9mo can’t jump!

[Bruisername]

Hi. I have a 9mo mini schnauzer.

he is a little fat and his legs are shorter than our older dogs despite body length being the same. Don’t know if he’s fully grown

anyway, he can’t jump - lucky for my older dog because he can jump on the armchair and get away from him but is it normal for a dog that age not to be able to jump onto low furniture? I can’t remember if my older dog could or not at that age!

No it's absolutely not normal, and while no dog should be fat he absolutely shouldn't be at nine months. He needs an urgent vet trip to check his back and hips especially, but pain in general.

He’s not fat fat (1 pic above normal on the scale!) -I have been to vet and they looked him over and said they’re not sure if he’s full size or not. No problems identified. He’s not neutered yet.

he can jump a couple of inches if on his back legs iyswim and he can jump down (although that could be controlled falling). Runs fast for his ball etc.

This is definitely not normal. I would suggest asking for a referral to a canine physio or osteopath.

You should definitely be asking a vet to review further. That being said, no young dog should be jumping up and off furniture until its joints are developed (upwards of 12 months).

Please stick your dog on a diet. Absolutely no need for a dog that young to be overweight - you’re setting him up for serious issues later in life.

The combination of not knowing young dogs shouldn’t be jumping in/off furniture and him being fat (and you being a tad dismissive of it) is far from ideal. Both those things put unnecessary pressure and joints and he doesn’t exactly sound that healthy…

It could be a number of things
He could be in pain when jumping
He might not be confident in jumping if he missed and hurt himself at some point
He might not have the muscles built up to do it

You could get him a set of steps if you want him to be able to get up on furniture, I use a set for my pup mostly he will jump up and only use them for getting down

As long as you are not seeing any signs of pain or discomfort you could take him out alone and do confidence building excersises
Our pup used to trip over his feet alot, vet said he just needed to build muscle so we put broom handles on the floor to do pole work so he had to practice picking his feet up

My dog was quite old before he jumped on the sofa, maybe but I'm sure it wax under a year.
Try telling a puppy it can't jump on and off things, it's natural for a dog to do it.

I’m not worried about his weight because I’ve spoken to vet about it and dealing with it

ill take him back for another look as he is a little older now.

It doesn’t sound normal for that type of dog I’d have thought, but if he’s got quite short legs it’s probably better for him if he doesn’t jump on and off things anyway. You can get steps designed for dachshunds/small dogs.

I can’t quite figure out how normal his leg length is as I’m only comparing to my older dog

I’ll go and see the vet again.

he’s a happy little thing and doesn’t seem that bothered about jumping. I wouldn’t say he gives any indications of pain and he is happy to jump down which I would have thought he would avoid if he was in pain?

Honestly no, that’s not remotely normal and neither is being fat. Please take this seriously or you’ll be storing up a huge host of problems in the future.

I would go back to the vets and have him checked for pain but he absolutely must lose that weight. No dog should be fat, especially not a young and active one.

Re shortness of legs, a puppy I sometimes look after is a dachshund, so short little legs, he can jump like a kangaroo ( but the other older dachshund doesn't jump at all, thank heavens). Not good for him but you can't stop him. Owners do have ramps for them to get on the settee, the older one uses them, the pup tends to run up and jump off from half way down.
Maybe your pup lacks some confidence, could you see if he can jump onto a big footstool and then work up

A schnauzer really shouldn’t have short legs.

I don’t think his legs are abnormally short but they are shorter than my older dogs.

we tried him out on various heights today and he can get up if the height is half his height (standing on hind legs). He can jump down from much bigger heights with no issue.

I'm taking him back to the vet on Monday so will see.

What part of ‘puppies shouldn’t jump’ do you not understand, out of interest?

There’s so much evidence about how jumping can damage a dogs joints when they’re young, yet you’re encouraging this. Why?

I’m genuinely baffled given from what you say your dog already has some issues. Why would you want to risk making it worse?!

I suspect if he loses the weight he will find it much easier to move around and to move his body around.

A nine month old pup should be like a Mexican jumping bean. Something is going on there.

You definitely want to get him checked out just in case.

But some dogs just aren’t very “jumpy” my bigger dog, is about the shape and size of a large collie (mutt, no clue what is in there) no health issues, definitely not overweight… had to be lifted over stiles till he was about 2, just couldn’t work out jumping 😂

The smaller one is an actual collie, but a petite one… he can clear the whole fence, never mind use the stile.

just to update after vet visit

no issues with his legs etc and she thinks it’s just a preference not to jump after watching him move around etc

weight wise she said he’s lost some (well not gained and he’s grown into it) so suggested a further change to diet but she’s not concerned as it’s not much over what she would expect