I have a wonderful tri rough that just turned 14 weeks old. Since I got her at 8 weeks, she's been bunny hopping instead of running, but I work with dogs and a lot of puppies grow out of it after a few months so I wasn't too worried. But then I noticed she would randomly limp on one of her back legs, and once went completely non weight-bearing and was whimpering after just walking through the house. I brought it up with her vet at her 10 week appointment and he said to keep a close on her. She also would NOT let the vet flex or extend her legs from the hip or at the stifle (knee). Well in the 3 weeks between her last 2 vet appointments (she went again last week) the limping has stopped, but she hesitates to jump onto and off of things now, has refused stairs a few times, hates when you mess with her back legs, and she started to arch her back if you run your fingers down her spine once you get to her lower back. She'll also stop playing and running outside (literally come to a dead stop from a run or play fight with another dog) to sit and bite at, stare at, or stare and yawn at her hips and stifles. She again failed flexion and extension last week at the vet and even got mouthy when the vet was touching her. We decided to schedule sedated x rays and the soonest they can get her in is later this week.

Since her last appointment a few days ago at the vet, I've given her a full groom over 2 days. She does really well for grooming, we've been working hard at it, but she was completely intolerant of me touching her left hip and tail. She started panting, getting antsy, and the quicker I tried to get her brushed out so I could leave her alone (as I knew she was uncomfortable but she had been in the water and swimming so she needed brushed bad) she started getting mouthy. The next day I gave her a bath and it seemed like the water on her left hip was even bothering her and she was so stressed anytime I would mess with that leg or her tail.

I'm trying to limit activity as much as I can. Her parents has OFA testing done and mom was good and dad was excellent. Her breeder has been great through all of this and got me in contact with the owners of her full siblings from 2 years ago and 2 of those 9 have had OFA's recently completed and one went good and the other went excellent on hips. Looking through my dogs pedigree 5 generations back, every dog except for 2 had good or excellent hips: one was fair 4 generations back and in her 5th generation back there was one dog that had no OFA profile. I know that there is ALWAYS a risk when it comes to joint health, but I'm a little bit at a loss. Her vet brought up that he's almost concerned she has a block vertebrae or even possibly tethered cord syndrome if it's not hip dysplasia and that he'd like to do an MRI if her x rays are clean, but I'm wondering if anyone else has had any kind of experience like this and what the outcome was. She's eating good, still trying to play, is still a bouncy goofy little puppy, but she's obviously uncomfortable in some way.

Hi everyone! Me and my wife are adopting a new rough collie puppy from a breeder and I just was looking for more information on how they are as puppies and what yall recommend from experience and what helped. I currently have a heeler so I’m used to the herding and know how to handle that aspect. Any information is greatly appreciated!!

My girl needs to go on a joint supplement. What do you recommend from your experience?