promoting longevity by restricting motion - Page 2

No, I knew Susie didn't specifically mean Taz, but I just wanted to

point out that an older GSD is not necessarily a 'sad' dog.

A dog with an intractable skin problem, or severe HD, can be also a

young sad dog, true ?

 

I agree with you KitKat,  I think there is too much generalisation, and I

do believe a lot of vets try to take some advantage from that.

 

And Susie, no, we shouldn't ignore problems in GSDs, we should not 'bury

our heads in sand' and hope they will just go away;  we should be pro-active

in the breeding and management of GSDs in order to reduce diseases.

And for that we need honesty; experience; knowledge (which is why I am

always so hard on the posters on PDB who turn up, having got their very

first dog - or not even bought it yet - and start talking about breeding with

it 'later this year' etc).

But what you said about not knowing or caring about other breeds worries

me.  I was making a comparison to the lists in other breeds to try to show

the extent of the over-generalisation that goes on, and which helps lead to

the sort of misconceived statement  vk4  started this thred with.  I believe we

get a better picture of the state of our own chosen breed if we know a bit more

about the 'state of the canine nation' generally. 

Hund, I compared the "old sad dog" to the "happy dog", because some people tend to be too careful with their dogs.
I don´t think, that a dog knows about time and age.
If this is true, a dog doesn´t care about quantity, but about the quality of its lifetime.
8 years of quality time is better than restricted 14 years of lifetime in my opinion.

And I said, I don´t care about other breeds, because even if there are breeds with a higher percentage of HD ( and there are ), the percentage of HD in our breed still is way too high. Comparisons don´t help, too much is too much.

I know about the problems with vets, constructing problems where are none, but let´s be honest, a lot of people are treating dogs like children, vets nowadays are used to people willing to pay any amount of money for their 4legged child....

This was VK´s original question: would you reduce wear and tear by limiting your dog's physical activities?
 

GSD's are one of the heartiest breeds I've ever owned. They run, play and have very, very few health issues.

VK4gsd must have had some bad luck.

 

Omfg, run play....do you even have the slightest idea what the daily life of a practical working dog involved, from yr posts and dog's activities you have shown i guess not.

facts aren't limited to yr ignorance and lack of knowledge.

the breed is in great shape and in good hands evidently.

Well, I do in fact know what a "real" working life entails. Of course working k9s have plenty of wear and tear, but they are happy doing the job. Case in point, my one male, a k9, damn near sliced half his rear toe off. That 6 weeks of crate rest was HELL. He would have kept working, bloody and all, because he loves to work. Btw his hips and elbows were xrayed a few weeks ago  and passed ofa. Even if he had come up dysplastic, I don't think that I would change anything.  As long as they are happy doing whatever job you have for them, why not. He would be miserable not working. It would be kinder to pts a dog who's body cannot keep up with the drive and need to work.

Melissa

I guess to be fair one should define what robust means in this context. can't link on phone but the only study i know compared yhe kelpie and the border collie. such tests should be generalised to the gsd imo if breeders really cared. the tests covered a range of measures including skin loss on the pads after doing endurance tests after 14 hour days working sheep. the tests went for months. the one of endurance test is a pale and almost disengenguos in comparison.


all the hoopla aboutangle of croup yadayada is kind of fake economy if trying to access anything important about the breed but hey what do i know i never bred a gsd.

VK4   are you speaking specifically of one of your dogs possibly and older dogs or what??

 

Here has been my experience;  if you are rearing an older dog GSD or otherwise say from 9 years and older you need to be their advocate as to what is best for that particular dog;  that might possibly be controlled exercise, exercise on leash only;preferrably on softer surfaces like sand, dirt, grass;  if your dog is  young or old has ANY joint issues swimming is probably the best and most conservative type of joint saving exercise you can do for your dog;  if you are talking about a dog that is very athletic, young and very energetic even controlled exercise is best as they tend to self destruct and then later in their lives they pay heavy dues for their younger activities when running, jumping, self destructing.

 

My golden girl paid dues for her younger years of running, running, running on large property and you could actually see her change gears into high speed, holes, ruts, corners and fences.  ALL of which she paid for later as a senior, and I noticed that starting with her about 12 years old until she died at almost 15.  YES you need to let them be dogs but hopefully sensibly.  I never tried to stop her as she was built like well I used to call her my little pit bull;  incredibly athletic and agile but also put together like a brick "s----t house;  absolutely built for working and running and sledding and whatever job she was assigned to.  I could not swim her for low impact exercise as she hated water with a passion so that would not work for her.  She was shorter coupled;  not the longer backs that we now see sometimes which breakdown earlier in life; had great bone structure, strong and correctly angled so her body really worked  for her in slow or fast motion without effort.  That to me is a true working dog.  One that will hold up through the later years in life.

So if this helps you to understand that a lot of what goes on earlier in their lives DOES make a difference in their healthy longevity and a lot of that longevity (HEALTHY LONGEVITY) is about how the dog is put together;  and I am basically talking about all working breeds, herding, sporting, working.  Of course good health plays a HUGH role also.  I am an advocate of warming these dogs up before rigerous exercise and to keep their joints lubricated, soft and supple so that means to keep them moving at a steady pace and they ususally let you know what that pace is but you have to decide and take control of a pace that is comfortable for that dog.  So if they have a heavy exercise day and the next day they are sore or lame that dog over exercised or did the wrong type of exercise.  You need to be the judge of that and manage your dog like you would any athlete for the life of that dog.  BOL  Nan 

Thanks for a great post nans. could you expand on the relationship between long back and coupling cos i don't belive one implies the othet necessarily.

a dog with tight coupling is going to have restricted range of flexibility in the spine. important in a catch dog but a dog coupled too loose will be weak, neither of which is related to length of spine imo.

 

This is one of my pups, 3 and a half months old.

    He fits the definition of "Robust", quite nicely I think...

Robust- Strong, vigorous, sturdy, tough, powerful, musclar, solid

Strongly formed or built...

    I think there are a great deal of German Shepherds that certainly are every bit of that, and more.

I know a person who was in a straight jacket for 2 years. he said it felt like forever, but he died 10 years later. I guess the '' no activity '' thingy does not work? but seriously, fragile to robust to anti-fragile. proper exercise will help a body age well, after the genetic problems are addressed. Follow the standard for the GSD. big is not robust!