Situation:
Murphy, a working line GSD. Male, 4months old. Very high drives and well exercised/fed (raw/HK combo). Saturday 20-Oct-07, we took him and our other dog for a long walk on a groomed trail. Total distance about 2.5-3 miles. Yup, a bit too long, and now I seem to be paying the price as well as Murphy. He is vaccine-free and will be a Schutzhund worker.

Problem:
Yesterday 21-Oct-07, Murphy was limping very slightly on right front leg during the day. Worse in the evening. When I checked the leg, he reacted to gentle pressure right on the "point" of his right elbow. This morning 22-Oct-07, limp was more pronounced.

Question:
Is the limp likely a reaction to overly stressing the joint on the long Saturday walk? He's going to the vet first opportunity, but I wanted to get the considered opinions from here. My wife had the very good thought that he may just be a bit stiff, which was why the limp was more pronounced this morning. She's going to monitor him carefully as he stretches out more during the morning.

Thank you for all the ideas I'm hoping to get!

-J

Seems a bit of a distance for a Pup that age of any breed, My four Month old G.S pup 'Goran' gets about half Kilometer twice a day and 30 minutes play in the garden playing with a piece of old Sack and his Obly Ball on a piece of rope to promote his drive, that is cut into two sessions of 15 minutes a time
then twice a week he goes to the training field to watch older dogs the trainer will give him 5 minutes with a piece of Sack thats his lot, Of Course i take his Obly ball on a rope with me and some treats, but he does little running around. but for me enough work for a little fellow like him
I hope your Pup does not suffer any problems we keep our fingers crossed for him

Jim, even though I believe you walked him too far, I would have a hard time believing that one incident like this will mess him up permanently. Your wife is probably right about the stiffness.

You might want to get a product that I give to my dog and have given since he was a small pup. It's Recovery SA at this site where you can read more about it. I think it's worth getting, both as a preventative and for healing: http://www.recoverysa.com/recovery_sa.htm