GSD Splayed Legs During Stretch - Page 1

I have a question I hope either a vet or someone can provide feedback on. When my puppy stretches, she splays her rear legs all the way out, straight back. In other words, the stretch ends with her paws bottom-side up, with the tops resting on the ground. She only "holds" this pose briefly and then "pops" back up. She's currently nine months old, but has been performing this stretch for as long as I remember. I've never seen her stretch and not splay the legs all the way out.

I've asked my vet about it and he doesn't seem to think it's anything. I'd like a second opinion because, as much as I like my vet, I'm not sure he is very experienced dealing with German Shepherds.

Another reason I'm curious about the state of my puppy is because she has a very pronounced "shepherd squat" when she walks. I can't count the number of people who have asked me what's wrong with my dog that makes her walk that way.

I thought I was buying a dog from a great blood line (pedigree is available on the pedigree database- search for Gretchen Bathilda von Arkie) that would be free from genetic problems, but I'm wondering if my puppy has something wrong with her basic structure. She runs and plays and will "leap" to catch balls and such. One thing that she doesn't seem willing to do is jump up onto things. For example, my last GSD would eagerly jump onto the tailgate of my truck. This dog will not jump up. She will put her front paws on the tailgate, but no amount of coaxing (including food) will cause her to jump up on the tailgate or onto anything else, even if it's only a few feet off the ground. She will jump off the tailgate without issue.

Am I over reacting on this? At nine months, she is still growing. I just want to do best by her and if there is a problem treat it now before it possibly gets worse or causes damage, etc.

Thank you for any informed feedback.

Without a picture or video of her moving it will be hard to say. As for the stretching that could just be a puppy thing.

The not jumping up and her walking funny may be because she is either over angled or has loose weak hocks.

beeker318 my Becky also does that "yoga" stretch almost every time she stretches she does that thing with her back legs, it looks like she is doing some pretty cool yoga moves :D
My vet says is nothing to ;)

Some dogs with perfectly normal hips will stretch like this their entire lives. In those dogs, it's nothing to worry about.
On the other hand, some dogs with dysplastic hips will stretch like this as well.

If she stretches like this and she's not showing any other hints that there could be problems back there, I'd go along with the 'nothing to worry about' program, because some dogs just like to do that, just as some will lie down with their hind legs stretched out behind them like a frog yet be completely sound in hips and spine throughout a long and active life.

But you point out that she won't jump up into the back of the truck, though she will jump back out without hesitation. Could be she's not confident about making it into the back because maybe she can't see the interior of the bed, and if you took her back far enough to give her a clear view, and then ran her up to it, she'd sail right in and be cool with it forever after.

Or she very well may have hip problems, and she knows she can't propel herself upward into the truck because it's going to hurt. Jumping out is ok, since she doesn' really need to push off much in order to make it down.

Since the dog can't tell us whether she's stretching like that because she's a candidate for Pilates and yoga and it just feels good, or if she's doing it because she's got poor joint congruity and this helps her reseat the head of the femur into a malformed or nearly non-existant hip socket, the best way to answer the query about whether there's a problem or not would be to have her hips x-rayed. She's not old enough to get a permanent OFA or SV hip rating yet, that's true, but as you say--if there IS a problem, the earlier you know about it the earlier you can start addressing it.

If she were mine, I'd be getting an x-ray done, because I like to catch stuff early, and while the stretching wouldn't have bothered me, the reluctance to jump up into the truck is another story. Your mileage may vary.

Edited to add:  If it should turn out that there is a problem with her hips, it's not because you didn't choose wisely--there is a limit to what is in the hands of the breeder to control, and you can breed two dogs that have an unbroken line of sound hips for ten generations and still end up with one or more of their offspring turning out to be dysplastic. The genetic card deck isn't so clearly marked as to make it possible to guarantee the offspring of two dogs with normal hips will also have normal hips...and that applies to other genetic issues as well. The breeding behind your pup appears to be well thought out, and hopefully the breeder actually knows something about the bloodlines they're using, and is ethical and conscientious enough to not breed a dog or bitch, even one that is titled and breed surveyed, that showed signs of issues that can't be screened for ahead of time, such as pancreatic insufficiency, epilepsy, food and environmental allergies, autoimmune issues and the like, or has previously produced those or other hereditary conditions when bred to the same dog, or dogs of similar lineage, or worse yet to every dog it's ever been bred to.... All you can ask is that a breeder do everything in their power, and use every tool that's available to us, to screen for problems and to use only the best specimens of the breed health-wise, temperament-wise and in keeping with the breed standard; beyond that, Nature calls the shots, and sometimes bad genetic hands get dealt despite the best efforts and intentions.

[likes Hexe's post!]

Thank you for the responses. I've been trying to get a picture of her stacked for a while now. Getting her to cooperate is about like what I imagine trying to catch a greased pig would be like. However, I will keep trying.

Concerning jumping into the truck, I did consider that she just isn't too sure about the landing. It is a somewhat high jump without a lot of room for error because the opening to the crate is right there. Even though it's not the thread title, it was her lack of doing this "feat" that has caused me the most concern. My last GSD would jump into the truck whether I particularly wanted him to or not. She shows desire to want to do it (the front paws on the tallgate), just reluctance. Also, it's not just the truck she won't jump up on. I have a bed in my spare bedroom that is only a few feet off the ground and she won't jump up on it either, no matter how much coaxing. She does the same front paws on the bed and will go no further. The kind of interesting thing about the not jumping is that I can't think of a time when she's really tried it. I would think she'd have had to do that and had it hurt to decide not to do it again. Of course, being a GSD, it's possible she's already smarter than I am and, as mentioned by one of you, she knows that it isn't going to work and so she won't do it.

I believe that you can get a prelimary OSD report (not the permanent one) as early as one year. I may wait a few months to x-ray her so we can do that and see what happens.

Again, thank you for the responses and the interest in my girl.

My dog is almost 8 and stretches just like that. Nothing to worry about. :)

Hard to give accurate advice without seeing a video, but it could just be an awkward puppy stage.
An xray can give you peace of mind, fairly inexpensively too. You can get an xray at 9 months, I always do mine at 6 months and again at 2.

I have had and bred a fair share of dogs/pups and I will say I have never seen a dog do that who did not have great hips. In fact, the only dogs I've had that had iffy hips (not bad, but fair, and one mild HD) didn't do that. They would stretch, but not do the pads pointing upward, dragging rear legs a few paces before righting them. The dogs who do it coincidentally (or not) are the ones with the cleanest hips, in my experience. My mentor had a theory that the dogs who are more apt to do those stretches are the dogs with tighter ligaments. Not scientific, but he had 47 years of GSD breeding behind the statement. I would think that a dog with sore hips would not feel very good in that position nor have the range of movement to accomplish it.

Get an x-ray if you're worried. But make sure it's a good x-ray by a competent vet.

Some dogs don't have enough confidence to jump onto things or climb ladders, etc. Hard to know if it's mental or physical. I will say that NO PUPPY HAS ANY BUSINESS JUMPING OFF A TAILGATE unless you want to make sure that her elbows are trashed, though her hips might be fine.

This is pretty normal, seen it a lot.