I took my 10 month old GSD, Jerry, for a 4ish mile walk earlier this week. I got lost and the walk ended up being waaaay longer than I had intended. Anyway, he has never displayed any signs of discomfort relating to his back legs or hips, but after the walk he seemed to be in pain when going from a sitting position to an attempt at a "sit up" (me holding a biscuit above his head prompting an up). He seems better now, but I'm really paranoid of dysplasia since he is really big for a GSD and grew really fast.

Here's some background info:
- Jerry has got to be near 100 lbs and he turned 10 mos. on the 5th. He's skinny looking and you can just see his last rib. He's about 28" at the top of the shoulder. Maybe a little more now.
- He has never had any trouble running or getting up. No bunny hops ever. Even after the long hike.
- He’ll jump into the back of my SUV when he is going to the park, but after he has run around for a bit he makes me lift him in to go home. No complaining from him, but he doesn’t want to jump. It's a pretty high jump.
- His diet is Innova adult dry with the occasional yogurt and I've started adding a raw egg every other day.
- His normal walks/light jogs (my jogging pace is a fast walk for him) are 2 miles or less in a day.
- When he was neutered at 6 mos. the vet took a hip x-ray and said they looked good.
- His parents were OFA good. The sire was an old dog about 10ish and looked great for that age (also BIG). No movement issues.

What do you think? Does this sound like the beginning of dysplasia? Is it time to panic? Thanks!

Take him to your vet and have them do a physical exam. Sounds like he was just really tired after the walk but it's better to know for sure that he was just tired and not suffering from anything else.

I'm going to try and get him into the vet tomorrow. He seems to be getting worse. If I lay him on his side and gently stretch his leg out he'll yelp. And he's looking kind of stiff. This seemed to come on really fast.

This could get ugly. I'm really attached to him, but from what I've read the surgical procedures to repair this are waaaay too expensive. The decision to put a dog down or watch him live in pain just wasn’t something I was planning on here. My family just lost a dog to cancer not too long before Jerry arrived. This really sucks. Maybe the vet will have good news.

Wish me luck.

How'd it go at the vet's? Hope good news.