My 4 yr old wsd has recently been lame. She is a very active girl who is a manic ball chaser and we compete in agility and flyball. 2 weeks ago she went very lame on her right hind a few hours after doing some agility practice. She was still on 3 legs the following morning (it happened at 10.30pm and as she wasn't in pain i thought it could wait) so i took her to the vets. She said meg had a swollen stifle and had probably pulled her cruciate and put her on metacam and synoquin and said only 10 minutes walking on lead only for at least a week. (God that was a nightmare!) She was already weight baring by that evening, but continued to visably limp for at least a day or 2. She did had one episode of non-weight baring for 5 minutes last friday after a walk, but that cleared up very quickly. We are now doing 20 - 30 minutes mostly on lead, with a little off lead, but no ball throwing. She is going nuts, she wants to play with the others all the time. She gets very depressed if she gets left behind so taking the other dogs out without her is a nightmare. Shes putting on weight despite cutting her food by half, and this makes it harder for me to do any brain work with her as i can't give her too many treats and she just wants to use the ball away and jumps around like a loon!
Anyway, the point of my long ramblings. She is now only slightly favouring the leg when she runs, but its not obvious and i only know this because the vet told me. However she has said i have to be very careful about bringing her back into exercise because it could have been a tear in the ligament and may rupture completely. Now, this may sound extremely selfish, but i am desperate to get back into working her for both our sakes, shes got so much pent up energy and she has a very frustrated herding drive that is usually kept at bay by the ball throwing. Shes been working really well recently and has been doing quite well in competition and i have a few booked in july and august that i really want to do. However i don't want to be in a cruciate rupture situation because that means expensive surgery and at least 6-8 weeks cage rest and a very miserable dog!! My vet has suggested arthroscopy, which involves putting a scope into her knee to see if there are any tears or whether its just pulled. Obviously this would involve a general anaethetic and an hour and 45 minute drive to the specialists, but as she is insured the money is not an issue. SHe would not be left with any large wounds, only 2 tiny holes so no long recovery time. However it would mean that i would know how long i should be resting her. But i'm in 2 minds. I don't want to put her through unneccessary surgery to satisfy my curiosity, but on the other hand i don't want to cause a cruciate rupture. However, it seems a shame to miss 2 months of the competition season that we both enjoy so much, if it is only pulled and totally healed by then. I know that does sound totally selfish, but i'm finding it just as frustrating as she is! What would you do in my situation, would you have the arthroscopy, or just keep restricting her exercise indefinately? What worries me is how would i know if it was healed even if it is a tear as she doesn't even seem lame to me?
Shes very important to me and i will do anything for her. Is there anything else i can do to help it heal?
With my vets help (shes a friend) meg has been swimming behind a canoe twice last week and i will hopefully take her to hydrotherapy whilst my friend is on holiday.

FWIW I believe the hydrotherapy is the only exercise you should consider apart from your vet's recommended brief lead walks.

Personally I don't know why you are considering competitive work with her in the near future - despite your vet's advice :(  You can after all give her mental stimulation using treats which needn't be extra to her diet but taken directly from her daily ration ;)

If my dogs are poorly and frustrated through being on restricted exercise like any owner I feel upset and frustrated too - but for THEM and not because I can't continue to pursue a hobby with them.

Sorry if this sounds harsh but TBH I'm struggling to understand why you're not 100% committed to your girl's recovery!  That, IMO, should be your priority.  As you yourself have pointed out, yes - it does sound selfish :(

Teri

I would listen to your vet and let your girls leg heal completely,I would only let them do arthroscopy if vet thought it was medically needed,If your dogs not fit you should forget competitions .

I would definately get the arthroscopy done,then you will know for sure how much exercise she can and cant have. I dont think you sound selfish at all,although i may be reading it differently to the other posters.But i read it as your frustrated because your girl is unhappy and frustrated which makes you unhappy,and if she can get out living life as normal then she will be happy,and therefore so will you,right? I'm the same,if my dogs are miserable,then so am i :(

I admire your strength and caring with not letting her off lead to play with the other dogs,that must be sooooo hard for both of you :(

I dont know what i'de do if one of my dogs needed restricted exercise,i think we would all end up insane.I mean,my dogs were out on their usual walk the day after being spayed,thankfully they controlled thmselves and didnt run around,but i know they couldnt handle even one day without a walk,and 10 minutes per day wouldnt make a difference at all!

Like i said,i would get the arthroscopy done so you will know exactly what you're dealing with and go from there.

Good luck,and i hope you and meg will soon be out living life as normal.

As an aside as she is such a sporting dog i would start supplementing with cluc/chon and any other joint  natural supplements you can find that will support her joints/ligaments.This will hopefully prevent things like this happeneing in future,because as you've found prevention is much easier than cure :)

I would want to find out what was wrong with her, so would go for the surgery. I would follow vets advice re exercise, and just wait for this condition, whatever it may be, to sort itself out if it can. You and your vet will have the benefit of the specialists advice then, so will hopefully know the best plan of action.This season missed is simply this season missed, there is always next year, but if over done and injured more this year there may be no next years. Just a hindsight wish that you had waited....

Take care, try to be patient, and fingers crossed for her :)

I know it does sound selfish, but its not because i am worried about missing out on winning - because we don't anyway. Since april meg and i have spent just about every weekend travelling around the country going to shows. We both love it, she loves seeing all her friends so do i and it keeps her happy. Shes used to twice a week agility lessons and flyball once a week. We only started all this because she was dog aggressive, partly doe to fear and partly down to a frustrated herding drive (diagnosed by a behaviourist). Since we started all this she has been a happier dog and all the aggression had just about gone. Now that she is on restricted exercise this has all returned, shes unhappy, and clingy as she just can't understand why i won't take her out. Yes it know i need to restrict the exercise, but meg unfortunately doesn't and when walks are restricted she is tearing round the house wanting to play with the others doing more damage. So what is it achieving?
Part of me thinks that all of this could be for nothing, as nobody really knows whats going on, hence why i am thinking about arthroscopy.

hey, I dont think your selfish Lucy :) Just concerned for your dog, you can see how frustrated she is, and worry about what the results of this could be. Just sit on your hands and hers ;) till you have the result of the test, which i think has to  be the best way forward for you because you really need a more accurate diagnosis and this will put your mind at rest. You will hopefully be told the best course of action for her then.

thanks i really appreciate your advice.
:-)
As i've said, i really find it so hard because she seems perfectly fine even without painkillers. If she was looking lame then of course i wouldn't even consider exercising her. I think i may make more enquiries into the arthroscopy.
thanks again

FWIW Lucy I don't think you're selfish either...just eager to get back to what you both love so much!!! I would investigate every option and then make a rational decision on the choices and options...as you say...it may well be better to get Arthroscopy done to eliminate and confirm diagnosis, this I feel, is probably the safest and most reliable way to gain insight and aid a plan...whatever that may be...either surgery or rest, all the best, Dawn

Several months back (around January I think) my Dobe had to be lead-walked only for 7 weeks due to what the vets thought was either a torn tendon or ligament (limping and he had a huge swelling in the hock, which is still there slightly but the vets think it is scar tissue so will always be there). I have no idea how he did it, but having to restrict his exercise so much was an absolute nightmare! He is used to 3-4 hours of walks a day, one of which generally includes a toy as he is totally retrieve obsessed, chasing rabbits, and he also charges around the garden with footballs etc and acts like a general loon :D He'll only sleep for about 1.5 hours a day even with exercise so having to restrict to 10 min lead walks only for 3 weeks, then gradually increasing was incredibly difficult for all involved.

I filled some of the time with difficult treat balls and I also bought lots of cheap toys - even though I knew he'd destroy them in minutes it gave him something to concentrate on and work at. I also taught him to stand no more than a couple of feet in front of me (whilst I sat in in the armchair with tv on :D) and I would do a teeny throw with the ball which he would catch on the spot with all 4 feet still on the floor and hand back to me (repeat X 1000). I think maybe I had to use a lead to begin with to stop him charging around.

I would just keep restricting the exercise. My boys limp was no longer visible within about 3 days of restricting, although the swelling took a long time to go down, but I continued with lead-only exercise because it is not worth risking further injury.