Member Question About Hip Dysplasia
Christine, a regular member and poster here at AgilityFusion has a question for everyone. Her beloved dog Sideway just got confirmation from her vet that she needs replacement surgery for hip dysplasia. She is wondering, are there any people on here whose dogs have had the surgery? And are they still running in agility? (thank God for veterans and preferred classes, right?) Your story might be an encouragement to her. Click on “comments” (or scroll to the bottom of page if you are on the page already).
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i was looking through the member photos section and ran across your question. there’s a guy that trains at our place that has a border collie with hip dysplasia. she had her hip replaced and once she healed, she was right back to agility. i haven’t had class with them recently, but last i knew, she was doing just fine. not even a limp on that side.
Hi Christine,
I have a spaniel, and it developed patella problems despite my taking precautions for safely doing agility. I was very discouraged but attended agility events, took my dog to specialists, and wondered just how we were going to get through this. As with most agility participants, we were totally commited to the sport to the point of obsession.
While attending a trial (just as an observer), I happened to run into people running spaniels. I happened to talk to them, and as usual found that agility participants are the very nicest people on the planet. And they’d had experience with their dogs having surgery. They gave me advice (research how many times the vet has done the surgery, ask other owners about success rates, how to handle recovery, and ask about the ability to do agility afterward, etc.). Turns out that one of the dogs they run has competed at the national level after the surgery (one of AKC’s top five). So provided that you do your research, and all goes well, surgery doesn’t have to end your agility fun. And there’s always preferred class as an option to have the fun but maybe not the blinding speed. Good luck!