Advice needed please.

[keegan family]

Marley gets extremely stiff and struggles to walk but only after a doodle meet or a little session with his ball.
The doodle walks take longer to get over but he does get better but we are worried about the long term damage that may be happening to him.
The stiffness seems to be only in his rear end but he loves his ball and his doodle walks.
We are keeping him on lead walks until he makes a full recovery again as we had a doodle meet yesterday , it doesn't seem to bother him at all until we get him home and he struggles to get out the car.
Just wondered if anyone else is experiencing similar problems and what route have they taken to cure them .
Marley is 3 and 3/4 yrs old and is your typical very playful bouncy doodle and shows no signs of discomfort or problems with stiffness until a good runaround with his friends or ball so we would be grateful of any advice we can get on here.

[Bid]

If it were me, I would stop the ball games, and get him checked out by the vet. Running after a ball is fine, but the sudden stopping move is a sure fire way to damage hips if done too much. It's fine if the dog has good hips, and well developed muscles to support them, but if there is any laxity there it can cause discomfort, and lead to arthritis. A vet will be able to tell if Marley has a good range of movement in is legs, and if necessary x-rays will tell how good his hips are. Hopefully it is just a lively doodle overdoing things anda few days rest will sort him out, but if there is a problem there it is as well to know and take a few precautions. Don't panic though - if he has got to his age with no problems, the chances are if he has any hip issues they are likely to be mild and manageable without too much restriction.


Edited to add that if you don't already, I would also add some fish oil and vitamin E to his diet - that really helps joints.

[keegan family]

Thanks Bid, we did get him checked over by 2 different vets who couldn't see any obvious problems and his movement was fine, we just wondered if other owners had similar problems although when he does the doodle walks we tend to let him rest totally for about a week but as you can imagine he's ready to pull your arms off by the nd of it.

[Pollydoodle]

Bid provides very sound advice.
You may wish to consider a mctimoney session or two,could be your insurance would cover the cost too.Know a couple of dogs that have been stiff esp after long play or crazy ball time and the mctimoney helped.
Perhaps even try gentle massage yourself on him to alleviate the stiffness.
Maybe he is a honed athlete and needs a 'warm down' session so he does not sieze up in the car journey home.

PS: Bid - what is the other supp you give , I keep thinking seaweed or kelp or something.The one that can be given to horses too Might be a blend of two substances. Could be I am totally confused ??! tah

[keegan family]

McTimoney therapy is something we will look into, thank you.

[Bid]

PS: Bid - what is the other supp you give , I keep thinking seaweed or kelp or something.The one that can be given to horses too Might be a blend of two substances. Could be I am totally confused ??! tah

I feed them a kelp & alfalfa supplement, but it's nothing to do with joints - it's to provide one or two trace elements that they don't get from meat & fish.

[Linda&Coco]

HI there

Sorry to here Marley is having problems.He is such a lovely boy.

Does Marley have a head collar for walking or collar and lead.

[keegan family]

Hi Linda, Marley has a canny collar and an extendable lead

[Linda&Coco]

Just a thought but he is quite powerful on his front.I have a Mekuti balance harness because Barney seemed to be

not using his back legs as well as he should even though he is good on the lead.It is a brilliant piece of equipment and there is no tension anywhere.I do not use it like it says just clip the lead across the front of the chest without slipping it in the centre ring.There are to points of control one on the back and one on the side.I can walk both mine with the lightest of touches and to them it is like walking naturally with no tension any where so they balance themselves.

Sounds complicated but it is not really just a thought might strengthen is back legs. I have the on e with the clip on the neck easy to put on and take of.

Be Happy to meet up with you sometime and you can try mine out without buying one first just an idea

Lindax
.

[keegan family]

Be happy to try it out Linda , have to try and meet up at Old Hunstanton early in the new year. , have a great Xmas and a happy and healthy New Year to you all up there in Peterborough. X