I'm taking my buddy to the vet first thing Monday morning but would like everyone's thought on what my buddy might be going through.

We went phesant hunting Friday afternoon and hunted as normal. About 40 degrees, hunted about 2.5 hours. Nothing out of the ordinary.

Saturday mid morning I went to let my hunting buddy outside along with our other pup. My buddy feel to the floor on all floors.Then I noticed he was walking a little stif legged and was not able to run. He run's a little sideways and sporadically colapses. He struggles up and down the stairs as well as getting up into the bed. He doesn't wine and lets me inspect his back legs.

I'm not sure what has happened since out hunt but it's killing me knowing that something is wrong.

My hunting buddy is Mason a two year old choc lab.

Any ideas or thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Bry

dont know what happened but God bless, keep us updated

My dads dog is about 13 or 14 and still at it. Sometimes he will be fine andsometimes he will act like your dog. We just give him lots of rest and alittles Aspren (The kind people use for heart theropy, it is "enteric coated" not sure if I spelled that right. It is around 80 milagrams)

My dad will also make him get up now and then and work his muscles, it seems to help.

Hope it is no big deal, good luck.

bknewman, I can only hazzard a guess as to what your dog and you are going through. It does sound like something structural, ie. CHD or something similar. If he has run that amount before with no problems afterwards then it's something else. Whatever it is, I hope it is nothing serious.

You're doing the right thing taking the dog to the vet for a professional diagnosis. A couple of things that come to mind are hypoglycemia or epilepsy.

Let us know what the vet says.

Always hard to watch our dogs hurt....they cant say whats wrong is the worst part!

Where are you located?.....how is your tick situation? Is lymes disease prevalent? Have you been to any states with the dog that does have this problem?

Just a thought.

Phil
REO

Good Day everyone,

Well I took Mason in this morning, Tuesday. Since I posted the concern he slowly seemed to progress and by Monday afternoon and this morning he was back to his old self again.I took him to the vet this morning and the vet couldn't really find anything. The only explaination is that he may not be as conditioned as he was in the early season during ducks and PH opener.In addition our winter has been pretty mild and the cover is still thick.Mason's muscles were just pretty sore towards the back. It's been awhile since our last hunt. Almost a month. The last time we were out he ran with four other short hairs and was pretty tired but not to this extent. But overall it's good to have him back. Bad thing is the last day of the season is today. I'll just have to spend the rest of the time at the preserve. I think there season ends May 1st? http://www.skylinehunting.com. Also Red Earth: I live and hunt in SW Iowa and the ticks are always bad in the spring, however they thin out quick come Sept.

Thanks everyone for your suggestions and comments. I don't know what I would do without my buddy. He truly is my best friend andI enjoy our hunts and time together out in fields. Those are memories that last a lifetime.

I'll leave here with a picof my buddy on pheasant opener.We were duck hunting in the morning and noticed nobody wasout for pheasant openerso we hit the field as well.That day he was pretty busy.

It sure sounds like hip dysplasia to me. We have a goldie that has it an at eight years old can't really run without asprin and glucosaminetablets. Read this article on CHD at http://www.workingdogs.com/doc0016.htmit explains alot on CHD. It also points out that certain food imbalances can initiate CHD mainly excessive "calcium and other minerals, coupled with high-energy diets."