What does it mean if a dog can lie on its tummy with its back legs stretched out behind it?? Does it have tight or loose hips?? To me it would indicate that it had loose hips, and my trainer at obedience said the same, but I have heard others say it means the dogs have good hips?? What does everyone think??

Vicky

It means nothing at all Vicky. I have heard it said that if the hips are good the dog could not get it's legs that far back but that is rubbish. "The Flower's" hips are 2/2 and she often does it. (As for that matter have all my Labs)

Regards, John

My problem is, my 2 in May year old bitch hip clicks when she gets out of her crate in the morning, and it is definatley the right size crate for her. I asked my trainer last night to watch her gait, and to tell me what she thinks, well she said she moved beautifully, had equal amounts of muscle in both back legs, and that the muscle rippled when she moved. I havent had her hip scored, I would like to, so I would have some further indication what her hips are like, but it is very pricey!

She is BARF fed, and her hips dont seem to cause her any pain, but I am a very paranoid person& am worrying myself silly to why her hip, or sometimes both may click in the morning. She is the sort of dog who curls up, so I left her crate door open, so she could lay stretched out if she wanted to, but she stayed in her crate. Tonight Im shutting the crate door, and letting her sleep on a duvet.

Someone told me that the clicking could be caused by a calcium build up, or the ligaments snapping into place, or even a build up of fluid??

Your thoughts please??

Vicky

Get her scored. Movement often is a poor indicator of Hip Status. One of the best movers in our breed at present has a higher than average score 9/25 and her litter sister is the average 7/7. Her owner only had her scored when she was having trouble getting the sister mated, so thought she may as well have the other one standing by!

Plenty of low scoring dogs have poor movement for some reason, maunly because the front and back don't match in angulation etc.

Get your bitch scored and you can stop worrying, or if they are poor then you can take steps to avoid making them worse, and ensuring she stays at optimum fitness.

All mine do this, it is a fairly typical way for the breed to lie.

As to why they do it, my theory is that it helps them keep cool, and because they are agile it gives them no problem to quickly rise from this position.

I laughingly tell them that when they die I will turn them into skin rugs (you know like the bear and tiger skins in the old movies). :D