Wobbly puppy hind legs? Please help? - Page 1

Hi everyone, I have a 6 month old puppy that seems to have wobbly hind legs/walks funny. I got him from the local shelter so don’t know his pedigree or if he’s even purebred. I’m out of town at the moment and he is currently being boarded at a local doggie daycare. The staff there sent me a video of him yesterday and I noticed his hind legs were a little wobbly/weird. Not sure if this is a puppy thing or something more serious. I don’t remember if my other shepherd went through the same thing when she was his age.

From what I’ve noticed in the video his hind legs seem to cross when he is walking and it just seems unnatural to me. By his coloring I’m assuming he has WGSL in him and I know some badly bred dogs from those lines have the frog legs. I plan on taking him to the vet once I get back but in the mean time was hoping someone on here could take a look and give an opinion.

I edited the video to cut it to only parts where you can catch glimpse of his hind legs. If needed I can get better video footage once I get back.

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QY-058rVLk&feature=youtu.be

You can notice it when they are practicing heel.

Should this be a cause for concern?

Hi, John!
First of all I am glad you gave a shelter puppy a new home!

About your question - yes, his movement looks "weird" right now, that´s because his rear pasterns are too long, and he is overangulated in the rear, sadly not at all uncommon in the breed -

but all of this doesn´t necessarily affect his health, and some dogs "grow out" of it more or less.

Besides this "problem" he looks like a healthy, happy, good looking ( purebred ) German Shepherd Dog.

Exercise and nutrition can greatly strengthen those hock joints and its a plus if the dog has decent ball drive.
1. Use Dasuquin soft chews appropriate for the dogs weight; start with the recommended therapeutic dosage and then taper off.

2. Find a place with sand ( beach berm or even better a dune unconsolidated sand ) and ( 3-5 times a week ) do ball chase with the dog across the dune.

In about 1 month you should see definite strengthening of those hock joints and stronger coupling of the rear and front of the dogs body.

Yes, he is over-angulated; yes he is also a bit "cow hocked"; this is by no means unusual at this age (and, shock, horror, is often equally true of dogs that are NOT of Showline / W.German import breeding). I do, however, from just looking at him think he is pure bred out of W German lines. What others have told you ^^^ about good nutrition and exercise will show results in a few months; better to pay attention to these than just rely on time alone putting it right, while that might happen! Although there isn't much you can do about the overall proportions of his bones. He may always have what looks like a slightly 'wobbly' gait at slow speeds, but will probably look much sounder from the side when running at speed !

BTW why were you worrying about the quality of your video ? It was excellent for illustrating what you wanted us to look at, thank you (and a good deal better quality than many we see on here !) - well done !
Wishing you much enjoyment with your new dog.

@Mithuna Thank you for your advice. Is Dasuquin exactly what I should use or can I use other brands? I've been looking at my local pet supply stores and haven't been able to find that brand. However there are other joint supplements available. Not sure if they are any good.

Does it absolutely have to be sand? I live in the city and the any place that has a large sand/dirt area is almost non existent. Is grass okay?


@Hundmutter Thank you for your response. I've been in talk with the daycare staff and he doesn't seem to be in any pain and the wobbliness doesn't seem to bother him. He just trips over himself every now and then when running around with other puppies. Hopefully this doesn't affect his quality of life.

Sand is better because the resistance is different than from grass or running on solid surfaces, it makes the muscles work better. An alternative is to swim your puppy; do you have an animal hydrotherapy unit or a park lake or something within reach ?

@Hundmutter Awesome, I have a lake nearby that allows dogs to swim in. Hopefully this will help. Thanks!

Agility formula by Life Abundance is a good alternative to Dasuquin. Hund is right sand is better than grass. The incompetence of sand forces the muscles/ ligaments to have to continously adjust ( to keep the body stable and in motion).

Swimming is the best in terms of resistance without impact.

I do NOT recommend supplements for puppies, in general- balanced diet is critical and throwing off their mineral balance, especially, can have disastrous skeletal consequences.

What is he eating now? I am assuming the poor thing is already neutered? That along wreaks havoc on the developing body, but there is nothing you can do about that in this situation, except maybe supplement with a glandular to help support the other systems which will be overstressed trying to make up for the lack of sex hormones. I recommend Symplex M for males and Symplex F for females who are sterilized, especially too early. Hormones are essential for proper muscule/skeletal development. If he is not yet neutered, that's so much better; if you can wait until he is 2- OR get him a vasectomy now, and not get in major trouble with the rescue/shelter, that would be ideal.

I really don't see any cause for alarm in this puppy at all. He's in a gawky phase, and the only thing that will minimize these is proper diet (balanced raw diet or appropriate large breed puppy food with safe levels of calcium- I have a list if interested) and helping his body cope with loss of hormones.

Handsome pup!

@Jenni78 thank you for your advice. He is currently eating Blue Buffalo Puppy, he is an unusually picky eater for a puppy and Blue Buffalo seems to be working out so far. But as far as if its a good or decent food, I have no clue.

Fortunately the shelter I got him from is test driving a new program where any puppy that is adopted under 4 months old can be adopted on a contract base where I have to agree to submit proof that he is neutered by the time he reaches 18 months of age and comply that I will not any any other unaltered dogs of the opposite sex in the home until so. If I don't comply they more or less take him away from me. It is a small local shelter so I think I got lucky. My other shepherd that I adopted four years ago at 8 weeks came spayed and I can see how early spaying really messed with her physical and mental development.