I would say, take a breath and let him be for a few days to a week. That way your reaction isn't gonna influence his symptoms. (I tell people, I can make a couple of my dogs limp in minutes just by checking feet and acting sympathetic.)

Dogs are tough....I have a client JRT that jumped of a second story porch....prey drive overrode his brain. He did break a leg. He did not catch the squirrel.

Had a senile 15yr old poodle walk off a bridge, fall 12 feet to a 3 inch deep creek flowing over solid shale. He had bruises and contusions on his skinny vertebrae since he landed flat on his back. Stiff for a couple days and fine after....lived a couple more years.

Dogs are tough.

Are you concerned about dysplasia or that the fall would somehow cause it? The dog either is gonna grow into it or not. I don't see an injury causing it. Too I have known dysplastic dogs that lived long pain free lives (my bullmastiffX GSD for one). Weight and musculature influence that too. Look at Bulldogs....they are basically all dysplastic but their other structure and their muscles 'hold it together' .

From Raising a Working Puppy DVD: "Genetics only accounts for 25% of HD. The other 75% are caused by dogs being overweight or overexercise."

 Quote: Alyssa Myracle

Dogs tend to live in the moment, however, and I'd lean towards pain, rather than trauma, effecting his behavior.

that s true! i always tend to forget that bit and humanize him instead..

 Quote: Ana Kozlowsky

Sometimes I play mini-tug or mini-fetch with my dogs: same idea only the dog does not get up, very small movements. If you want to build his confidence you shall let Karly win more often than not, I believe.

mini games are what ive been doing. good idea for the making him win most of the times Ana! i NEVER used to let him win. i thought it helped me keep the leader's position ..

one thing i m still concerned about still: ever since the accident, Karly doesnt have a problem with my mom or gf touch him but with me he cowers BIGTIME! if i barely touch his back for instance he takes a step back, sits automatically or just drops on the floor.
he follows me around less and pays more attention to my mom (she arrived before me when we were heading back to see him after the accident and greeted her with more energy) and gf! (call it childish but m the one who takes care of him 24/7 nad it actually makes me sad!

any advice apart from the tug? i still feed him and walk him and play with him the most ...

He's probably instinctively reacting to the feminine. He is still a pup, after all. Babies are naturally attracted to the high pitch female voice over the deeper male voice. At least, that's what they tell new moms.

Go back to the Tellington Touch website and watch a couple of the videos. The technique of the circle and the hand on the skin (she demonstrates it well on a horse) is very easy to master. For some reason it causes the animal's brain to focus on the constantly changing position of the hand. It helps you and the dog to relax and allows your systems to meld together. I know it sounds metaphysical and kind of out there, but it helped me with my last pup with getting him in his crate on command at 12 weeks old and with the recall his whole 11 years of life. I was also his sun and moon forever after.

 Quote: michel karsouny

 Quote: alyssa myracle

Dogs tend to live in the moment, however, and I'd lean towards pain, rather than trauma, effecting his behavior.

that s true! i always tend to forget that bit and humanize him instead..

 Quote: ana kozlowsky

Sometimes I play mini-tug or mini-fetch with my dogs: same idea only the dog does not get up, very small movements. If you want to build his confidence you shall let Karly win more often than not, I believe.

mini games are what ive been doing. good idea for the making him win most of the times Ana! i NEVER used to let him win. i thought it helped me keep the leader's position ..

Anthropomorphization (applying human traits to the non-human) is actually very disrespectful to animals because you put unfair expectations on them. They can't and won't behave like humans, which is why we have to learn how to read and speak their language.

Always let your dog win. The trick is teaching it to trade you its toy for a yummy treat or another toy (ie: teaching it to out/drop/release an item on command). It really does help with their confidence level.

Also, it's alright to be upset that your pup is upset and not wanting affection from you. Like I said earlier though, that attitude is affecting him and making it worse. You're actually reinforcing his fear. You have to be indifferent. Here's were an analogy to the human works. When a 2-3 year old child is running around and takes a hard digger, the parent's reaction will determine the child's reaction. If the parent acts like nothing happened the child will act like it's made out of rubber, bounce back up, and keep running. If the parent starts going "OMG are you ok, baby?!", the kid's going to lose it and start bawling. Dogs are very much like that and, as Ed says, they know what you know before you do and your energy flows down leash. One thing my martial art Master is fond of saying is, energy flows where your attention goes. Be strong for your little trooper, he's counting on you for leadership.

i know it s disrespectful scott! that s y m in this forum i need to learn how karly fonctions.

doing more of the making him win. didnt correct him once. just positive reinforcement and trading with treat or another toy.

m more indifferent than before. he seems to be doing better with it.

checked out the tellington touch and tried it out on karly. it s weird how it works although it s kinda close to massage no?
anyway, it was clear that karly felt some comfort. gonna research more about it. thanks Mariellena

Right on, man. I wasn't trying to berate you and I'm sorry if you got the feeling I was. Anthropomorphism (used the wrong word earlier) is one of my pet peeves because I've also had reptiles for most of the last 15 years. I can be a bit blunt about it at times.

You'll learn a lot from this site, I know I have. Make sure you go through the free materials (e-books, pod casts, and videos) that are available on the site.

hehe no worries. i m actually against it too. most of the people here are very old school. kibble is even relatively new.
imagine how annoying everyone can be. there s only ONE person i know that s heard of schutzhund, people dont pick up after their dogs ... etc

german shepherd here is called wolf dog and are believed to be ferocious dogs ... most of the people dont have a clue!