to those. http://www.joint-health-for-dogs.com/nutrition-dogs.html