[Feather]

I'm a bit concerned about my girl's back legs. I've noticed over the last few weeks that when she's running around playing her back legs seem wobbly and sometimes they seem to buckle. It happens especially when she's changing direction. She doesn't fall over, just stumbles until she can get her feet under her again. She seems okay when she's just walking, and has no issues getting up or down.

Once her front foot healed she was able to manage the stairs and was up and down them regularly, so there shouldn't be an issue with the musculature in her back legs. She hasn't been on stairs at all for about 10 days now as we've moved, and the wobbliness is unchanged. I'm not aware of any injuries other than her broken foot as a baby. She was spayed about 3 weeks ago due to recurrent UTIs. She's 19 weeks old now.

Is this something pups of this age are prone to? Could she have done something else when she fell off the balcony that wasn't picked up at the time? Should I be getting her hips xrayed? As she's already been spayed it would require another anaesthetic, which I'm not keen on if it's not essential.

 

[clipke]

Some dogs just have a wider gait, which can lead to stumbling when they're younger, or it could be something more serious like hip dysplasia. I'd 100% get an xray to be sure if this is something that hasn't always been apparent. She may be carrying more weight on her back end than normal, or have another more serious issue. https://pethelpful.com/dogs/A-Guide-to-Understanding-Dog-Gait & https://wagwalking.com/condition/abnormal-gait might be helpful- I don't think a broken foot would lead to this unless she simply didn't walk much at all prior to now due to the injury. Get an x-ray to be sure.

 

[tim_s_adams]

Obviously without seeing your puppy first hand it's impossible to know. But my puppy would wipe out frequently when she was that age. Like you mentioned, mine never had any problems navigating stairs or getting up or down. She did grow out of her clumsiness eventually, and has the most beautiful gait I think I've ever seen now (a totally unbiased assessment, mind you!). At 19 wks I'd consider some clumsiness, particularly when cornering, to be absolutely normal. So as long as you're not seeing other navigational issues, I wouldn't worry.