I have a female GSD who has developed a limp in her left rear leg. I am not a big believer in vets, so I have been reluctant to go that route. Recommendations?

Dear Cindy,

I have a female German shepherd, born March 29th 2004. She has developed a limp in her left rear leg.

I have been a dog owner for at least fifty years. I have had two other shepherds.

We live on a fairly large ranch. She is very active most of the day and evening I might add. Our land adjoins some pretty wild country. Needless to say she stays busy.

She is about 5-10 lbs overweight. She is big dog, weighs in at 88 lbs. I have never been satisfied with her nutrition. It is very basic off the shelf store bought products. I am willing to do some pretty drastic changing in that area. I just don't know for sure what to do.

I give her a pretty good massage each day, especially on her sore leg. Whatever is the problem is somewhat elusive in that I cannot get any kind of reaction from her in any portion of her foot, leg, hip area, muscle area or bones. When she gets loose, which happens fairly quickly, she can look and act pretty normal. In fact the limp might not be obvious at all. If she has been active, when she rests and goes to get up it is very noticeably.

I am not a big believer in vets, so have been reluctant to go that route. If you any recommendations I would be greatly appreciative.

Thank you in advance,
Roger