Hip and elbow dysplasia are developmental conditions: the joint does not form correctly, and the resulting instability produces arthritis, often years before an owner expects it. Genetics set the predisposition, and growth, weight and exercise influence how it expresses.
That means an owner of a large-breed puppy has real influence over the outcome, and most of it is exercised in the first eighteen months.
Before you get the puppy
Ask the breeder for hip and elbow scoring of both parents, as documents rather than assurances. The relevant scheme varies by country and breed; what matters is that testing was done and the results are shown. A breeder who health-tests costs more at the start and frequently much less later.
For a rescue puppy of unknown background, the same management advice applies, you simply have less information about the risk.
Lean is the whole message. A roly-poly large-breed puppy is not thriving, it is carrying weight across joints that are still forming.
Feeding for slow, steady growth
Use a complete diet formulated specifically for large-breed growth. These are designed to produce controlled growth rather than maximum growth, and their calcium and phosphorus balance is set deliberately.
Do not add calcium supplements, bone meal or extra mineral products to a complete diet. Excess calcium during growth is associated with skeletal problems, and the instinct to build a strong dog by adding minerals does the opposite.
Feed by body condition rather than by the chart: ribs easily felt with light pressure, a waist from above, a tuck from the side, checked by hand every month while the dog is growing.
Exercise while the growth plates are open
Large and giant breeds finish growing later than small ones, and joint surfaces are vulnerable until they do. Until your vet says the dog is skeletally mature, avoid:
- Long forced exercise such as running beside a bicycle or jogging
- Repetitive high-impact games, particularly ball throwing with hard turns and stops
- Jumping down from heights, including out of a car boot; use a ramp
- Stairs taken many times a day
- Slippery floors, which cause the splayed slips that damage young joints
What is fine: free play on soft ground at the puppy's own pace, short frequent walks, swimming where it is safe, and plenty of sniffing, which tires a young dog without loading anything.
The flat, while the dog is growing
Most of the repetitive loading in a city dog's first year happens indoors. Tiles and polished wood are the worst surface for a heavy puppy with loose joints: every slip splays the legs and loads the hips. Runners along the route between bed, water and door cost very little and remove most of it.
Use the lift rather than the stairs while the dog is growing, lift it into the car or use a ramp rather than letting it jump down, and discourage the habit of launching off the sofa. None of these is fussiness: they are the repetitions that accumulate.
Realistic exercise in the first eighteen months
The usual guide for a young puppy is roughly five minutes of formal walking per month of age, twice a day, and for a large breed the caution continues well past the point where the dog looks adult. A fifteen-month great dane is a puppy with the body of a horse.
Fill the gap with things that tire the brain rather than the joints: scent games, short training sessions, food delivered through puzzles, and free play on grass at the dog's own pace. A large-breed puppy that gets that combination is calmer indoors than one taken on long forced walks, which is the opposite of what most owners expect.
The signs that need investigating
- Limping that persists, or comes and goes over weeks
- A bunny-hopping gait, using both hind legs together
- Difficulty rising, reluctance on stairs, or sitting with the legs to one side
- Reluctance to exercise, or lagging on walks in a young dog
- Clicking from a joint, or a noticeably narrow hind stance
Go early rather than waiting to see. Diagnosis usually involves manipulation under sedation and radiographs, and the options in a young dog are wider than in an arthritic seven-year-old.
Management if it is diagnosed
Weight control, consistent controlled exercise, muscle-building through hydrotherapy or physiotherapy, pain relief when needed, and a home adapted with non-slip flooring and a ramp instead of jumps. Surgical options exist for some cases and some ages, and your vet or a specialist will explain what applies.
Many affected dogs live comfortable, active lives on a good management plan. The households that struggle are usually the ones where the dog is also overweight, which is the one variable entirely under your control.
If someone else walks your dog, the plan has to be written down: how long, what ground, no ball, no stairs, no jumping into the boot, and a report that records how the dog moved rather than only where it went.
The PAWLY breed guide. 198 breeds described honestly, with history, temperament, health and what each is like in a Luxembourg flat. Browse the guide.
General information for dog owners in Luxembourg, not veterinary or legal advice. For your own dog, ask your vet, a qualified behaviourist or your commune. How this journal is written and checked.
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