HD and Herding

[jlhnokc]

Jaycee has been started in herding and we love it. Now we know for sure she does have HD. She has not limped in a very long time and I attribute that partly to the amount of exercise she's getting and I am keeping her pretty slim. Her back end is farely muscular. Here's my question, since I know now she does have HD in her right hip, should I now not have her do herding? Is this a good idea? I do believe in quality of life. Jaycee is extremely energetic and loves to go and do whatever. She has a blast herding. If I continue with her in this, will it cause her HD to be worse faster? Opinions please...

[debbiej]

my girl has HD, but also some knee problems due to poor structure. because of that, she can't do fast turns or pivots. she gets adequan injections for her hips, which have done wonders for her. my vet says exercise and building muscle without pain should be my goals for Hilda. she enjoys swimming. If your girl has one moderately bad hip, and good muscle tone, perhaps let he keep doing what she loves. I have never tried herding with my dogs though, so am only guessing about that. I do think those adequan injections are always worth trying.

[Carol Burke]

I would let her herd as long as she is not showing discomfort afterward. I would also have her on Glucsomine.

[AngelBunny]

Quality of life is of paramount importance to me, too.

How bad is Jaycee's HD? How often does she herd? How has she been after the herding sessions she's had?

[jlhnokc]

She was on Glucosomine for awhile and recently just haven't had it refilled. I hadn't seen much of a difference with her being on it/off it. But I'm guessing my vet is going to say for us to keep her on it. I don't think the HD is very severe at this point, I will find out more when I pick her up today and he wants to go over the xray's with me. She has only gone herding once so far. We haven't gone again yet because of scheduling issues. I've been in the middle of getting my house on the market, now it's under contract and closing is the 30th so I had planned on putting that back on my priority list. It's something I would like to try and do at least once a week. She has not shown any signs of discomfort after anything we've done. The only time I can tell anything is watching her move, she more bunny hops, but it doesn't slow her down one bit, she's 90 to nothing- and when she's been laying down for awhile she is slow to get up. I have not seen her limp or yelp or show any big signs of pain in the last 6 months or so. She did have a limp off and on, early on but it would only be after really hard play sessions. At that time, she was not getting the exercise she is now. She goes to work with BF during the day and gets to play and run and "help" everyone. She's exhausted when she gets home. She does love to swim and we take her to the lake a lot on the weekends and she will dive in and swim, she will even stick her face underwater. He did say he did not see any signs in her left hip.

[jlhnokc]

Met with the vet yesterday and looked over her xray. Wasn't good. I don't know anything about reading xrays and there was a major difference in her right hip and left hip. He said if it was sent to OFA it would be sent back as moderate to severe. I spoke with him about the herding as well and he was along the same lines of thinking as long as she isn't showing a lot of pain afterward, let her do the things she loves. She's getting back on glucosomine and he gave me rimadyl to have on hand for any bad days. And he advised lots of swimming and walking.

[Carol Burke]

I had a severly dysplastic dog who I put on Rimadyl when she was about 8 or so. I found I could use about 1/4 of the recommended dosage and get good results.

[jlhnokc]

Thanks Carol, I'll keep that in mind.