Too sore?

[collinedward]

I have a very large male Gsp ,he's right around 86 lbs in the off season. From about March to September he has a really relaxed schedule. Well we went swimming/dock jumping Sunday for a couple hours. Later that night he seemed really sore . The next morning he whimpering from pain..Do you think this is normal due to his/our lack of activity?

[collinedward]

40 views and no responses....

[cesarike]

I'm no expert but I've never known a dog to whimper due to soreness. If the situation does not pass in a short period of time, I would have him checked out with the vet.

[Sharon]

Dogs can overdue it just like we can.
It's up to the owner to manage the level of exercise and the time.
Who knows what it is - painful muscle pull?
As said above, if it continues, see the vet.

[WingmanCA]

Based on what you described about the dog and his activities, I would take him to a vet and have him checked for a twisted gut.

[collinedward]

it seems to be in his back legs...

[Brittguy]

Maybe it is a pulled muscle, the vet may want to x-ray his hips . I would not expect him to have that much pain from what you describe.

[snips]

Might be a back strain. Does he avoid jumping up? Whine when turning his head right or left while standing?

[collinedward]

just when he goes to stand up. once he's up , he is fine..

[1vizsla]

We see it all the time with new competitiors in DD. They enter every wave and don't realize the amount of excercise the dog actually does in a short amount of time (also different muscle groups). That being said, I am not a vet and if you are concerened should make an appt. Most of the time, the advice is keeping them walking and limbered up (always remember the cool down part to excercise), give an anti-inflammatory, and try to condition the dog more before the next outing ( a lot of rear leg work excercises). Normally, the dog will be better in a few days, if not definitely hit the vets office. Torn acl's and hip issues can happen when diving.

Carla

[collinedward]

I have been doing DD events for at least 5 yrs. Nothing new to us .. The other post about Dock Dogs just made me want to get out to a local pond.

[Shadow]

that's a huge GSP- have you checked the parents to see if they've had any problems

[GsPJustin]

Does the dog not stretch? Like the bowing back stretch and then kick his legs out?

Gently feel his spine near his rear where it connects to the pelvis bone(not sure if that's what it is called on dog) and a few vertebra either way, see if it is tender. Don't try to hurt him but give it a good going over. I just had a dog that was spending some time here go through something similar to what your describing. After checking out the legs and feet and ruling out things like a pulled muscle or torn ligament I found that trying to pull her leg behind her caused her some discomfort... So things like laying on her back, jumping, standing on her hind legs, going up stairs, etc really weren't her favorite things to do. She was fine when she got here so I am going to make the assumption that it didn't take much to cause this. So something like dock jumping when the dog is coming off a rest period could have easily caused a back strain or a muscle pull. Give the dog some buffered aspirin for the pain, and make him take it easy for a few days. It took a good 4 days for this dog to show signs of returning to normal. So after a few days if he doesn't feel better take him to the vet and have them give it a look.