Wobbly Boy

Duncan weighed in at 92.5 pounds Friday, and the vet upped his full-growth estimate to 115 pounds. It’s a very good thing he’s so sweet natured. Especially since he likes to put peoples’ various body parts (like heads) in his mouth.

Anyway, while we were at the vet’s Friday, he voiced some concerns about Duncan’s back legs. He said that any vet or orthopedic doctor would watch him walk and assume he has horrible hip displaysia. After all, he should have grown out of the wobblies by now. When he walks, he criss-crosses his back legs. When he runs, they straighten out on their own. And when he trots, he has the cutest sashay. After manipulating Duncan’s hips, the vet said they felt okay. He said I should talk to the breeder about him, and might need to consider x-rays. Unfortunately, the cut off for any type of corrective surgery for hip displaysia is a year and a half. Duncan’s at 9 months, so there’s still time, but the vets can do more when the dog is younger. Of course, it could just be that Duncan has “sissy” hips.

I emailed the breeder this morning, and described Duncan’s legs. She said she’s had several large puppies that took longer growing into their back legs, just because they were so big. She also said that the sloped back makes it look worse than it is (but I’ve seen adults with steeper slopes than Duncan’s walking without the criss-cross motion). At any rate, its good to know that she’s not concerned about his legs. I am, however, a bit worried about this “growing into them” thing. After all, how much bigger is he going to get???