Last night when I got home from work, I let Trudy out and took her for a walk.  We did our normal mile and a half walk and other than the usual frustrations of our wlaks together it was unventful.  Later on I crated her again while I was eating and when I let her back out she jumped up to say hi and then collapsed on the floor.  She landed pretty funny.  I'm not sure if her landing funny was the result of just jumping at a funny angle and landing on hardwood floors of if her leg was already bothering her.

Last night she was limping and not putting much weight on one of her back legs.  Not too bad and this happens from time to time with a crazy GSP that likes to jump and is fairly clutsy.  It certainly didn't hamper her level of activity.  I let her sleep on my bed last night so that she could stretch out and not have to sleep curled up.  She was limping more (I think) this morning but I figured that she'd walk it off like she has in the past.  When I got home from work this afternoon she was still limping when she walks.  She'll put some weight on it, but especially when she is just walking around she definately is not favoring it.

We obviously skipped our walk this afternoon and I gave her the best observation that she would allow me to do and nothing feels out of place and her paws look clear of any sort of glass or burrs or anything.  I hate to take her to the vet if she just has a little sprain that there isn't anythign that they can do for her, but if shes hurt obviously I want to get her help.  When she's in the yard and doing her full speed laps it doesn't seem to bother her at all and she puts much more weight on it then.  She also was up on her back legs on the fence barking at a squirrell earlier and just was up on her back legs at the back door asking to be let out.

Am I being a bad owner and need to get her to the bet or should I give her a while longer to see if she walks it off.  Advice would be greatly appreciated.

I'm sorry Trudy is hurt.  If she were mine and still limping today, I would take her to the vet.

I also think GSP's are very stoic when it comes to pain.  I have messed up and cut the quick on Spot's nails before and he doesn't flinch or even cry.  And I know it has to hurt.  If your dog is letting you see she's hurt, she's hurt.

I'm sorry!

I had a siamese kitty who took a flying leap off the deck and tore his ACL.  He was hopping like a rabbit!  He had the surgery and did better than the vet anticipated.  So it can be successful.

I'm hoping the enforced rest and anti-inflamatories will take care of Trudy.  Her youth is in her favor.  But it's HARD to keep a GSP inactive.  You will have your hands full!

My girl, Belle, tore her bicep tendon in her front right leg when she was about 6 months.  Because she was so stoic about the pain it took almost 6 months to diagnose her.  I kept persisting because she fidgeted when she would do her long sit for obedience.  Other than that there were no signs.  Eventually she started limping too. When my vet took xrays they didn't show anything.  So, off the orthopedic vet.  Belle did not even flinch when he manipulated the leg.  He did another xray and this one showed the problem.  The orthopedic vet said any other dog would have bit his head off from the pain when the shoulder was manipulated.  Anyway they did surgery and I had to keep her quiet for 5 weeks.  She was about a year old and we had Halo who was a puppy.  Boy was that 5 weeks hard on everyone, but we did it and Belle recovered 100%.  She went through physical therapy after the 5 weeks to build up the shoulder muscle. Today you can't tell anything was wrong with her.  The orthopedic vet liked working on Belle.  He said he didn't get to work on athlete's everyday.

Good luck with you baby.

Bev and the Pointer Sisters (Belle and Halo)