Poor Posture...

[JagerLiLi]

My female sits off to the side when she sits down! I was told that when they sit down like that they will develop back problems. They told me that I should correct this now, before it does. This is coming from a non-vet... The more and more I read I'm praying that this will not be a hip problem. When I ask her to lay down she walks a little bit to the side and then lay's down. Is it something that should be corrected, and finally should I watch/expect something to come from this in the future? Please tell me no...

[Ninasmom]

It depends. It could be a hip problem. How old is your girlie? You should really have her x-rayed just to make sure. If her hips come back fine, it could just be what we call a 'sloppy sit'. My male will sit like that sometimes, depending on his mood. I had to train him out of it for competition because they are more inclined to go into a down though. The same is true with laying down on one hip. Some dogs choose to lay this way; others not. Again, x-rays can tell you much.

[Skip]

Originally Posted by JagerLiLi

My female sits off to the side when she sits down! I was told that when they sit down like that they will develop back problems. They told me that I should correct this now, before it does. This is coming from a non-vet... The more and more I read I'm praying that this will not be a hip problem. When I ask her to lay down she walks a little bit to the side and then lay's down. Is it something that should be corrected, and finally should I watch/expect something to come from this in the future? Please tell me no...

Is this the 6-month old female that you were already asking breeding info about?

[Maxxx]

I was told if they sat that way, they would develop hip problems. Either way, it just seems better to have them sit properly. Max did it a lot when he was younger, but I've been consistently correcting him and doing many technical sits for OB, so he's doing it less and less. The way I look at it, why take the chance? It takes just a couple of seconds to get them to sit properly.

[JagerLiLi]

Yes skip it is... She is almost 5months though. Nina, I will have the xrays done when she is around 9 months because I was told that most hip dyspia starts forming or becomes more apparent betwen the ages 6-8 months. My male sits like a champ... He has great posture! That's kinda what made me worry about it!

[Ninasmom]

Then what you really want to do is keep an eye on her. Watch for other symptoms of HD. Bunny hopping, favoring legs, etc... also you want to try and make sure that she doesn't do anything to hurt herself. AND you want to begin to train her out of the sloppy sit because if it isn't an injury then it's just lazy.

[sebastianvoneli]

It's called a lazy sit. My dog has xcellent hips and sits thats way.

[JagerLiLi]

MAkes me feel better, but I will not be at ease until the xrays have proved otherwise. Thanks for the bit of relief!!