that it's something simple, not a blown ACL. Keep in mind that even if it
isn't something major
soft tissue injuries can take months to fully heal. I know from personal experience with my dogs, I've been through it a few different times. Mine are pretty much all high energy dogs that go blasting around the field when we go out to do chores. They wrestle, they sometimes body slam each other, once in a while one will knock another right off their feet. The injuries seem to happen most often when they're under a year old (not tiny pups, they aren't that rough with a newer/younger pup), but around the 6-12 month age. When Flash was 6 months I was really worried about one of his hips because he was often carrying the foot up and running around on three legs (like he didn't even have a 4th leg and it was the most natural thing in the world
) He'd sometimes be a bit stiff or "off" when he got up from sleeping and then walk it off but when running around he'd end up going on 3 legs. The vet couldn't find anything really wrong with him and just told me that soft tissue injuries can take a really long time to heal, more so in my situation with so many active dogs. I tried limiting his activity and would leave him behind while I had the others out running around doing chores but then he'd run around the backyard at times anyhow so I finally just let him come along. It took
months before he was over it but he's fine now, and my daughter uses him for skijoring. When Rain was around 9-10 months she got hurt too, on a front leg or shoulder. She had to sit out what should have been her first season training in harness but she's perfect now and raced with my team last year.
Good thing to get it checked out so you know for sure what's going on. Hopefully it will be nothing too much
