Anybody knowledgeable about canine health on today?

[Wisteria]

My 3yo Black lab is whimpering and crying when she gets up from lying down, seems to have sporadic, intermittent pain around her joints. She is still eating, drinking and passing motions normally, stomach does not appear distended or sore. She'll let me touch her and sometimes yelps, sometimes doesn't. When we go for a walk she is excited and chases her ball, runs about with the other dog as normal. I am concerned that she may have damaged herself playing with the new puppy. The yelping is very high pitched and then she cries for a short while afterwards but is fine while lying down or sitting in one position. I am thinking along the lines of a bad bruise or strain, possibly a disc problem as she reminds me of myself when my back is playing up in the way it is coming and going.

Does anyone have any experience of a scenario similar to this? I asked my Dad who had 4 years of vet training and he said to let her rest for a couple of days and then pop her to the vet if it gets worse - what do you all think?

Not really knowledgeable except anecdotally, but if she can be active without too much obvious pain maybe it is something she can walk off - if it's already been a couple of days I'd probably take her to the vet tomorrow. Do know someone with a staffie who has similar symptoms and vet has been unable to find a cause, a pain relieving spray has helped though.

Thanks vacua - I'm going to take them out now, she was certainly better after a walk this morning and then seems to be getting worse again. I separated the dogs last night and brought Sacha (lab) into our room just so she could rest undisturbed and will do the same tonight.

My concern with the vet thing is precisely that, we will end up spending out huge amounts of money to try and find something.

I know about the vet thing, even if you have insurance you can rack up quite a bill just by way of paying the excess especially if you end up paying it on separate occasions and the insurers don't pay out. The dog with similar symptoms is only affected in one leg and it's only a now and then thing so a bit puzzling.

Did you get her from a breeder? There might be something in her line - just a thought.

Don't laugh at me but I actually toyed with the idea of rubbing voltarol gel into her hips....

What medication can you give them? I wondered about crushing up an aspirin but it is only a sporadic pain so am wondering if the new dog has bruised her.

The ironic thing is, I took insurance out for her yesterday morning and it happened yesterday pm.....she has never been to the vets for anything before...... apparently the insurance doesn't come into effect for 14 days though so I am guiltily toying with the idea of cancelling it and going with someone else who covers immediately....is that really bad??

you must have picked that insurance company for a reason - does that mean that, god forbid but if sacha's problem turns out to be something serious they will treat it as a pre-existing condition and not cover her for it?

it might be jumping the gun a bit if she is going to be fine tomorrow and it's just a bit of bruising and the insurer you switch to is not as good as the one you chose

Yes - I picked it because it had good lifetime cover and was cheaper than petplan - did insure the new dog with petplan - I mistakenly thought that Lab x dogs rarely if ever get poorly as neither of my old ones did.

That is what I'm worried about Vacua - the pre existing condition.

As Jules says, it's probably nothing and we've just come back from a big walk where she's been chasing her ball, swimming and acting completely normally......until I dried her off with a towel and she yelped when we got to her back legs.

I'm going to leave it and see.

Thanks for your reassurances - was dreading that someone would come on and say vets - vets now immediately etc etc!

I personally would do vets immediately but my dog is the canine equivalent of a PFB (first puppy but not first dog) and I always come away thinking 'what a waste of money' and feel bad that he has had injections he probably didn't need and so on. I don't think it's good to put them through the stress of a trip to the vet, apart from the expense, for things that are quite minor. Hope I grow out of it! The sensible thing is definitely to leave it for a bit, I think you can rely on your gut instincts and will know when something has gone on too long or is getting worse. It does sound like bruising doesn't it if she's not remotely stiff when walking/running and so on?

If she's a cross I suppose the chances of finding out if anything similar is in her ancestral history are zero. We need one of the vets to come along and give proper informed advice really, even if just to put your mind at rest.

Check her nails.

She may have a broken claw which is catching in the carpet, or just pulling when she starts walking about.

It seems silly but such a tiny thing can cause a lot of pain.

yeah, makes you wonder who is training who sometimes doesn't it

mine got the hang of a shhh command (finally) but now comes over to me, barks while looking at me, blatantly waiting for me to say 'sshhhh' and give him a treat for shutting up

Just seen this Wisteria.

I first thought "frozen tail" when I first read your descriptions, but you say she has been swimming etc normally so perhaps not.

Has she become clumsy at all? Tripping over things such as kerbstones etc?

Try giving her some glucosamine sulphate (the normal stuff you buy from the supermarket) - 1 a day. It helps repair joints. I agree with giving it a couple of days for a bit of rest and then going to vets if no better (after checking her toes!)

My dog has lumbar sacral disease and it is his back legs that are affected so I hope that things turn out ok. Keep us updated please!

pmsl Vacua

what's frozen tail? I wondered whether she'd fallen on her tail and bruised it - bit like if we bruise the base of our spine. She is wagging it normally though.

Lumbar sacral disease sounds nasty - will google it.

You are lovely people of course I will keep you updated!

The new puppy is ratehr clever like that as well - today she was deliberately going that little bit too far away on our walk so that I could practise recall and she'd get a treat for coming back - she never strays far normally (although we've only had her for 6 days

Frozen tail is very painful - I can't remember the condition us humans get that it can be compared to but it is very painful. If she had that her tail would not be wagging! My dog encountered this when he was younger and I believe it mostly affects dogs which swim. He seems to get things that are not common to his breed!

Lumbar sacral disease is bloody awful (and is more common in German Shepherds). Over the last 3 years I have spent money in the thousands on my dog to try to maintain a decent standard of life for him so I hope it isn't that - it is degenerative and will never get better, but I am sure you would have noticed other things (such as the tripping over) before the pain set in.

I would treat whatever it is as a bruise for a couple of days - maybe use a hottie wrapped in a towel or something.

PS... I now know 2 "human" things you can give to dogs - 1 is the glucosamine sulphate and the second is my saviour - sudocreme. After 9 years it has put a stop to the endless bum dragging all of us have endured. Top tip from my vet though - don't get the pots mixed up

I'm going to go and get some glucosameine and cod liver oil tomorrow

She seems much better this evening, no crying so far and one good thing which has come out of it is that the pup has stopped jumping on her - she's very intuitive I think.

glad sacha is feeling better but

picture of puppy pleeeeeeeeeeease

Panic is over; she's been absolutely fine since yesterday afternoon so I think it must have been some sort of bruise.

We are now trying to train the puppy out of jumping onto her.

Calling all you professional trainers!!

Can anyone recommend a good book on training and caring for the Giant Schnauzer breed? I've always just worked on treats and lots of praise with a bottle (as you know ) if there's a specific problem. She is a bit scared of noise so I don't want to use a rattler this time. She responds fairly well to a harsh 'NO' so far.

Piccie up there for you vacua

oooooohhh giant schnauzer! she is beautiful

I met someone with 2 of those, they were lovely - incidentally I did ask about how easy they were to train but I can't remember what they said. Helpful innit

are there any schnauzer owner discussion boards you can join?

I've read up and joined a general petforum but am in contact with the breeder so am hoping she can help. They're mega brainy so apparently very easy to train. Originally Bavarian herding dogs (similar to rotties in work origin) and need a very firm hand and consistency - personally I think that goes for all dogs though .

So far, so good - she's done everything we've asked but is very stubborn when she doesn't want to.....for instance getting halfway up the stairs, sitting on the landing and seemingly superglued to the spot - was funny when I gently tugged her collar though - she just rolled down

jj - was a long long time ago

Glad she is fine!

You need LewisFan for dog training advice I believe... If you say her name three times she might appear like Rumplestiltskin...