# Dog limps after play



## Ashley Hiebing

Yes, he's going to the vet, no worries there.

So every time I take the dog out to the backyard (2 times a day, usually) to play fetch he ends up hurting one of his front legs. I can't tell he's hurt until the adrenaline rush fades and he starts to limp. I think it's because he tries to cut the ball off, attempting to stop and spin on a dime, which he just cannot do. He's an older fellow but he doesn't seem to realize that yet. =)

Would taking a walk before-hand help to warm him up? He usually is fine after a day or so, but it seems to be happening more frequently. The limp is most pronounced after he gets up from lying down.


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## kim guidry

Can you provide some information on the dog? (breed, age and weight?) Has he ever limped before, if so so you remember if it was the same leg? Keep us posted on what the vet tells you. good luck


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## Ashley Hiebing

He's a 7 or 8 year old Labrador, about 75 lbs and at his ideal weight. He's developed this limp after playing about 2 months ago. It usually is the right leg, but sometimes it's the left. It's hard for me to tell the spot where it actually hurts. I gently run my hand up and down both front legs, and though he doesn't like me touching them (he's NEVER liked me touching them), he doesn't show any signs of being in pain at a specific spot (that I can see).


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## Trish Campbell

Could be muscle/tendon related from an injury. I'd also x-ray the elbows to make sure they were normal also.


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## Howard Gaines III

Does the dog's front legs bow in? If so this is a condition called "Fiddle Leg" and it's genetic. Like Kim said, more information is needed. Pano is another thought.


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## Anne Vaini

Random thoughts:

Warm-up and stretching before exercise. Stretching and massage after.

Does the dog always turn the same direction? My lab mix always truned the same way and came up with a minor limp after exercise. I am training him to turn the opposite direction and in just over a month, the limping is gone.

Joint support supplements.

Some safety points from canine disc are applicable. It is YOUR job to place the ball is such a way that your dog cannot injure himself when catching it. 

Quick spins can be prevented by:
1: Throw the ball, restrain/agitate the dog and have dog search for the ball. 
2: Send dog out in front, wait for dog to turn and the throw to dog.
3: "Flanking" - teaching the dog to travel perpendicular to the path of the ball's flight. (Hint: Send dog around you in a circle and throw straight in front.) This corrects over-jumpers and those stop-and-spin dogs too.


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## Ashley Hiebing

Howard: No, his legs are quite straight.
ADDED to say that I don't think it's pano as he's 7 years old.

Anne: Yes, he always turns to his left (my right), so that would explain how he keeps screwing up his right leg since that's what he's trying to pivot on.

He's just on Vit E + fish oil now. I suppose I could throw in some glucosamine.

I can get him to sit/stay or down/stay while I throw the ball, then release him so he can go get it. Would that work?


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## Anne Vaini

I had my dog to two different vets and got no advice, no anything. Went to a canine sports massage therapist, who ruled it down to arthritis (inflamation) from overuse, or a tendonitis of sorts. 

You'll have to see what works for him. 

My dog can high jump and play fetch, but when he gets all keyed up for disc play and runs tight circles and always flips the same way landing on one paw then he came up lame. 

For my dog it was a matter of training him to flip against his natural direction (in a vault), and using passes and low body vaults to end the circling.

Your dog is doing this further away from you, so it will be more a matter of you learning how to place the ball so he doesn't do it, rather than actually training him to turn the other way.

ETA: I think "flanking" will be the easiest for you and your dog. If you can bait your dog to circle around behind your back, then you have a good set-up for "flanking."


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