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NLR #2 - GSD 5 months old - wierd back legs

3K views 8 replies 8 participants last post by  kaytris 
#1 ·
Met a young GSD at the dog park yesterday, 5 months old. I couldn't help but notice what I thought were really weak back legs. Bear with me on desciption since I don't know actual canine anatomy terms. Backleg starts at hip, forst bone goes down to what I would call the human knee, and then another bone that goes to what I will call a backward facing knee, and a final bone down to the paw.

It is that backward facing knee joint that seemed to want to twist inside with every step. I often thought the dogs rear legs would collapse with both of the backward knees collapsing to the inside together.

I asked the owner if he had been injured. He told me that he was just a young GSD and had not developed the muscles in his rear legs yet.

Really??? Is this normal? Or is it an indication of a problem being ignored.=?
 
#2 ·
I saw a programme about how breeds have changed over the years..for instance the Bassett Hounds stomach now drags along the floor where as 100yrs ago it didnt etc etc It said about GSD's and their back legs how breeding over the years has made it so it looks like they are having difficulty in walking. I also saw about Pugs having more and more breathing problems as their noses are getting more and more squashed with each generation

Could be just bad breeding or evolution?
 
#3 ·
Hard to say without seeing a picture. Even a proper healthy show type GSD can look weird to someone more used to a pet bred dog. But - given the fact that many GSDs have poor structure in the rear it may have been a badly bred dog. I don't think that a 5 month old dog should be lacking muscle to that degree that it seems unstable.
 
#5 ·
You guys are not making me feel any better, you know! I was kind of hoping, for the poor doggy, that it was something that he would outgrow. It could jest be that my untrained eye doesn't recognize what is standard, and I suppose it could be lousy breeding. I hope its not the latter.

Of course, the dog didn't seem to know anything might be wrong with him, so maybe its just me being ignorant of what I was seeing.
 
#6 ·
show line german shepherd....ah, poor thing. Maybe he has a worse problem than normal, but if you ever go to a dog show check them out...they just can't walk normal which is sad because I love the GS. They are very smart dogs. My neighbor had one as a kid and I remember sharing my ice cream with him.
 
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