Long story short I know a farmer who has 4 working dogs (all collies) One of his dogs is a 3 yr old entire male. Not overweight and used as a sheep/cattle dog. Dog has lameness that comes and goes. Seems to be worse with harder ground and more work. Dog exercises fine then goes lame after he's rested for a few hours afterwards (e;g in landrover or kennel) past week or two he's been slightly lame despite no work and then was used (briefly) and afterwards became very lame.
I walk through the farmers yard when taking my dogs out (public footpath) and occasionally see him/chat to him. He told me about this dog today and gave a worry statement that if it doesn't improve he'll have to get rid of the dog! He seems reluctant to go to a vet.
The dog is fed Dr Johns (seen the sacks laying around) and when I've met him is very sweet and friendly. To the extent that I'm reluctant to let him get rid of the dog (whatever that means) Aside from taking the dog off him and taking it to the vet myself is there anything you guys could think of recomending to the farmer as a dietery or supplement to help the dog.
Btw seeing the dog today I'm convinced he has some discomfort in his elbow.

Adam

The dog could be lame from a range of different reasons & lame dogs should be rested to recover from the possible injury. If this is a farm dog, it will not/is unlikely to be rested so will be lame for the forseeable future. I doubt very much if the dog is lame from what it is being fed.

Lameness in an adult is usually due to injury, which requires both medication and rest to allow repair. This can only be done in nature's own time and cannot be hurried. It sounds as though the dog isn't being given time to heal ("he's rested for a few hours afterwards (e;g in landrover or kennel) past week or two he's been slightly lame despite no work and then was used (briefly) and afterwards became very lame." before being exercised again and therefore the injury continues. From what you say the dog needs veterinary treatment and several weeks of rest (not a paltry few hours) before being gradually reintroduced to its normal routine.

I think the dog wasn't worked for the past few weeks. He was then worked yesterday and went lame (badly) again.

Adam

Was his exercise gradually increased to gently build up his fitness or was he expected to perform as normal straight away?

Compare him to an injured sportsman; strained muscles require weeks of medication and physiotherapy before they can start to return to training and competition. Working dogs are no different. The farmer can allow his David beckham to heal or he can b*gger him forever.

When our breed have been used as working gundogs and begin to go lame because of injury they are usually retired, as any excessive strain on the joints results in lameness.   It is usually osteo-arthritis through wear and tear, the same as us humans.   However, the majority of the working gundogs do not develop this until in their later years, so in a relatively young dog it needs, in the first instance, to be checked out by a vet - this costs money, they may well give him a steroid injection to reduce any swelling and inflammation.   It could be also a chipped bone on the elbow which floats around in the joint space, or inflammation of the synovial fluid in the joint, lots of reasons for lameness, it really needs to be seen by a professional.

The dog in question also needs complete rest, no free exercise, lead only for at least 6 weeks.

From your description he sounds like he might have been injured. Does he get used to herd cattle or sheep? Cattle dogs have to be hard as cattle will roll a dog over if they can. I used to have working collies and now have flatcoats. They symptoms you describe certainly sound like an injury. One of my dogs crash landed when jumping a fence and like this collie would go lame frequently if he was worked or walked for a long time. When he rested it got better and walking on hard ground or cold damp weather and he was often very lame, he would also be a little stiff on getting up. The vet told me had a soft tissue injury.

My vet prescribed Metacam as the first thing we tried made my dog sick. Then with my vets advice we started him of glucosamine (Glyco-Flex) I was not having much luck so on another thread here I saw CD members recommending giving a herbal mixture called Get Over and feeding tinned sardines or mackeral in oil every couple of days. Since I have been feeding the herbs, Glyco-Flex and fish in oil the limp has gone, but I do rest him and he is on restricted exercise. Farm collies are not going to get that kind rest time, so the dog will probably need to be retired permanently. 

Could you offer to short term foster him while he rests?

He's currently staying with me until he recovers, then we will see if the farmer wants him back, vet has put him on some stuff but says he may have a permenant problem. If the stuff doesn't work he will have to be x rayed! This is getting very expensive lol.

Adam

That's great news for the dog. Hope he's ok. Maybe if you explain to the vet he might help keep the bill as low as he can.