I use the general rule of three times a day, and I always feel better about giving anything with food.
I also have an internal rule that if I need to give it more than 2 days, I take them to the vet...if every year for a dog is like 7, then every day is one week, and two days gimping is like 2 weeks for a dog.
I'd also make sure to give him some vitamin C as an anti inflamatory.
Hope Guthrie is better soon...my first thought was a cruciate tear when reading your other post, the toe touching non weight bearing, but will use it when he has to sounds like cruciate to me.