Sore hind leg

About a week ago, Rascal seemed to be favouring her R hind leg. When she jumped from the kids trampoline her hind legs collapsed. The same thing happened when she jumped down from the couch. Well, she no longer collapses when she jumps but she still seems to favour that leg a tiny bit. She's no longer as "bouncy" as she used to be,however she still jumps all over the kids! We feed her according to the Whole Prey model of feeding and I know during that week we prob overdid the bones. Are we doing the wrong thing by letting her up on the trampoline? Is it maybe too high for her? She also has a real bum swaying thing goin' on when she walks. is this usual for Staffs? She's our first dog so a lot of this is uncharted territory for us! All advice/opinions welcome

The bum swaying is typical staffy walk! It's quite unique to the breed, and you can spot a staff a mile off just because of 'the walk'!

Your feeding routine won't have anything to do with the leg. If she's doing well on the prey model diet, then keep going. If you give too many bones all that will happen is she'll get a bit constipated & you just cut down the ratio a bit.

She's still very young (can't remember how old she is) and I wouldn't be too comfortable with her jumping from fairly high places just yet. She probably strained a tendon or muscle & it's taking a while to fully heal. If it hasn't eased off by the middle of next week I'd pop her to the vets to make sure there's nothing else.

Caryll wrote:The bum swaying is typical staffy walk!

The walk is one of the things I love about staffies. I can watch Ty walk from behind for ever. It amuses me the way each back foot is placed exactly in the place of the other which produces that characteristic gait. I keep trying to video it but somehow not managing that yet.

I dont think bouncing on a trampoline would be too good for your pup either.

Try to avoid any jumping around, if there is a problem with the leg this isn't going to help it heal properly. keep to short walks on the lead for now.

They do have a sexy wiggle don't they. I'm sure Rocky exaggerates this when he sees the young ladies jogging around our local park it's so funny

The walk is normal. Staffies take awhile to fully mature usually 2-3 years. They tend to put on weight faster than their neuromuscular system can devolp. High impact exercise such as jumping, weight pulling, back packing and running on concrete should be avoided or at least minimized until they are 18-24 months old and then be gradually built up or increased.

This allows for the joints, ligaments and tendons to be able to properly support the dog and reduce long term health care issues such as arthrirtis and hip displacia.

Thanks so much guys, still working on the trampoline thing short of removing it altogether, not sure how to stop her. So, we've put a low table next to it which cuts the jump height in half, so she's jumping 25cm onto the table, and 75 cm onto the ground. She seems better now, and thanks for the reassurance about the sexy staffy hip sway thing Caryll, she's 10mths old now. Will have to post an up to date pic.