My year old Pointer had a wonderful time running with another dog in the woods recently.  They ran hard while playing for about 45 minutes.  Later that evening, we noticed our Pointer was limping on a front leg.  She did not wimper, and the limp was more extreme after the dog had been resting.  I assume the muscle was stiffer then.  Our gut feeling is it is a strained muscle since she seems fine after the muscle is a bit warmed up from walking about.  And, a few days later the limp seems much much improved.  We have read that gundogs will often do this after a hunting trip.  We have read that a buffered asprin will help this? 

Is buffered asprin OK?

Check with your vet. I have come to learn that you have to be very careful with Asprin with dogs as their mucous membrane lining is not as thick as ours. It can cause an ulceration fairly easily. If you must, I believe 1/2 to 1 Asprin with some food in a larger size dog like that is Ok. But never give Ibuprofen or those other things. Apparently they're really bad for a dog. I guess if it is an occasional muscle strain, I wouldn't give anything but a good massage, maybe some Absorbine liniment. It's things like joint inflamation that I'd be wanting to get that inflammation down so as not to lead to arthritis. Then I'd see a vet for another kind of anti inflammatory. Good luck. He's still young so it's probably just muscle strain.

Carrie

Your dog would be better off and safer if you gave him arnica 30c

Took Sadie to the vet (concerned about possible allergies...always something).  Although her limp was gone now, 5 days later, her gait seemed off, just different.  The vet did his thing checking her joints when I heard a little pop sound.  The vet said she had a tendon on her shoulder that had slipped out of the groove.  The vet slipped it over the bone and back in the groove.    I am sooo glad I went to the office.  He said most likely this was from making sharp quick turns like when dogs run along side of each other then try to quickly cut the other dogs off.