Yesterday my springer came in from the garage after resting and drying out from his morning walk with a bad limp to his his front right leg. Wasn't putting any weight on it and just either sitting holding it up or laying down. I checked his paw but found nothing except thought that the paw looked slightly swollen on the top of his foot (bit like a bungion). He continued to be the same all evening, non weight bearing, wouldn't go out for a pee last thing. Decided if no better after good rest overnight then vets this morning.

well this morning he was no better still wouldn't go outside, though he normally hangs on til walk time. Decided i ought to get him to vets so husband got ready to take others out on normal walk and Boris some how made a recovery!! leaping about barking to go out etc - where had the bad leg gone that was so bad he couldn't put it down!!?? anyway i took him for quick walk before ringing vets and so he could pee & poo, he was totally not botheed by paw/leg now, walked and ran on it. Now back home and using all four legs withou too much trouble - i can tell he's not totally comfortable but its not how he was making it out to be yesterday and this morning.

haven't booked appt with vet as i think he'll think i'm mad especiall when Boris walks in not appearing to be too bothered by his leg.

Hope its just a sprain and he was just being cautious about standing on it until he realised it didnt hurt quite as much as he thought perhaps. will see how he's go for an hour then decide before vets shut.

Years ago we had littermates, brother & sister. while out walking the male tripped while running at full speed, injuring his leg, he was in such a state I had to carry him 1 MILE home (he weighed 4 stone ). Got him to the vets and it was a sprain. The next day, his sister developed a limp in the vey same foot, even though we were sure she had not injured it she was taken to the vets. The ve found nothing wrong with her atall. All we could deduce was that she saw the extra attention the male was getting and was smart enough to put on the limp in order to get the same TLC. Funnnily enough, the very same day the males limp had gone, hers had gone too!!!
So, to sum up my waffle, if your dog had recieved a fuss/you were acting different towards him because of the bad leg, he may well have felt like making it into somthing more than it was. Our dogs are very sensitive to changes in our moods/behaviour which in turn effects thier behaviour and they can manipulate us much more eailiy than we give them credit for!!
My last dog was prone to ear infections, if I fussed over him when he had one, he would act like he was dying & needed constant cuddles, if I treated him like normal, he acted like normal! Funny things!

Personally, if it doesn't bother him much & he seems himself (no temperature, no signs of distress/lack of apetite etc.) I would just keep an eye on him, but if no improvement in a few days time I would take him to the vets anyway, just to be on the safe side (obviously if it gets worse again it's best to take him to the vets).

A good tip for things like this is to take a home-video, as many dogs make a 'recovery' while at the vets, but if you have some video footage to show the vets it can help. I did this when Buster was diagnosed with ED, his limp would go at the vets (prbably due to feeling the need not to show weakness/injury) so I had to film how bad he was  at home for the vet to see it.

My young boy did a similar thing but it was hoover induced LOL  he likes to chase and stamp on the hoover , did this one day   all was fine but a few hours later he couldnt put his foot down , a trip to the vets revealed a bruised toe , after a few days rest he was fine .