Sadie is giving me grey hair!!!

I have never worried and fretted over a pup in my life as I have her. She's 15 wks old. I've noticed a couple of times when she first gets up she looks like she's limping. Couldn't figure out if she was just so lanky or if there was a problem. Never any tenderness. Last night, she had played really hard and was asleep at the sitter's (my grandma) when I got home. She plays extremely hard with my grandma's snauzer puppy. When I finally woke her up, it took her a good 5 min for her to stand up. She lost her footing in her back end a couple of times and laid back down. She has tenderness in the back right in front of the hooks of the hips. Today she was better but still stiff. Of course a treat fixed the problem temporarily lol. I have an appt set with the vet to get her checked. What do you guys think? Playing too hard and causing soreness or injury, or....a more serious problem.

I'm the type of person that would rather know if one of my dogs has a problem. Its more stressing for me not to know.
With something like that, do a regular office visit at your vet and get a referral to a specialist. Your vets xrays maybe good but a orthopedics vets xrays will be even better.
Dr Whitney at Gulf Coast Veterinary is not to far from you.
http://www.gcvs.com/page1/page1.html

Could be a problem or it could just be sore muscles. After a day or two of hard hunting - me and the dogs are stiff and slow moving. My dogs are in shape and hunt a lot. If it persists for more than a day or so, then you'll need to do some more diagonsis.

Maybe hip dysplasia

This is weird.....I have an 8 month old yellow lab pup, named Sadie and she was doing the same thing....A couple of weeks ago I took her in to the vet and she has hip dysplasia.

Yea its weird that a 15 week old pup show that kinda lameness, that sounds like something more than just being sore. I've never seen a pup get sore just from being a pup

She could have injured a growth plate or she may also have OCD which can occur in the rear legs as well.

Don't hesitate to get a second opinion from an orthopedist if you don't get some solid answers. Many vets will prescribe crate rest with an anti-inflammatory for a couple of weeks. We all know that usually works until the next time they play and then it's back to square one.

I personally would go to a good orthopedist first.

Angie

I didn't think hip dysplasia would show itself so early. I thought it was more of a degenerative disorder. She isn't registered but I know both of the parents are happy and healthy with no signs of lameness. We have an appt with the vet in the morning and I'll give an update. Regardless of the outcome, she's still my girl but it'll be very dissapointing if we can't hunt together.

Mine showed it earlier than that and neither parent had it or any other dog in his bloodline. It can still show itself but of course you want to do all you can to prevent it. If it is HD, it doesn't mean you cant hunt her. I hope its something minor.

If she is like mine and already limping and in pain and can't or won't jump in the back of a truck, I don't see how she could hunt. And I would think it will just get worse as she gets older. My vet told me of some surgeries, but I can't afford those.

They can be born with dysplastic hips. Dysplasia is still pretty common. One in 10 puppy's will have the disease even though they are from parents who are clear for 3 generations.

Angie

Don't be too quick to hit the panic button. Sure, it could be dysplasia, but it could be a lot of other things, too. Dogs with abdominal pain appear to "limp" on the back end. Also, your pup is very large for her age - at 15 weeks she could be going thru something that amounts to no more than "growing pains." Very common in large breeds and pups that are growing rapidly, the growth rate of the joints and bones simply gets out of synch or balance and temporary, changing lameness is the result. Make sure there is not too much protein in the diet and enough calcium. For our big Commando dogs that get in excess of 100 lbs, we supplement with multi-species milk for several months. They only get one chance to build a foundation.

Dawn you're spot on. At 15 weeks she already weighs 38 lbs. The doctor believes its growing pains. Have me an anti inflammatory for 10 days and if she's not better, next step is xrays. Thanks everyone, i'm relieved.

Whew! Great news .

That's good to hear. Good luck and keep us posted.