Some of you may remember the palaver with Tchi and the stitches in his front legs a couple of months ago. I went through every type of collar imaginable trying to stop him licking them and eventually made him a sort of neck brace out of an empty coke bottle.

Anyway, he's done it again :rolleyes: Running in the field yesterday he slipped slightly and then carried on racing round, it wasn't till later on when I was brushing the dried mud off him that I noticed a huge hole in his back leg :rolleyes: He's been in the vets today having it stitched up and now I have all the joy of trying to stop him licking it for the next 10 days... at least I have an extensive range of collars :D

Looking back over my vets receipts at all the times he's had strains, pulled muscles and stitches makes me wonder why some dogs seem more accident prone than others? His brother goes for the same walks and runs mad just the same as Tchi and never injures himself. Interestingly his brother is also the better dog, construction wise, and the better mover and I wonder if thats a contributory factor? Maybe Tchi not being quite as balanced is more likely to fall? Or is that nonsense and he's just accident prone?

I'd be interested to know that one! I had an English Springer that would find the only piece of barbed wire (1" long) that was in a 6 acre field ;) . She was a mix of show and working stock, so her construction wasn't the best but she never tore a muscle, or broke a bone in her body. Maybe your dog is just plain clumsy :)

Maybe your dog is just plain clumsy It's a distinct possibility :D Don't get me wrong he's not the worst dog in the world, he does have his stud book number. However his brother is really nicely made, and never has an accident. Ah well, he's clumsy and beastly but very loveable

Interesting post.   It has been suggested that "accident-prone" children (like 2 of my 4!) are often dispraxic, and suffer from lack of co-ordination.......maybe dogs can too!

There are those that say that the fitter the animal, the more toned, more muscular, less chance of injury.  Then again, I suppose it depends on the dog, some will run through the pain barrier making an injury worse or causing an injury, others won't.  I don't know, bit like how long is a piece of string. :-D  Hope your boy gets better soon.

>There are those that say that the fitter the animal, the more toned, more muscular, less chance of injury.

That would seem to be very sensible, but then both boys get the same 2 or 3 (sometimes 4) hours of exercise a day. They both run about the same amount, if anything I would say Tchi was slightly fitter...Toto is terribly greedy and on a permanent diet.

Edited to say...

Woooohooooo I can do quotes now :D :D

(Thanks Jan, and it's not even a full moon ;))

>it's not even a full moon

;) :D :D

I think part of it in some dogs may be to do with a high pain threshold and excitability, the dogs enjoying himself that much that he doesn't heed warning, doesn't care, just ploughs on anyhow.  I have one like that as a younger dog and he picked up the odd muscle, ligament and hamstring injuries.  The only dog I know that got off his bed and pulled a ligament in the process due to plain old excitement. :rolleyes: I wouldn't have said the best construction for a GSD at all, far from it, yet he could be the most co-ordinated dog providing he paid attention and his mind wasn't somewhere else.  :rolleyes:

I know sighthounds are meant to be thinner skinned, but then that doesn't explain the other Zoi not getting injuries. Suppose it could be conformation a bit - after all you'd be more likely to twist an ankle on a foot that was tilted down say (thinking human), and sticking out dewclaws\ other claws at funny angles are more likely to get caught. Interesting thought.

Or he might just be a clumsy oaf. :D

I've always been accident prone - maybe my conformation is dodgy. I'll have to look at the breeding lines. :D