bunny hopping - Page 1

I was just curious to find out if it's normal for a 9 month old male pup to be bunny hopping all the time when he's running. He walks and trots fine but both his back legs land at the same time or almost the same time when he's running. He does have pano in one of his front legs, I don't know is that would effect his back legs though. I know that bunny hopping can be a sign of hip dysplasia but I also heard that they run like that when they are young because they are to uncoordinated to move all four legs at once. I am getting x-ray pre-limbs done to make sure hips are fine. Just curious as to your opinions. Thanks in advance. Mysti

You won't know til the prescreens. Any speculation really makes no sense until you see what the joints are like. But do keep us posted.

I have a 3 1/2 y/o male that bunny hops A LOT of the time when hes out playing and just running around... He is 'a' normal and OFA Excellent. His Mother also bunny hops a lot and she is 'a' normal and OFA good. He could be hopping like that because of the Pano, just because he has it in his front leg doesnt mean it cant travel to his back legs... Good luck Jessica

I notice that my dogs that have the tightest hips seem to hop. Maybe there is a point that they are too tight.LOL But it does'nt seem to hinder them at all.

Having both legs hit the ground at the same time is not necessarily the bunny hopping a dysplastic dog does. The ones I have seen with dysplasia BOTH legs hit the ground UNDERNEATH the dog as opposed to outside the dog when they run. Limited fore-aft range of motion. But my OFA good male ocassionally bunny hops, but mainly the run is VERY fast with the legs extended far forward and backward. My dysplastic female looks like a pogo stick on the back when she runs (both legs together under the body) Anyway, if I had it to do over - I would x-ray any puppy over 4 months to get an idea of what is coming for peace of mind...and you are doing that!

Thanks everybody for your comments. I had my boys hips x-rayed on Friday and vet said his left hip is already showing changes and signs of djd, he thinks they will OFA mild dysplasia in left hip but right hip looks OFA good. How common is it for dogs to have only one bad hip? He's never been injured. Mysti

Mysti, It can happen that a dog may have one good hip and one bad hip. One of my females had a good right hip and the left hip was Mild HD, her left elbow is Grade I - DJD her right elbow is normal. No injury that I know of. Val