Asking this question for a friend.

Friend has a cocker spaniel who competes in agility, 3 years old, recently had luxating patella operation on both knees. Knees operated on separately with an 8 week gap between each op. The last op was done 10 weeks ago.  Both ops were very successful and vet indicated a return to agility training after 10 weeks would be ok ... lead walking and off lead walking as the build up to training. However, the dog is now refusing to do agility.

Has anyone else got any experience of this operation with a dog taking part in agility? There is a whole heap of info out there for the operation etc, but friend would like to know experiences from other agility competitors - she has posted on Agility Addicts forum too.

Any comments from anyone with direct experience of this op would be appreciated. Thanks.

My one who had it as a 10 month pup, although not an agility dog, has no problems. He is a large breed gundog and after his recovery period he hasn't looked back. He will run around the woods, jump gates, swim and go on lengthy walks no problem. He will be out working this season as he has recovered so well.
Could it be that prior to the operation it hurt your friends dog when doing agility and he associates it with pain?
Sure somone in agility will be along soon to comment further.

Could it be that prior to the operation it hurt your friends dog when doing agility and he associates it with pain?

Yes, I was wondering that too. To me it sounds too early to start training, albeit in low jumps, I'd rather be looking at swimming for a little while.

If I remember we were 6 weeks of nothing then gradually building up 5 minutes a day for the next four weeks before even being allowed off lead. I wouldn't be too keen on agility as soon.
Interestingly we asked surgeon to refer us for hydropool but he didn't rate swimming for helping recovery from this type of surgery unlike other operations. He did recommend walking against a current to get the correct movement going.

I definitley think it is far too soon, from my experience it would be better to start with swimming as you mentioned and then gradually building up the muscle before going into agility.

If it were me I wouldn't be doing agility so soon after the operation - I might not do it at all with a dog who has had both knees operated on. There is a lot of pressure put on the front legs when doing any of the equipment whether it be jumps or contact equipment and this, combined with the speed that is usually generated, would make me very wary of continuing in agility at all.

I do agility with a GR and he can turn on a sixpence which in itself, whilst great for competing,  does worry me at times  - and he is a very fit, lean, healthy and well muscled dog. If he were to have any problems with joints at all I would probably stop competing altogether with him.

Any return to agility would have to be a very slow and gradual process IMHO and I would definitely not be contemplating it so soon after such an operation.

I am at my training club tonight and will ask if anyone has any experience of dogs continuing their career after an LP op.

There are two different operations for this problem one just deepens the grove that guides the tendon that holds the knee cap in place and I would have thought that if this was all that was done then no problem in returning to training. The other operation as well as deepening the groove also removes and re-sites the small piece of bone that the tendon is attached to so it lies at the correct angle to the groove and therefore pulls in a straight line, if this is what has been done then I think it is too soon to return to agility practice.

My dog appeared to go back to normal after the op but has never done agility but she still doesn't put her back leg down with the same weight as the other leg.  Perhaps the dog is appearing normal but isn't ready yet or perhaps never will be.  I found hydrotherapy to be very useful as I could see in the water how much effort went in on each leg and it gave a better indication than on dry land how well she was healing.

There are two different operations for this problem one just deepens the grove that guides the tendon that holds the knee cap in place

Pretty sure it's this operation that has been carried out. The vets have given the ok to return to agility.

Thanks all for comments, will pass them on.

My big concern would be that it was both knees that were operated on. Some dogs do very tight turns and I would be constantly worried that the joints were being put under great pressure during those turns. If the dog is not a particularly fast dog it would probably not be such a worry but if he is very fast and very keen it is almost impossible to slow them down and get them to take it easy - those dogs often only have a stop and start button with nothing in between :-)

I totally agree with Harley, if a dog has any kind of joint problems then agility (for me) would not be something I would consider.  I too have a golden retriever who has just started agility and if he had or I thought he had a problem with his joints I would stop immediately.  My last golden retriever had patella operations, the first 2 failed the the 3rd actually fixed it but this was after being encased in an external fixater for 12 weeks.  It just isn't worth the risk in my opinion.  If the dog is making good progress after his operations then I would be thankful for that and forget the agility.