My 10 year old Golden has arthritis and disk disease, so I have been through the range of pain relief options for him. When he first started having problems, I put him on Synflex (google it, you'll find website, and can order. Its a liquid, I put on his food and he has no trouble chowing down). After about 10 days he was like a new dog. As things got worse, we added metacam (same class as rimadyl), then acupuncture.

Since your dog is just starting to have problems, I'd try the glucosamine. Synflex is an excellent preparation, is well absorbed, and tastes ok apparently. Give it a week or two, I'll bet you see improvement if arthritis is his problem.

Jake's mom