HD confirmed - Page 2

I agree with the sentiments of Ambigsd and others stating similar.

I had a GSD with severe HD who had her first hip replacement at 5yrs, the other at 6yrs. She was showing quite severe symptoms by the time she was 1 yr old. She never looked back, it was amazing. Prior to that she had Metacam, and then Rimadyl, which she did well, I lost her at 91/2 due to spondylosis, when she lost the use of her back legs, literally overnight.  I also concur with what others have said, the x-ray evidence of HD is rarely matched by the clinical signs. So you need to treat her very much as an individual.  My own decision with it (and yes, I was devastated) was to allow her to live the life SHE wanted to have. If that meant it was slightly shorter as a result, so be it. I didn't want her to have a miserable restricted long life. I guess when you measure her 91/2 good years against many top dogs who die younger than that, she did OK.

One of my current GSDs has moderate HD. She did nursery agility until she was 5. She went lame after that one day, and so I decided not to take the risk of her continuing. She now does obedience instead, and I have her on a low dose of PLT.
I swim her regularly, and she is now 71/2. She loves life, and bounds around quite normally, and trashes my bigger more agile male very successfully LOL. She still jumps into the car (and onto the bed) fine. I will continue with the low dose of her medication as long as I can, and I still have 'room' to increase it if needs be. In my head I also hold in reserve the potential for hip replacement if it comes to it. I would certainly do it again if it were necessary, as my first girl got such a good result from it.
It is also good to remember that usually replace of just one hip (the worst one) is all that is necessary.  If and when she does have pain and impairment, seek out the advise of your vet for a good pain/anti inflammatory medication, if and when that no longer works, consult a top class orthopaedic surgeon regarding surgery. My understanding is that the triple pelvic osteotomy mentioned will only be effective on a dog where there are no evident arthritic changes. Since your girl does have changes you would be best looking at total hip replacement (on the one side). So you have lots of options for the future.

It isn't a death sentence, and as various other posters have said, many live long and happy lives, without even ever even needing medication.

For me, the checklist would be:

Lean, keep as lean as you possibly can
Swimming, there is nothing to beat it for increasing and maintaining muscle tone
Joint supplements - Glucosamine & Chondroitin - why not, I give them on the premise if they don't help they don't harm
Allow to exercise to her own level. Exercise is very important, lack of exercise is harmful in her situation.

I wish you a long and happy life with her, don't let this diagnosis get you down, it certainly won't get her down!  Let her live the life a dog should have. She sounds like she manages just fine. Good luck with her.