# Ball Play & Ruptured CCLs



## Tom Connors (Dec 30, 2012)

Does anyone avoid ball play (or any kind of fetch) with their dog in order to (hopefully) prevent torn CCLs? It is my primary way to exercise my Dutch shepherd but sometimes when I see her lunge and jump, I cringe just a bit. My GSD tore his CCL a few years back.


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## rick smith (Dec 31, 2010)

re: your Q : i don't avoid ball play to avoid CCL injuries

i do warm up any dog before i would allow them to start jumping and twisting, etc

i do work with a lot of dogs that have a lot of drive but are out of shape and/or overweight, which sometimes takes a few weeks to "rearrange" the bodies

for me, it's mostly a common sense approach and matched to the dog itself rather than what i would prefer to do with them. there are dogs/breeds that might tend to "self-destruct" more than others; but hard to say how much of that is handler induced 

- i'm thinking your Q might be similar to seeing your dog get hit by a car ... it probably makes you a lot more wary of cars near dogs than it would be for others who never personally experienced that type of accident


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## Katie Karhohs (Oct 23, 2011)

Keep the ball low. You can throw it, but do not make the dog jump up and catch it. A lot of the knee injuries come from landing on it wrong.


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## Nicole Stark (Jul 22, 2009)

Yes. 

Many knee injuries result from incorrect landing as stated above but many of them also occur as the dog pivots to turn at a rapid rate of speed, which is what happened with my last dog. Since the snipe doesn't know how to do anything without resembling a wrecking ball when she makes contact, she is given some limitations when it comes to playing with balls.

Kinda like Rick pointed out in terms of matching the activity to the dog. She's about as fit as they come, gets warmed up, but needs some limitations put on her for her own safety. JMO, and preference with this particular dog. Oh, BTW if it matters the snipe is a Dutch Shepherd.

Instead she can retrieve her objects from the water. Or I do have a deflated soccer ball that I kick for her which stays on the ground, moves more slowly, and doesn't bounce like a regular ball. She also likes to look for things so I'll just throw things into areas and make her look for them for a while.


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## Brian McQuain (Oct 21, 2009)

Nicole Stark said:


> Yes.
> 
> Many knee injuries result from incorrect landing as stated above but many of them also occur as the dog pivots to turn at a rapid rate of speed, which is what happened with my last dog. Since the snipe doesn't know how to do anything without resembling a wrecking ball when she makes contact, she is given some limitations when it comes to playing with balls.
> 
> ...


 
Ill second Ricks and this. Ive also had a dog in great physical condition blow his leg out on flat ground, cutting at full speed.


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## Adi Ibrahimbegovic (Nov 21, 2008)

Alternate it with swimming, or fetch in lake, river, pool, ocean, any body of water. Swimming is always great, no rupturing, happy tired dog = happy owner. Usualy, I do day or 2 thrown ball on grass, one day throw stick/ball water, one day nothing, then training etc.. etc... variety is spice of life.


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## Tom Connors (Dec 30, 2012)

Thanks for the input. When my GSD came back from a TPLO, I would make him sit and wait for the ball/kong to land before allowing him to retrieve. I think it was effective since the other CCL has not ruptured. I guess I should start doing that with my Dutchie. Damn, I remember when I didn't even know what a CCL was. I miss those days.


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## Kathleen Sanderson (Sep 19, 2011)

Another option is to use a Chuck It or something to make the ball go further, faster than the dog. That way, it has hopefully stopped moving by the time the dog gets to it, so the dog can adjust their stride/speed for the pick up and avoid some of the crazy crash pick ups. It doesn't always work, but I feel safer doing it that way. And yes, I have one dog that simply must crash every time he goes to get a ball so I do avoid playing ball with him (and yes, I have had two other dogs tear their CCLs). We do a lot of retrieves in water in the summer, and he is just as happy to do obedience as he is to play ball, so I find other ways to exercise and work him at the same time (for example, directed long distance retrieves sort of like they do in field work - super work for the send out, and having them run out and back at top speed repeatedly is just as good exercise as playing ball, except it also uses their brain).


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