my dog has a soft tissue injury in her front left shoulder. x rays look great, she eats a raw diet, healthy besides the shoulder injury. my question is the orthpitic vet said six weeks on a leash in and out no walks just healing is this over kill

Sounds about right to me. Your dog may be bouncing off the walls for awhile, but it needs time to heal and then gradually work her back up to where she was. Too much too soon and it may not heal correctly. Work her mentally as much as possible to tire her out.

Joseph, what type of soft tissue was injured? Was it muscle? tendon? ligament? Can you describe what it is the vet thinks she injured, and what her symptoms were, and are now?

Soft tissue injuries don't show up on x-rays, but if it were a tendon or ligament injury, it could loosen a joint, causing effusion or early arthritic changes to bones (which WOULD show up on x-rays). Depending on severity, tendon and ligament injuries can take a loooooong time to heal, and if there is actual tearing, they may not heal at all. I don't know too much about shoulder injuries, and I'm guessing there are more sprains and strains than torn ligaments to that area, but still, better safe than sorry with the rest and rehab.

My dog sprained a ligament in his knee a few months ago and we're JUST now doing some off leash romps and play. I won't take him out running with me for another week or so, and we'll start up very gradually - this dog was doing 4-6 miles with me 5 days a week in December... but I'm being cautious. Remember, they'll FEEL a whole lot better before the tissues on the inside have had a chance to completely heal, so there's always a chance that they'll overdue it too soon, hence the long rest period.

~Natalya

natalya, nothing showed up on the xray, she said the xrays looked great, the vet though it was the bicep tendon that was inflammed and causeing the problem, the symptoms were limping every couple months for about a year were would take a day off from excriseing and she would be fine for months till about a month ago till it hit a peak . it has been about 6 days of rest and mostly all the lameness has gone away all ready and she poped her collar in the back yard last night and ran a 100 mph but didnt limp after , now i will take her out on her prong.

Joseph, I'd take the ortho's advise here and limit activity for at least a month... if not the full 6 weeks. I know it sounds like a million years (believe me, I was just in your shoes!!), but if this has been going on for a full year, intermittently, and it isn't something serious like a tear or rupture, than it's obvious that she isn't being given enough time to completely heal before she goes back to really working that tendon. A day or two of rest is sometimes enough to get inflamation down and get the dog to FEEL better, but it isn't nearly enough time for the body to fix itself...

Glad her x-rays looked great - and you should be glad the only treatment recommended here is rest!! A lot of orthopedic problems can require much more serious and invasive procedures to fix them - crate rest and leash walks are an absolute best case scenario!

As was mentioned above, since exercise is out of the question, you can start tiring her out mentally during this rest period, with games that don't require her to move much - it's more fun than it sounds, and surprisingly, they do get tired just thinking a little harder!

Cheers,
~Natalya