Rebuilding muscle loss

So its been a month of rest and lead walks for ozzie.
Today i took him to the field for a nice quiet off lead walk and he was a good boy and kept calm ,we didnt meet any other dogs as it was pouring rain .
No sign of limping on the walk at all untill we got home and he limped from the car .i felt sooo bad a months rest wasted on one walk ...
He has so much muscle on his good leg and none on his sore leg .we need to build back up that leg with out putting extra strain on it ..
Hydrotheropy and swimming theropy i am not sure about as he is not a big fan of water.
Does anyone know of a good massage tecnic to help him?
The other question i have is how do i get him to not favour the one leg ..?
Hope i am making sense ...thanks in advance .
M.

I know you say you don't think ozzie would enjoy hydrotherapy but it's by far the best & least painful way to build up muscles after injury/surgery. It doesn't put pressure on joints as it is almost weightless exercise.

It might be worth your while checking out a few hydrotherapy places as some are better that others. The one I go to is indoor & a relatively small pool with the water heated to body temperature. The hydrotherapist is in the water with the dog at all times, monitoring movement, strength, respiration & ensuring that the dog is using the injured limb correctly.

The trouble with trying to build up muscle bulk with exercise that causes any pain, is that the dog may compensate for the pain by favouring the bad leg ~ then you can run in to all sorts of other problems with the back, spine, neck etc ~ same as for humans. Maybe you could find a canine physiotherapist for some advice?

I don't think massage will have any effect on building up muscle strength & getting ozzie to use his injured leg. It may be pleasant & it may increase circulation, but it won't help muscle strength.

Animal Physiotherapist if your dog doesn't like hydrotherapy.
Preferably one that is registered with the IAAT
The International Association of Animal Therapists (IAAT) is an association of therapists complementary to the veterinary profession.

We go to one with one of my oldies as she has arthritis.
Very pleased with the results.
We are currently working on building up the muscle on one of her legs as she is favouring one leg.
The exercises are tailored to your dog and what it needs.

We've also had the Pulsed Electro Magnetic Fields mat therapy and she wears a Bioflow magnetic collar.

Some pet insurances may cover the cost of this.
Althou MoreThan currently does not unless the physio is a vet or employed directly by the vet.

I would give hydrotherapy a go - they'll be used to dogs that aren't keen on water and will have techniques to introduce it slowly. For example, I know some places have water treadmills where they can get the dog in the tank and slowly add the water at a speed the dog is comfortable with.

Also how long did you walk him for, on or off lead, and what kind of surfaces? Your vet may help you work out a plan to reintroduce him to exercise gradually - e.g. grassy areas tend to be kinder on the joints than pavements, you may need to start with really short short walk up and do baby steps up to longer walks, etc.

I had been doing short pavement walks with no reaction .
Yesterday was about 15 to 20 mins off lead with short breaks around a water logged field..
This morning he has been fine ..
On the hydro front the only place local is P@H and its a treadmill type ..
i asked a few weeks back and they didnt have any trained staff to use it ..

..having been a ch i would advise hydro and its the water treadmill u would need,

failing that its road walks that help build muscle and id recommend.....

http://www.trmdog.com/muscledog.htm

Would you recommend keeping him on Metacam while trying to rebuild ??..
He started his supplements a few weeks back but i know he wont get the benefits for a while ..

imo yes as its the antiinflams u want... is he on the maintenance dose?

Perhaps 20 mins was a little too much - was this his first time off-lead since his rest? I really would do baby steps - if you know he's fine with short pavement walks then I'd choose to either up them slightly, or keep them at the same length and then slowly add on some off-lead time. E.g. short pavement walk with 5 minutes, maybe less, off-lead time for a while. If that's OK, stay at that for a little while then up to 10 minutes. Again, let that stabilise, then up to 15, etc.
What supplements are you using? I have a friend who's manageress in a petshop and she swears by JointAid - her Staffie had cruciate ligament problems but is now running around no problems. She soon notices if she misses a JointAid dose though. She's recommended it to lots of customers who've found it good for their dogs too.

He stopped around 10 days back ..
He showed no reaction to the short walks or from waking so we stopped
going to get another bottle..