Weight pulling for better hips?

[Malakai]

I searched through some old weight pulling threads before posting this, but I couldn't find my answer. Our male is going on 2 years old and to look at him you would never know that he has radiographic hip dysplasia. The degree of his dysplasia is such that our orthopedic vet is hoping that he will remain sub-clinical for the rest of his life as long as we keep him muscular and at a healthy, lean weight. The extent of his working, at this point, is limited to walking and obedience training. We have managed to keep him very lean and fit, but we don't seem to be building too much muscle. Out vet agrees.

We have been looking at weight pulling as an option for Kai to strengthen his hips. We know that he will never be able to compete and this is not our goal. However, we were hoping that we could get him pulling lower weights for short distances with the same pulling equipment used for competition. However, I haven't really gotten an answer about the utility of this technique in rotties with mildly dysplastic hips. What do you guys think? Is there a good resource for us to use when determining what he can pull and what type of pulling we could do on a regular basis to build some muscle on him? Thanks for any info.

[Rott-Wiley]

I can't help you with the weight pulling but I have owned a GSD with very bad hips. She was rated at grade 5 but you would have never known it to see her. She would swim in our pool 3 to 5 times a week and she loved to chase a ball -- that hard driving run that they do. She lived to be 13 years old and except when the cancer did take her she lead a normal healthy life.

Did your vet think the weight pulling was a good idea?

[Judi W]

Weight pulling uses the front and not that much the rear.

Swimming - excellent.

Roadwork on a soft surface - grass or a soft dirt road would be very good. Walking itself doesn't do much, but roadwork, beside a bike or if you are a jogger, (I am not), something that allows the dog to move on a forgiving surface, at a good trott speed will be helpful. I would say a combination should work well. I have a friend whose dog had HD and he competed in sport work until he was over 7 years old with very good scores and one of the things they did for him was lots of biking on country roads. He was well muscled and I am sure that helped him compensate for the bad hips to a high degree.

[Mick Trainer]

I agree totally on the swimming front.

Mick.

[Leader]

For what it's worth, I do too. Swimming is the ONLY sport that builds muscle without putting pressure or weight on the dogs joints....you know what I mean. No pounding, just gliding throught the water, which also massages the muscles. But remember, physio-therapy swimming does not running into the water to get the ball and jumping and playing with it on the bank (Leader's favorite pass time which ain't so great for his arthrosis;) ). It means laps!

Leader

PS

Hi Mick and Judi

[linedog]

Leader, have you thought about carting, a natural for the Rottweiler, need not be a fancy cart, or one of the commercial ones, weight can be added or removed as needed. the old standby.The Complete Rottweiler, by Freeman has a great section on training for carting.---------aside from the physical benefits for the dog from carting, it's one of the most positive public relations thing one can do with a rott. people are fascinated and see the breed in a favorable light when they see a rott pulling a child in a cart. Don J.

[Judi W]

I would not put a dog with bad hips in front of a cart. They don't need more weight to move around.

[Leader]

No way ould I put my arthrotic (:D ) Leader in front of a cart, nor any animal with hip, or joint problems for that matter!

swimming is the way to go ;)

Leader

[Beckysmom]

If you can swim your dog you can combine the idea of swim plus pulling in water and (1) not stress the joints (2) shorten the length of workout needed (in time, but also to get more out of a short pool or small waterhole) (3) if dog pulls you (in water or on raft), then you can be right there with dog. Or if you have water that moves and can get dog to swim against current that will help. Anyway, a mere dip will not do it, and many dogs will stick with swim better if you are in there with them.

If your dog is very lean watch out for sinking tendency. My dog loves water but does not float (first dog I've had that did not have some natural buoyancy, so may not be common, but can happen). He has a lifejacket, which has convenient handles in addition to adding some floatation. Swim is still good workout even with the jacket on.

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If swimming not possible, see if you can do a walk (or biking)route on grass or dirt area that has a steep uphill section and then down on a very gradual incline (or down by vehicle). Uphill tends to use the muscles near hips