XTNa
Boxer Buddy
Hi again, everyone.
I'm lucky enough to live in a dog friendly apartment building with its own dog run on the property. While Atlas and I were there one day, a neighbor saw how Atlas was running and told me that the vet of her golden (who was 13 and had, I believe, severe arthritis and hip dysplasia) said that the "bunny hop" way of running was definitely a clue to the joints in the hips being worn down, at least for goldens. Her dog ran with a "bunny hop" for all his life, and she just thought it was cute. She suggested I get it checked out, although it could also be that that's the boxer gait, and is different from how goldens run.
Atlas just turned 3 a month ago, and he, too has run with a bunny hop from as far as I can remember. Also, watching other dogs in various dog runs, they do, too.
How does your dog run? When gearing up for that first *zoom* in a boxer burn, or while chasing around other dogs, do both back feet lift at the same time in a slight hop? (Atlas doesn't do this all the time, mainly it's for gaining speed in a sprint.) For those of you whose dogs do, how is your dog's orthopedic health? Is this something I should get xrayed to check?
As always, thanks, all!
I'm lucky enough to live in a dog friendly apartment building with its own dog run on the property. While Atlas and I were there one day, a neighbor saw how Atlas was running and told me that the vet of her golden (who was 13 and had, I believe, severe arthritis and hip dysplasia) said that the "bunny hop" way of running was definitely a clue to the joints in the hips being worn down, at least for goldens. Her dog ran with a "bunny hop" for all his life, and she just thought it was cute. She suggested I get it checked out, although it could also be that that's the boxer gait, and is different from how goldens run.
Atlas just turned 3 a month ago, and he, too has run with a bunny hop from as far as I can remember. Also, watching other dogs in various dog runs, they do, too.
How does your dog run? When gearing up for that first *zoom* in a boxer burn, or while chasing around other dogs, do both back feet lift at the same time in a slight hop? (Atlas doesn't do this all the time, mainly it's for gaining speed in a sprint.) For those of you whose dogs do, how is your dog's orthopedic health? Is this something I should get xrayed to check?
As always, thanks, all!
(?)And his bunny hop isn't like that, either...perhaps I misspoke when I said it was for gaining speed--it just seems that way to me. :D He loves to get up on his hind legs, and when he plays with other dogs, chances are he will do that first, and then lunge ahead to run, two front paws first, followed by the back two paws together, rather than separately. He does it when he's going for a full sprint, with ears flying and jowls pulled back from his velocity (it's like he's running with two legs instead of four). If he's not sprinting, he moves at a trot that's very like that of a horse, four legs moving with a very centered and still torso. Lastly, he almost never frog sits--in his whole life, I've only ever seen him sit that way a handful of times. He is quite slow at lying down sometimes, though.
Lots of dogs without hip problems do that sometimes too. HD is a very painful condition -- if he really did have it you would likely be seeing changes in his behavior such as being more reluctant to play/run, limping after exercise, etc.