For starters, I think this is an incredible site here loaded with information, and I'm amazed at the number of people with genuine concern for their dogs (although I shouldn't be). My question is an interesting one considering my circumstances. I'm currently deployed to Kosovo with my National Guard unit, and I got my first real dog about a year ago - she was already a year and a half when I got her, and we've been learning a lot of stuff together. A lot of my free time over here has been spent reading books on training and checking out this website to see what all I can pick up on. Whenever I've had a problem with Jersey (my lab), I've taken her to the vet.

Unfortunately over here in Kosovo they don't seem to have too many around, and with our mission schedules, asking to borrow one of our vehicles to take a dog to the vet only garners looks of shock from the people I talk to. We've got a few vet techs over here, but I haven't been able to get in touch with any of them, and we've been told there's a bunch of red tape to get any supplies from them.

Where all this leads to is my actual question. There's a purebred German Shepherd female at one of the areas we frequently patrol, and she seems to be an amazingly good dog. When we first started in the area, she was extremely underfed (we found out she had three puppies so that's where the majority of the food was going), but she's been getting a bowl of soup and shaved turkey everyday that we've done patrols in the area. She's finally starting to put a little bit of weight back on and look halfway healthy again, but watching her, I've noticed her back hips seem to be giving her some pain. She walks awkwardly sometimes and you can hear her whining on occasion when she follows you (on a sidenote, she's an incredible guard dog for our Humvees too, and the police officers have said she's bit some of them, but she's been nothing but friendly with US troops and never shown any type of aggression towards any of us). She also chases cars around the area, but you can tell this hurts her as well. If I were stateside, she definitely would have a home by now and have some work done on breaking this habit.

Needless to say, we enjoy having her around, although we know nothing about her. Looking at the puppies, I'm guessing they're about 7-8 weeks old at this point. My real question, however, is if anyone has any recommendations on how to help relieve some of the pain from her hips. I would assume it's dysplasia (of course my opinion really doesn't mean much), but I was wondering if there was anything possible to do. Anyone know of any good methods of relieving some of the pain? I'm heading home on leave in the morning, so I'll be in the US for about 10 days or so, and I wasn't sure if there was anything I could pick up or not - whether it would be from my vet or anywhere else (I heard somewhere you could give dogs baby aspirin, but I'm not sure how valid that is or if it was, if it'd be even applicable in this case). Finally, I apologize for such a long post. The group's thoughts?

Kevin,
I'd actually be thinking injury instead of dysplasia ( especially in a war-zone ).

Here's what I'd do ( but this is based on what we could get away with in a combat zone in my days ):
I'd speak to your unit medics and see if they couldn't get an xray done of the affected area and look for a fx. - if the dog is benefiting your unit, it gives you a bargining chip ( and *any* increase in security is valuable, as you no doubt know )

Or maybe the medics can trade a favor with the vet techs to get the xray done.
But a good diagnosis is the first step, you're shooting in the dark without it.......


P.S. If you can find some SF Medics, they can get away with almost *anything*, they're valuable resources ( and I can say that as a former 18D ).
Get those guys on your side and you can get almost anything medically done.....

Hi Kevein. Welcome, and my sincere thanks for all you are doing to help ensure our safety.

I know that glucosamine and chondroitin can repair damaged joint/cartilage tissue. And they are very safe.

Someone once suggested this:

http://www.recoverysa.com/recovery_sa.htm

Here are a couple of sites about pain meds for dogs with arthritis, and I believe if they have HD, they have or will get arthritis. I could be wrong, I'm no expert by any means, but pain is pain...

http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_medications_for_degenerative_a.html

http://arthritis.about.com/od/dogarthritis/a/painmedications_2.htm

And I have heard that Salmon Oil and Vitamin E capsules can help too.

There is a forum on here just about hip displaysia:

http://www.leerburg.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/ubb/postlist/Board/13/page/1

A lot of this information has been gone over in that section.

Good luck.

I am with Will, I think you are most likely dealing with an injury. .. especially if she chases cars she could have been clipped by one.

I had a dog with bad hips, and she bore it without making a sound, though it was obviously hard for her to get up and lay down.

If you rule out an injury, one of the best products I have seen for sore joints is Synflex ( http://www.leerburg.com/49.htm ) That stuff got my old dog moving again in a couple of weeks. My dog ate it with no problems. (I put it on a piece of bread and folded it over.)

Good luck and bless you for taking an interest in this dog

I've been meaning to update this for a few months now, but I've just never gotten around to it mostly because it's not very good news. I ended up checking out the responses when I got back from leave back at the end of March, and I mostly want to say thank you all for the great advice.

As soon as I got back here to Kosovo, one of the guys in my squad told me that he had heard from a different squad that KPS (the Kosovo Police Service) had finally shot the dog because they had gotten too many complaints about her - I saw her rip the side molding off of one car, but I know she's probably done even more. Anyway, our first patrol out I checked around to see if she was there, and while the other strays were running around, there wasn't any sign of her. Every time we stopped by, I'd always look, hoping the other guy didn't know what he was talking about, but after two weeks and no sign of her, I feared the worst. I know about a month ago KPS and the new department of agriculture basically held a dog hunt to get rid of all the stray dogs - I won't go into any more detail on it - so I'm definitely fearing the worst. We definitely missed seeing her around, and as I'm getting ready to head back, I can tell some of our replacements are already enjoying the company of a few of the strays we still see so I guess that makes it a bit easier.

Anyway, I just wanted to say thank you all again for the advice, and you can be assured that I'll be asking questions more questions about my own dog once I get back. It sounds like my parents have pretty much spoiled her so I'll have my hands full. Once again, I apologize for the update and especially for the bad news and want to say thanks again.

I'm sorry to hear that.

I know that the forum will be ready and eager to welcome you home and to help you with your own dog when you get back.

Kevin,
A couple of words of advice from a fellow Nasty Guardsman, a little late-

1)Don't get busted by your chain of command, for adopting mascots.

2)Convince, bribe, whatever, one of the medics to give you a rabies vaccination. Yes, the Army has rabies vaccinations, and if you're really persuasive, you can talk the medics at the TMC into giving you one. (They keep them on hand for K9 handlers, SF, etc)

3)It's good to love and care about the strays, but realize that at the end of the day, you won't be able to take 'em home, and you may only be delaying the inevitable and causing yourself a whole lot of heartache.

4)Most Commands have policies about feeding strays. For a good reason. If you're starving to play with a dog (and trust me, I know the feeling), find a MP unit that has a K9 section. Despite what most people think, most handlers are willing to let you pet and play with the dog, to a certain extent.

5)If you do "adopt" a stray, see if you can work a "drug deal" with one of the Vet Techs (you should have at least one), or even a Combat Medic, to try and help the dog.

6)Sorry to hear about the GSD. Dogs are good for your sanity overseas. Our MWDs were probably the only things that kept me sane in Iraq. Seek out and befriend the MP K9 handlers.

Thanks for the advice - I passed it on to our replacements so hopefully they start out on the right foot - our commander was pretty cool about everything, but it sounds like these guys are in for a treat with theirs. As for me, I'm loading up on the bird in a few days and heading back home, and after nine years and a little bit of a stop-loss, I'm calling it good once I get back. My flip-flops are a little more comfortable than combat boots.