My five year old GSP has started coming up lame in predominantly his right leg. I would give him anti-inflammatory rest him for a few days and then he appeared fine. Over the last several months, this has been happening more regular. We have a large yard and he is constantly pursuing the squirrels in our yard and he is fully broke on birds and is a high drive dog. I took him to the local Vet and did an Xray on one shoulder and saw nothing structurally. I decided I wasn't going to keep putting this off till the next time and let it possibly get worse with bird season upcoming. I took him to the gold standard around here the University of MO. Vet Clinic. They did Xrays of both elbows and they looked fine they also did a gait weight test on front legs and the normal band is 5% variance his was 7% which they said was not bad. Also, they did an Ultra Sound on shoulders and found the right one had a small area of Micro Tears and left even smaller. They recommended PT for him with Shock Wave Therapy for three sessions once a week for three weeks and then after another three weeks check with Ultra Sound . In addition, he is not to be off leash, run jumping in truck, etc and six different/stretching exercises with and without a Theraband twice a day. The Dr. that heads the Sports Med Dept spent 30 years in Army and 12 of it in San Antonio at the War Dog Training facility. Everybody loves their dog or should but this is my 4th one and they all were athletes and this one is too.
I understand this is fairly common in sporting dogs. Does anyone have any first hand experience with this?
P.S. I've had Electro Shock Therapy on my thumb and knee in past and believe it's legit.