The tail gate on my truck is only 5" higher than a stock z71 chvey with 285's on it which most of the bird hunters I know have and their dogsjump in and out every time. He's not jumping off a mountain. 19-20 times he gets out it in the dirt also. Some of the junk they jump over and run around/through in the field is alot worst on them than jumping in and out of my truck.

Well, believe what you want. One of my best friends trains labs for Field Trials. These dogs are pure athletes and they train hard, several times a week. He will NOT let his dogs jump out of the back of his pickup. Jumping in is not an issue. But jumping out, all their weight comes down on their front shoulders in an unnatural position. Completely different than in the field.

Do what you want, it's your dog. Just trying to help.

truck/vehicile is no.1 area a dog gets injured according to vet info i read..overweight dog jumping out of of truck also is another reason..

women like to get their dogs nice and fat,they OVERFEED them until they look like seal..that is a good reason for hip/joint problems..my sister overffeds her dogs until they almost blow-up..they get cancer,hip/joint problems from that..now she is trying to make my dog fat, i catch her throwing 3 hotdogs at my dog,then i yell and she gets mad..

WEIGHT is main reason for health/injury problems followed by genes..

i lift my dog to ground from my truck but my dog got injured falling thru a brush pile he walked on..he limped for 3 days BUT ran around fine..

hard running dogs get injured..

nice looking dog you have also..

Thanks!
I agree. Jumping in and out of the truck is a spot where a dog can get injured. But I've seen more injuries occur in the field than on the tail gate of a truck.Fat dogs do get injured more in the field and truck. My dog could get in a body building contest right now. He is lean and mean! No weight problems. My brother in law has his mom and dad and they both came from good genes. Especially in the joint department. Thats one thing we both looked at when he was picking them out.

I was going to suggest to you that he may have a pulled shoulder ,My brothers beagles show the same limp with no apparent reason.
He came to the conclusion it was their shoulder.

is your dog still limping? If so you should bring him for a check at the vet. Is that $100 really going to break the bank? It probably costs that much to fill that truck in gas

salty, most of time its waste of your money to go to vet for limp..i used to give my beagles a baby aspirin back in 60s..they would limp sometimes for 2 days ,then disappear and it would come back again..mostly this was with older dogs..

i have dog right now that his joints CLICK and snap..you should hear it..somedays it real bad,others nothing..vet said,NOTHING I CAN DO ABOUT IT..

my sister had dog that was old,it would fall down and throw up every once in awhile..i said, SIS, DOG IS READY TO DIE..she got mad at me and said, what do you know..

well, she went to vet and bill was over 600 dollars..i said, whatttttttttttt..

then vet said, make him comfortable, he has cancer,duhhhhhh..

ANYHOW, i would be concerned if dog limped for a week, but just for a few days,no way..this is only my opinion,not saying you are wrong on going to vet..

that is what I am saying... I wouldn't bring him to the vet if he limped for 2 days but if it lasted for a week and got worse obviously I would want to know what is going on with him.