Energetic Great Dane with Hip Dysplasia – how do i get her to SLOW DOWN?
i recently found out my 3yo Dane, Fergie, has HD, arthritis & a bad knee. The vet has her on G3 & Deramaxx. She acts like it doesn’t hurt her &, other than a slight limp, you’d never know by the way she runs & plays. I have 2 other danes & during the day i keep them seperated from her so they don’t play rough while i’m away. When i get them back together, they play like they haven’t seen each other in years!
My problem is this: Fergie is a very energetic Dane who’s full of play, but her recent diagnosis is requiring her to rest. How do i let her get expell some of this energy without her hurting or straining herself? I’d love to be able to let her swim (i’ve read that does wonders) but i live in Ohio & its not the season for that. Also – there aren’t any facilities around that cater to animal therapy. The vet says to leash walk, & we do, but she’s still peppy after that! I hate to deprive her of playing w/the other dogs, but i have no way limiting how rough they get. Help!
Sidenote: Fergie is supposed to ‘rest’ for about a week. By ‘rest’ i mean ‘take it easy’ and not run sprints or wrestle with the others, until the G3 can start to work it’s magic. She’s not confined to a crate or not allowed to exercise – we leash-walk every other day. =)
Tagged with: Dane • down • dysplasia • Energetic • Great • SLOW
Filed under: hip dysplasia in dogs treatment
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Vets usually say that a light, light dose of Benidryl will make a dog sleepy for a while. Ask your vet for recs. on doses.
There are some puzzle toys that you might look into to keep her mind busy. Can you teach her tricks or some strengthening exercises? If you can keep the mind busy, then she’ll be more willing to lay around. We have high drive dogs (Border Collies and Jack Russells) and we’ll stuff Kongs with peanut butter and treats. I’ve also heard of spray cheese and plain non-fat yogurt with fruits and vegis. You can freeze them to make them last longer. I’d just really try to keep her mind busy and really work on teaching some tricks. It’s a great way to get the dogs to settle down without a lot of physical activity. Good luck!
Add: Agility might be too rough on a dog. We have 7 dogs in agility and it can be hard on a dog. I wouldn’t do the weave poles or teh teater. With the large breeds, agility can be harder on the joints. You’d be better of to go do rally-O or obedience with a Great Dane.
I know several people whose dog has HD and the vet suggested agility. Make sure the jump height is low, but it makes the dog focus, and careful. Agility also trains a dog to THINK about how it moves, increase and decrease speed. Agility also acts as a mental and physical stimulus. Also, check out your food. If the food you feed is high in carbs/protein (based off of veggies like corn, read the ingredient list), you are giving your dog ENERGY. Find a low carb/protein/fat diet. It gives them BALANCED energy.
Rally IS a great idea! it would be mind stimulate and energy burner. I think the people that do agility with HD only do jumpers/tunnels/weaves. The weaves are slow, and the jump height low. No contacts of course!
I’m sorry, I don’t have and answer for you, but I sure will be watching for the responses. I also have a 5 year old bulldog with the exact same problem as Fergie. We just lost out other dog so Dottie is an only child right now. I have been wanting to adopt another dog for a friend for her, but just not sure if it would be in her best interest because of the playing rough issue. Can’t wait to hear eveyones comments. Good luck with your dogs. I’ve wanted a Great Dane for 35 years now.( you can see I’m not a youngster) But hubby says that a pony is for a farm, which we don’t have.
Try Pet Eeze (sp?) found at Petsmart. It’s a natural supplement that contains things such as brewer’s yeast and hops that calms dogs down. I gave it to my dog for separation anxiety, and one of the side effects is that it makes them kinda buzzed so they relax. I don’t encourage it as an every day solution, but it could certainly be used when she just won’t settle down.
Sorry about your Dane. She sounds nice.
I have a 14-month old Golden Retriever with HD. We are lucky in that there are some facilities in the area for indoor doggie swimming (we live near Philly). We also do leashed walks.
I find that MENTAL exertion is as good as physical exertion for tiring out Daisy. Maybe you can focus more on obedience training and playing games…. hide and seek is a good one. I also have Daisy lie down while I hide bits of treats and then tell her ” Find it” and she has to find them all. Also for her morning meal Daisy has to “hunt” for her food…. I put her kibble in a bunch of small plastic containers and hide them. Or you can play a “clamshell” type game. Hide a treat or toy under a bucket, move it aorund with other buckets and make her guess where it is.
Actually letting your Dane play and keep her muscles built up is a good thing. Resting will do nothing for arthritis or HD.Keeping the muscles built up will help her hips stay in place and exercise will help keep her joints moving and keep her from getting stiff.
Is the only reason she needs rest because of the knee injury?? If so then rest her for the length of time needed for it to heal and then let her gradually get back to exercise.
If it isn’t a knee injury and is a life long issue then exercise also will be of help as long as not overdone.
I have a 17 month old Dane with wobblers & severe hip dysplasia…he is allowed to play and run as he feels up to it and by doing so he has built his muscle mass up..he plays with my other Danes..he is allowed to be a dog with 4 vets blessings..