I'm sorry to hear that your animal has been struck by this disease. This is a purely genetice disease so if you know where your dog was bred you should contact those people right away to let them know they are spreading it. Breeding is the only known prevention.

Here are some very informative web sites about it:

http://www.italiangreyhound.org/leggpert.html

http://www.ahtluvr.com/ahtleggperthes.html

Cheers,
Tigeress