Dutch Shepherd Forum

Long time no post guys....

I’m reaching out for more info on HD. H is about to be 6 and we’ve been fighting an invisible injury for what seems like the last 2 years. No doctor can figure out what is wrong with him. It first started with his back leg, a weird gait here and there. Very subtle and very hard for people who aren’t around him a lot to notice. His back leg wouldn’t fully extend - and by that I mean if full extension is 100, he was probably like 85. Multiple tests revealed nothing except a minor mention of possible HD in the leg he wasn’t having troubles in or a small spinal injury and to stop tugging. We were told only time would tell and there was nothing to do.

Fast forward through the years and there’s a few things we learned:

- Physical therapy helped but as soon as we stopped, a week or two later he was back to his weird gate. We would go for months then like clock work it slid back.
- after intense exercise he will have a severely altered gate. No limping. Just his leg doesn’t extend all the way. He’s sore but no amount of stretching helps prevent or release the soreness.
- the SO recently found areas around the top of his hip bone by the base of his tail that seems to release the soreness after intense exercise. Daily massage helps.
- if there is a flare up, H refuses to poop. Squatting and sometimes raising that leg up to pee/balancing on it hurts him but he of course shows no pain.
- we’re currently driving to IL for a funeral (16 hours both ways) and noticed he was super stiff coming out of the crate. Frequent stops and walks have done nothing. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen him show his age and you can tell he isn’t feeling great. Upon massaging his rear, SO points out the spot is different... more towards his joint socket in the rear. SO says it’s been changing over time.

My fear is that the first test that showed possible signs of mild HD are now coming to fruition. He doesn’t match the typical signs of HD and like a typical Dutch doesn’t show pain. So anyone with HD experience, could you give me info/stories on how you first started to notice something was wrong?

Hey! Well. I think you may remember Sadie has Double HD. Bad breeding. She is 9 now. When I got her from NADSR as a pup, I started noticing she would yelp when she got up from a sit, or go up the stairs. This was when she was probably about 5 months? it was with in her first year. Took for xrays from a specialist and yep, double HD. I havent done anything special for her, she does self regulate well, but there have been plenty of times during play she will make a tight turn and yelp and she will go lay down.

If the xrays show HD, other than an operation, and at 9 no way. Just keep them comfortable and dont let them get crazy. I do have her on CBD oil and a few other things.

Aurora had her hips x-rayed at 2½ as per the breeder's request. Hips eval was good or excellent. Can't remember. She has soft tissue damage and nerve damage that prevent her from waking much any more. The only thing that had helped her was back in the cold weather, I'd give her a hot soak in the tub and then chuck her outside. She would move a lot more freely for a couple hours after that.