Cow Hocks - Page 1

I'm looking for any info/information any of you can provide regarding cow hocks. I have an 8 month old male puppy I kept from my own breeding, who neither of his parents have cow hocks, but this young boy does.  In a previous litter between the same two dogs, I didn't see any with cow hocks, but this one does. Is this something you all feel he may outgrow, or is it just something that crops up from time to time?  any insight would be greatly appreciated! thanks

Start exercising the dog slowly in up-hill soft terrains.....thus he will be pushing with his hind legs and the hocks will become straighter. This usually happens in fast growing large animals....A preliminary HD x-ray would also be a good idea so as to see if the cow hocks have anything to do with the sockets....
Good luck

thanks so much Petros, that's a great idea, and makes sense, will do that.

i had a male pup that looked cow hock , but as he got 2 years , he now looks pretty  correct. i say give him time.

 I AGREE WITH TRIXX

I found the following article quite helpful in explaining a puppy's growth stages...

http://en.allexperts.com/q/German-Shepherds-2354/2009/4/f/Cow-hocks-1.htm

"Loose hocks" are common in German Shepherd puppies who have a lot of rear angulation. Like children, puppies go through awkward developmental stages and when a puppy first starts developing more angulation as he grows, it takes awhile for the puppy to learn how to handle the new proportions. Also, the femur is disproportionally short for quite a while in puppies, thus contributing to the loose wobbly hocks.
GSD puppies go through a number of awkward, disproportionate, and sometimes even downright ugly stages of development before they finally come together and become a balanced elegant adult.
Loose hocks are totally unrelated to hip dysplasia. In fact, a severely dysplastic puppy at age 4 to 6 months will stand with its knees together under the body and shift its weight forward onto the front to try to take weight off the rear. This stance is almost the exact opposite of a dog that is standing cowhocked with knees turned outward and hocks turned inward. The GSD single tracks, all four feet coming toward the center to form a single line of tracks as it moves, and some people mistake normal single tracking for cowhockedness, etc. since the feet come inward to the center as the dog gaits.

I think this kind of makes sense...

Cheers

Sangar

Thanks for all the response, I'm exercising him more on soft surfaces and will give him some time to mature more. thanks again!