2 Year Old Cairn Terrier - Clicking Hips

Hi there,

Sorry I'm asking advice for the 2nd time in as many days. 2 years ago, we got our first dog - a Cairn Terrier. I read 2 books on feeding/caring for the animal etc and they both said that exercise was absolutely essential for a happy dog. Unfortunately I took this to the extreme after watching the Dog Whisperer on Sky TV who recommends masses of exercise - apparently all your dog should do at home is rest after the vigour of the day.

Bearing this in mind, I ran my puppy for at least an hour a day, sometimes more. It was when he was 10 months old that I did more reading, and discovered that you're not supposed to exercise a young dog for long periods of time as their hips aren't developed properly.

I was absolutely gutted as I genuinely was trying to do the right thing, but I was reading dog books instead of caring for puppies books. As it is my now 2 year old Cairn seems fine - he's as fit as a fiddle and has boundless energy. I have however, noticed that his hips click audibly when he sits/lies down. He's certainly not lame, and as such the vet does not want to x-ray him unnecessarily, but I'm so upset that I've possibly set him up for problems later in life due to my ignorance.

I'm giving him Glucosamine supplements, and Cod Liver Oil, but his joints definitely click when he makes a fresh movement. Is it inevitable that he will be in pain in later life?

Thanks for any advice you can offer,

Emma.x

Try not to panic, I have a 2yr old Rottie x GSD whose hips click very loudly. I wanted to do agility with her and was concerned she had hip dysplasia, so got an orthapedic vet to x-ray her hips when she was 1yr old.
He said her hips were really good and hip dysplasia was something I would never have to worry about. he said the clicking is more than likely to do with the gases in, is it the ligaments, sorry I was so excited her hips were fine after all I cant. be sure what he said the gases were in, but think he said ligaments and was nothing to worry about just ignore it.
The clicking stopped for a while and I thought perhaps it was connected to her growing, but she is now 2.5yrs old and they are clicking loud and clear again, but like your little one is not lame at all.
I personally wouldn't be giving glucosamine unless you know there is definatly a problem with your dogs hip joints.
If it really is worrying you then I would get her hips x-rayed so you can definatly know one way or another and put your mind at rest.

Don't worry too much, if your dog has really good hips he may well still be fine, I have a friend who like you was worried to learn late on in puppyhood she should not have been allowing her young puppy to go skateboarding with her & jump on & off the top bunk each day but when his hips were scored they were only one point different from his carefully treated brother & both were way below the breed average. Clicking need not be conected to the bones as has been explained above. Good luck with him.

Thanks so much for your reassurance and kind words, you've really helped to put my mind at rest. As the dog isn't at all lame, and never seems to be in any pain, I wondered if I was worrying about nothing.

I suppose even if I have inadvertantly worn his hip joints a little, there's not really a lot I can do about it now except to look after him as best I can in order to set him up well for his old age, which is a long way off yet!

I'm more frustrated by my own ignorance and the fact that my ham fisted attempts at educating myself in caring for dogs, may have in fact harmed my little man instead of doing the right thing.

Still - Archie has paved the way for any dogs I own in the future, at least I'm determined to learn from my mistakes. And in the meantime I've got a glorious happy bouncy little cairn who's as fit as a fiddle and loves every minute of his life!

Thanks again for your help, this forum is brilliant!

Emma.x

Sorry I've just read this. Glad that you've been reassured a little. It's not a good idea (as you now know) to over exercise a puppy but many of the problems are more so in the large (fast growing breeds) and if you think about it this way if a puppy were in a pack it would probably be running all day long, so while it's not best to overexercise a puppy hopefully you've just got a lovely fit little dog

Not a dog but one of my friends knees click away when she bends down and straightens up. It sounds awful but she has nothing wrong with them.