My mum has a lab pup and she has started to run really strangely.  She's not given a free run often - about once evry three days for five minutes or so.  She's around 14weeks old. 

She runs normally but brings both back legs up together... like a dog would normally run if going flat out.  What is strange is she runs normally with her front legs but the back legs do their own thing...

Any ideas?

She's off to the vets soon but was curious if anyone had experienced anything similar?

Good that your taking her to the vets in order to get to the bottom of it.  Let us know how she gets on.

Unfortunately, labs do suffer with hip problems or it could quite easily be something and nothing.  Bunny hopping can indicate a hip problem but obviously I don't know if she is actually bunny hopping....

Have the parents been hip scored etc?

'get to the bottom of it'  - I love it! :-D

We experienced something similar with our Pointer pup.  When trotting he was fine but as soon as he broke into a full run he did as you said hop like a bunny!  Obviously I was concerned that he had HD but after a couple of visits to the vets it was decided that he simply needed to discover 'his style'.  Now at 7 months he runs perfectly normally and very very fast!  I should take him to the vets to rule out any problems but don't panic, my experience shows it doesn't necessarily mean that there is anything wrong with your pup.

Rach x

Bunny hopping doesn't indicate hip problems!  My Spanish all bunny hop when they run and the three that do all have hip scores under 10 !

Movement usually has nothing to do with knowing whether a dog has HD, the only thing that does show this is an x-ray.

Hope all's OK.

When you think about it look at people, we all walk, run differently :d

Got everything crossed for you.

Diane

Mt vet said that bunny hopping can indicate hip problems??...if it's pronounced enough then there could be a problem...I am only repeating the words of my vet....and don't know if that's the case here obviously as I said above.

But you are doing the right thing by taking her to find out if there is anything.

Your vet is correct, bunnyhopping can indicate hip problems.  However, usually with hip problems the dog will bunny hop at more than one "speed".

Stacey

Yeah, but all I'm trying to say that bunny hopping isn't always indicative of HD! 

There is only one way of finding out.

Loads of people say that dogs that lie with their legs spread out at the back like a frog have hip problems, again my dogs do this and bunny hop but they have good hip scores.

I just don't like it when people comment on the way dogs move, lie etc. when it isn't necessarily an indication of a problem.

I worried myself sick with the comments about my girl and the way she ran and lay and as I said her hipscores came back 5/5, which is below average so far in my breed.

thanks all, will let you know how she gets on

Never heard of the frong thingy.  Henry does that quite and bit and there aint nothing wrong with his hips :-D

I guess it's just certain things that get the old light bulb flashing above your head and thinking that it could be due to one thing or another but yes the best thing to do is to get an expert opinion following examination from a vet.

In one of our breed magazines there was an article written by someone who said that because their dog could lie in the frog position it must have good hips (their own personal method of hip scoring) ! :D  This was then responded to by owners whose dogs did exactly the same thing and had atrocious hips.  :D

Just because a dog moves in a particular way is not necessarily an indicator of poor/good hips; I have known dogs with ghastly hip scores move fabulously and others with 0:0 who moved like a cripple.  There are other factors involved.

I agree with spanishwaterdog, it is important not to jump to conclusions and/or cause unecessary on the back of hearsay/received wisdom or old wives tales.........

I have often been told the opposite that frog liers have excellent hips (tend to agree otherwise it would be hard for them to get up from that position).s  All mine lie like frogs, it is a common breed trait, and I think it can be learned too, as my freinds Golden Ret. did it when she used to be with mine.

SWD,is this a common thing in your breed then?

I've posted a simliar topic. My weim x lab walks & runs weird. His back legs do a completly differnt thing to the front too. They sort of swing out. like he's really wriggling his bum. I think I might ask my vet, but am pretty sure he will just laugh at me. I always seem to have amusing dogs with strange habbits. 

Henry is a bum wiggler too.  I think probably a lot of what he does i.e frong lying and wiggling is due to flexibility as he has excellent hips.

He's a little cutey wiggle bum :-D

I must admit . Boris does look very cute when he does it. I think he struggles when running coz of his massive feet & long legs get in the way. Hopefully when he's older it should sort its self out?!

When my Cav's in a silly mood in the ring he trots with his front legs and gallops with the back ones - drives me mad as I don't always catch him at it quickly enough!!

Our Labs have bunny hopped as youngters.Annie our young Lab often has her back legs out like a frog ,somtimes crosses her legs at the same time,she has no hip problems,always best to check though.

Sheila.

My springer is a "bunny-hopper" and "frog layer" (sp?)!!  His knee is a bit dodgy but no problems with hips!