Basic obedience for dysplastic Labs

[MichelleN]

Hi everyone, my two Labs have now been diagnosed with dysplasia. Romulus has hip dysplasia and has already had an op on his left hip, Digby was diagnosed yesterday with level 2 elbow dysplasia.

I'm currently doing basic obedience with them and I was wondering what exercises I should avoid/ do differently. For example, we are supposed to teach them stand to down (they can do sit then down) but I think this is too much to ask from them.

Any help, please!

[carrie]

Nobody knows your dogs like you do and I think you are right to be concerned. You may have to give up any ambition of competition obedience but there is no reason you can not have well trained dogs. Go with what you think they are comfortable with - try a stand instead of a sit. Liase with your vet about how much movement and what excersise is appropriate and take it from there.

[MichelleN]

My vet thinks the obedience will be good for them and thankfully I never planned to compete with my boys! She said that we must just watch for justifiable reluctance to do an excercise and if we wanted, we could give them anti-inflammatories before exercise. I think I'd rather know when what they're doing is hurting and stop doing it!

Thanks for the advice, I'm just overly cautious about Digby, not sure how to stop a raging lunatic from running and jumping!!

[Dixieland Dancer]

Basic obedience should not be a problem. You do not do any jumps or anything that should create a problem for either dog. Basically, they are learning to heal, sit, down, come when called, and stand for examination. I would not let the dog go above basic obedience though. The next level is jumping and drops on recall. I do not even recommend intermediate obedience for larger types of dogs until they are two years of age, regardless if they do not have joint problems. Their bones are still forming and growing and I don't like to take a chance in injury during this period.

If going from a stand to a down is too much then explain to the trainer that you prefer to go from a sit to a down and tell why. Any reasonable trainer will understand. Especially if you are not planning on competing. In my opinion, I believe the harder part would be getting the dog with displaysia to stand after being down.

The stand to a down is taught just to make sure the dog understands what down is. Sometimes things become routine and the dog will automatically assume "okay, I'm sitting. Next we do the down thing". Variety is the spice of life and the assurance your dog knows the commands!

As Carrie said, only you know what is best for your dog. When you see discomfort then you know I need to take it easy here.

One final thought. Walking is the best thing for displysia. Keep the dog limber and make sure you keep their weight under control. Excess weight is the hardest thing for the dog, especially when they have bad hips and elbows.

Have fun in training and let us know how it goes!

[MichelleN]

Their weight is improving but I'm going to need the vet's help to know when they are the lean side of healthy. I believe that I should be able to feel their ribs clearly? My fiance was starting to think they were fine but they definitely have a few more kilos to go!

They know that down is not always after sit, I think the problem was that the trainer was looking for a quicker straight into down rather than sit then "walk" front legs down. I think that will be all they can do and the trainer is very understanding. One student doesn't want his dog to ever be treated by hand and the trainer told the whole group so we understood and said that if anyone else felt that way, they could come to him and tell him.

Very nice guy, you can see he loves animals and seems very knowledgeable. We do an exercise where we walk up and down stairs at heel and the stairs are uneven. This is where I think they have a bit more leeway than most because downhill on unstable feet must be hard!

[MichelleN]

Also, they're both getting the hang of stand quite well, a Godsend when we have to pick them up into the bakkie (our word for a pickup). They HATE being helped and will jump in and out themselves if they can help it!!