Dogs hiding injuries??

Taking the lead from another thread, how often do your dogs hide or ignore injuries.??
I am sure oz is compensating on one of his rear legs after he stopped limping a few months back ..
More muscle on one than the other ..
Am i making sense????

You make perfect sense.

I have one who tries to hide cuts she's got from being silly in the garden - she hates having them cleaned She also bites at her belly button a lot so much so that one year we had to have an Elizabethan collar on her for a while, the vets had checked her out and nothing medically wrong just behaviourally - we soon figured out it was when she was stressed - she's started doing it again now her owners have got a new pup it took me forever to stop her the first time.
She also has fallen down a 10ft drop into a storm drain hitting her head on the concrete wall and when a man finally jumped in to get her (it was too far down for me and I would've been stuck myself) she was running around like nothing had happened - she's crazy but I love her for it

Then we have Louie who will hide his scrapes from trying to beat up the garden he once pushed Sadie off a 10" wall onto the grass - he was the one who hurt himself and milked it til his lead came out and then he was all fine

Then we have Benjie... he will fake any injury if it means he can sleep all day and get treats and fuss..not off me.
But lately he's been having problems with his elbow and hip and hasnt been out of the house except the garden...and now he's realised the other two get to go out he's trying to get sympathy and trying to hide his swollen elbow (his hip is ok now) but he shall be going to the vets - it started off as a simple - he must have slept funny/jumped off the bed funny or just banged it but it's the 3rd week now (it seemed to have disappeared last week so he got short on lead walks) but now it's back
So the vets for him...joy!

My dog compensates and it drives me crazy because I never can pin down WHERE she is hurting! Maddening! She doesn't want me poking and prodding she just wants her ball thrown!

Shady is terrible for that she had a completly ruptured cruciate ligament which must have been so painful, but it took us months to diagnose as she would never show lameness or reaction at the vets and she would still run over the field like a looney running and jumping for her frisbee. At home she would tear round like a looney spinning at speed on her back legs, it was only now and then I would catch her limping if she got up normally from rest.

sounds like ozzie .. Only shows when getting up from rest ..

Could also be HD, specially if he has muscle wastage on one side,

Not forgetting spondylosis, something Boxers are very prone too.

Both of mine, Bandit diagnosed at 3, Millie, only just.

But yes they do compensate or hide pain, its within their survival instant to do so.

Was talking about this with a friend and our vet a while ago. Dogs do hide pain very well sometimes, anything to do with teeth quite often apparently.

When he first limped I left it a few days then on the morning i was going to take him to the vets he stopped limping altogether..
Can a vet tell if a dog has HD from looking and feeling or does it have to be x rays ???

He would need to x ray for a true diagnosis.

but your vet should be able to tell you through manipulation of the back legs, whether he suspects any trauma to hips/joints /ligaments.

Unless he goes of lame again, i would not not bother taking it further , just keep an eye on it and keep vet informed.

You can also (if any joint problems are suspected) give Glucosamine , to help.

Bandit has had HD for many yrs now, he has no muscle on either side , I keep pain medication in, for when I feel he needs it.


Boxers are prone to HD, its one of my biggest bugbears, that Hip Scoring is not a recommendation for the breed.

You would be hard pressed to get any breeder hip score their Boxers, some will but they are the minority.

the last time I looked , the mean score was 16

Cherry hid her eye problems very convincingly as I wasn't aware she had very little eye-sight and the vet was amazed when I said we had been doing agility as she said Cherry wouldn't have been able to see the equipment and was just going by my voice commands and we must have a fantastic bond.

I felt awful-a right heel for not noticing. The only thing I had noticed was when you put her food down she would spend a minute sniffing all over her dish but I thought it was just cos she was getting fussy in her old age. Of course it was because she couldn't see very well and needed to smell to know what was in there.