Is a full-speed sprint good for the hips?

[Anthony8858]

When I play fetch with Kira, I give her tennis ball a good throw to about 200-300 feet out. Kira will pursue at FULL SPEED, get the ball and trot back. I do this numerous times during our play session.

Is this type of exercise good for her hips, or would it be considered wear and tear?

[martemchik]

If Kira has HD she will have HD. Sprints do not cause HD. Rooney does exactly the same thing Kira does. It's not like I can teach him to not run full speed. If she is genetically predisposed to HD (will develop at some point), the sprints would likely cause it to happen earlier, but if she has healthy hips the sprints won't do anything for her hips. They will probably strengthen them more than anything as it is physical exercise.

[vukc]

How old is your dog?
Is she showing any discomfort by doing this?
What type of pavement are you doing this exercise?

In the end, just make sure not to over do anything you do with your dog, and let the dog be dog.

[carmspack]

in the video with Kira playing stick with the black lab , Kira looks a bit on the heavy soft side , so for burst of speed or changes of direction I would condition her a bit more - road work , slowly , beside the bike , just to get the muscles toned .

[Anthony8858]

Originally Posted by carmspack

in the video with Kira playing stick with the black lab , Kira looks a bit on the heavy soft side , so for burst of speed or changes of direction I would condition her a bit more - road work , slowly , beside the bike , just to get the muscles toned .

Heavy soft, like in "overweight, not muscular"?

She's "fluffy", but one can easily feel ribs.

I would suspect a lack of muscle. She's 18 months, and should start to fill out soon, shouldn't she?

To contribute to proper muscle tone, you suggest slow, steady?

[Anthony8858]

Originally Posted by vukc

How old is your dog?
Is she showing any discomfort by doing this?
What type of pavement are you doing this exercise?

In the end, just make sure not to over do anything you do with your dog, and let the dog be dog.

Kira is 18 months. She shows no sign of discomfort, and LOVES to run.
She runs on grass, dead grass at the moment

Here's a recent clip of her playing, where we play:

Kira with Lab - YouTube

Kira with Lab - YouTube

[JeanKBBMMMAAN]

Okay, I am going to ask - because I watch my dogs run/play a lot and sometimes they do the run like Kira is doing where the hind legs are pretty much moving together, and other times they gait more. If they were to rely more on the hop move is that a concern? I am always watching...neurotic - sometimes I won't even look at other peoples' dogs or fosters because I fear I will see something that will set me off.

And NOT picking on Kira, but always looking and wanting to learn structure - is she considered cow hocked?

She's a beautiful girl. I personally think straight out sprints are okay - I would x-ray anyway when you get a chance (hips/elbows/spine) to have a nice baseline of info. I do have dogs with varying degrees of HD and in every case my vets have encouraged me to keep them lean and keep them active. The more of each the better (within reason of course) but keeping those glutes and other muscles tight helps to keep the hip in place.

[jocoyn]

I let my severely dysplastic girl regularly run full out after her diagnosis. What I did was minimize slides, sudden turns, jumps, etc. It did not seem to hurt her. Her run was definitely a bunny hop though and the HD limited her range of motion. My philosophy was it gave her great joy.

[huntergreen]

i will let others who know more than i tell you about supplements such as glucosimine and msm that may keep your dogs hips healthy. i always enjoyed seeing kyra, when she was in her prime, run at full speed at our dog park. in your video, i would not call that an all out run. i know she enjoyed and needed that work out. if we can't let our gsd go out and run/play, because we are afraid our dog might "break" , what is the point of having a gsd.

[Kyleigh]

My last dog had HD, and I minimized fast turns / swivels, etc. but she did awesome on long off leash hikes - she controlled her movements, the pace, etc. and she LOVED to chase her ball.

I use to "chuck it" into the farmer's cornfields as far as I could throw it ... she LOVED that game!!!

I saw a physiotherapist for my last dog, and she said make sure there is SOLID muscle in the back end, it helps the dog's hips. I used to dance with her (have her on her back legs) and move back and forth slowly and this would also help strenghthen her back legs. Swimming is awesome for dogs with HD