We just can't seem to get this regular updates thing going. I will blame it on Tucker. We found out earlier this month that the poor boy has hip dysplasia, which explains his intermittent weird gait that mainly affects his left rear leg.
His hips look like this:
We had to take him to an orthopedic specialist to give us an idea how bad he thought they were. We were relieved to hear that, though he does have some minor muscle atrophy in the left leg, indicating that there's some pain or discomfort, in general his hips are not that bad. And he's showing no arthritis. So he didn't recommend taking any drastic steps, like surgery, at this stage. We're supplementing him with Nupro Joint Supplement for now, and we're supposed to keep his activity level to "moderate." So no long hikes or running with the bike anymore. Poor boy. He's so young, it makes me sad that we have to curtail his activity. But I do have some plans for alternative activities to keep his little body exercised and fit.
Doc, meanwhile, is still practicing for his BH. The training director of our schutzhund club, Butch Henderson, has us going back and doing some foundation work. He thinks we need to work on more focus and control during the "fuss." I was hoping we'd be on the field for a BH in March, but it may have to wait till a little later this spring so we can clean up our act.
The good news, though, is that we finally got a DVG scorebook for Doc. I haven't actually held it in my hand, but Ron has it so we are good to go!
