permanent damage or just a sore dog?

[holy grail 0]

went out for a hunt on sunday, as it was cool weather and had rained. my newbie deerhound dog chased his first fox, but let it go. he also chased a hare, but lost that as well. its ok though as he's just new to it. got home sunday arvo, and within an hour of being home, noticed that my dog was really quiet and appeared 'sore'. as he had had a big day out (got a couple of chases) i thought he must have just been worn out and tired. the next morning however, he was a lot worse. he didnt touch his breakfast and gave a yelp when i rubbed his chest. his breathing was impared and he walked with a hitched back. i ended up taking him into the vets.

apparently he had a really bad infection which nearly killed him. the vet has no idea what caused it!!!!

 

now here's the issue that i want advice on. its now friday and ive been working around the farm with my dogs. the hound has been with me as usual, but there has been a couple of times that he has gone to jump off the ute and when his front end reaches the ground he yelps. im actually more concerned about this than i was about the infection because it could mean that ive damaged something making him ultimately useless to me as he'll never be fit and healthy??? all i can say is that he jumps into the ute fine, and i cant notice any abnormalities in his walking. HAVE I DAMAGED HIM OR COULD HE JUST BE SORE STILL?? i was told by the breeder, not to run him hard until he is 1yr old. hes now 13 months (1 yr 1 month) but i didnt think i ran him to hard at all. the one thing i thought may have caused this is when we hit the top wire of a fence pretty hard on the jump, but even then he showed no sign of pain, and kept on running round. im really worried about him.

im not expecting to get a diagnosis or anything of you fellas but some replys with some possible answers would be good. perhaps this may be a trait of the deerhound??? i dont know anything, you tell me

 

cheers

[skycat 6,172]

I would bet money on your dog having either a trapped nerve in either its neck or back somewhere, or a badly pulled or torn muscle. The only person who will be able to diagnose and sort this problem would be a racing greyhound 'back man' or chiropractor or a racing greyhound vet: normal vets can't handle this sort of thing: a bit like ordinary doctors (GPs) in this country not being able to sort out people's backs. Presumably its the same down under?

 

These sort of injuries are very common among running dogs, but running a dog too young or unfit doubles your chances of it getting injured in this way. Personally, if he were my dog, I'd be concentrating on giving him steady prolonged exercise: walking and trotting and a the odd gallop to build up muscle. At only 12 months old a Deerhound is way far from being a mature adult: and he's a male as well.

 

It will take him until he is 3 years old before he is properly mature physically, though at 2 years old he should be able to do a fair job of things. At 1 year old he's still a big puppy.

 

OH, and jumping is one of the prime causes of trapped nerves, discs and sore shoulders etc, especially in a big dog like a Deerhound.

 

Hope this helps.

[holy grail 0]

I would bet money on your dog having either a trapped nerve in either its neck or back somewhere, or a badly pulled or torn muscle. The only person who will be able to diagnose and sort this problem would be a racing greyhound 'back man' or chiropractor or a racing greyhound vet: normal vets can't handle this sort of thing: a bit like ordinary doctors (GPs) in this country not being able to sort out people's backs. Presumably its the same down under?

 

These sort of injuries are very common among running dogs, but running a dog too young or unfit doubles your chances of it getting injured in this way. Personally, if he were my dog, I'd be concentrating on giving him steady prolonged exercise: walking and trotting and a the odd gallop to build up muscle. At only 12 months old a Deerhound is way far from being a mature adult: and he's a male as well.

 

It will take him until he is 3 years old before he is properly mature physically, though at 2 years old he should be able to do a fair job of things. At 1 year old he's still a big puppy.

 

OH, and jumping is one of the prime causes of trapped nerves, discs and sore shoulders etc, especially in a big dog like a Deerhound.

 

Hope this helps.

sure does help. thankyou skycat. just one more question... can he recover from these conditions?

[tyson 1]

if you geta good dog man to manipulate the nerve/muscle/bone back into place then yes he will heal fine , its good to get the dog checked over every month or two just to keep them right , after all a dog cant tell you its injured