[Canyx]

Disclaimer - I called my vet to schedule an appointment and my dog is completely fine at the moment. I'm just wondering if anyone has ever experienced something like this before.

This happened today, but also a few months ago, and maybe twice more in the last year, so very rare. It's happened in the past too but so infrequent that I chalk it down to 'he stepped on something'. But every once in a blue moon when Brae is playing fetch with a toy on a city park lawn he will suddenly shriek while chasing the toy and act like he’s in pain while he runs back to me with tail tucked. But every single time this has happened, I’ve found no injuries, no objects in the field that he might have stepped on, no pain upon palpation. And the stranger thing is immediately afterwards, besides fearful body language he has never shown any signs of pain or lameness. He actually goes back to playing with the same intensity, jumps and all. Days later, no issues either. These incidents are truly singular, split second incidents where he acts like something’s stabbed him while he’s chasing a toy.

Today’s was the worst I’ve seen. He was literally 3’ in front of me because I was tossing a toy for him to catch midair flip. As he was jumping up – pre landing and before he got the toy, he shrieked. He landed fine but spent the next 5 seconds continuously shrieking and carrying his rear right leg as he leaned in fear against my body. In previous instances he hasn’t carried any limbs up like this. I found absolutely nothing when I checked his limb and toes thoroughly, checked the area, walking him around a bit… His gait was completely normal immediately after. He wanted to play more fetch and had no problems running, jumping, and even did a single midair flip with no issues at all. Happy body language on the way home.

Supplemental information – Brae’s an active dog but I don’t have him perform repetitive motions over and over. For example, I have him practice a flip once or twice in the middle of a fetch session, about once every a week (but it’s not like I schedule it in). I only play fetch with him on level, open areas. I always warm him up before and after playing. Today we walked 1.5 miles to get to the park before I started tossing and he played normal disc for a few minutes before the incident. I don’t play fetch incessantly or every day. I rotate activity type daily. He’s on preventative glucosamine/chondroitin. I’ve had Brae’s elbows and hips scored (normal and good). I’ve had Brae’s head, jaw, and neck X-rayed 3 months ago when he was neutered, all normal. Brae gets regular chiropractor adjustments, all normal. This has happened playing with disc, kick ball, and ball on a rope. So it does not coincide with jarring motions like twisting to get a ball – just with high speed running after something. However, this has never happened when he is running full tilt outside of fetch, like when playing with a dog. This has only ever happened in two city parks on open lawn areas.

Weird, isn't it? I am going to schedule X-rays for the rest of his spine to rule out stuff. Or I'll do what my vet recommends. I live in a small town so I don't have access to an orthopedic specialist. And I doubt X-rays will reveal anything anyways but, due diligence and all...

 

[makenna]

That's tricky. Could it be his knee? My dog just had CCL surgery and I am a member of a few Facebook support groups for it and there are a lot of people who have dogs that walk perfectly fine most of the time, limp occasionally, and are diagnosed with a tear.

In my dog's case there was no doubt, he was 3 legging it almost all of the time. But Brae is probably tougher than my boy too

That might not be it, just a total guess. But maybe something to have your vet check out. It's hard to see on an X-Ray unless there is fluid present which simply indicates it, but our surgeon could tell just by feeling the inside of his knee and the scar tissue that had been building there - it felt like a hard golf ball.

Best of luck, hope you get to the bottom of it!

 

[Canyx]

Thanks Makenna! I doubt he has a tear but I'm sure it's possible! I posted this on my breeder's FB page too and Brae's FULL BROTHER experiences the same thing! The owner even has a video of it. I won't post it since it's not mine, but basically the dog is doing some normal obedience drills then jumps forward for a tug toy in a very normal way. Mid-jump, the dog yelped. Then hitched his rear right leg and shrieked for a few seconds.

Similar to Brae's circumstances, his brother's owner reported that this has only happened 3x over the dog's 3.5 years of life. And in separate circumstances. And like Brae, the dog was completely fine a minute later.

That said, others posted about seeing similar things too, and not just in Dutchies. A Dutchie owner with a different litter dog said she saw her dog do this once while he was in the house and just pivoting. A rottie owner said it sounds like something they experienced, and when the dog was sedated an orthopedic surgeon found the dog's patella would luxate under very specific circumstances (but not classic luxating patella). A staffy owner said her dog showed similar symptoms and had a slight hernia in the lumbar area.

I sent the video to a couple of vets and I will proceed with whatever they recommend. Though if it involves heavy diagnostics I may have to wait for a later opportunity... I'm grateful that, whatever this is, it doesn't seem to be impacting Brae day to day.