how much exercise

Question
QUESTION: hello, i have a 10month male Labrador gun dog, who has been diagnosed with hip dysplacia, i was wondering how much exercise i should give him. i usually walk him for about 5-10 minutes with a slow walk. i wanted to know if this was enough or should i be giving him more. the vet said that his hips are worse than normal dysplacia.
thank you

ANSWER: Wow 10 months old and has hip dysplasia already? That is bad breeding for sure. I am really sorry that he is so bad at such a young age. My question is what are you going to do? Get him hip replacements or ?

Exercise is a big question mark when it comes to dysplasia. It doesn't help it and it's not known if it hurts it. I can tell you this, it hurts the dog. I think the slow walking is probably all he can handle. Most dog's with bad hips at this age are always in pain, and usually only want to sit down.

What does your vet say about the exercise? I really don't know how much is too much so I would ring your vet and ask what his advice is. Vets over here usually do a femoral-head osteotomy one hip at a time on a dog like this which can help ease the pain, but you cannot hunt or run them. Of course hip replacement surgery is the best option but is usually economically unfeasible for most people.

Here is an article on hip dysplasia that might answer some questions for you:
http://www.peteducation.com/article_print.cfm?c=2+1569&aid=444

Be sure to read the whole article as it talks about exercise down the page some.
I hope that somehow you can help him out.


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: hello. thank you for the reply, the vet suggested an opertstion which makes the socket deeper and taking some of the ball off but this would cause him alot of pain later on. he also suggested double hip replacements which we would have to wait until he is fully developed, as we wouldn't hunt or run him. he is on pain killers so it is easier to cope.
thank you again for your reply

Answer
One of the articles I sent explains the femoral head surgery. You cannot make the socket deeper but you remove the head of the femur- the ball joint that normally fits into the socket- thus is eliminates the rubbing, inflammation and pain that the normal movement causes.
We have done this surgery mostly on older dogs, so I don't even know if it causes pain later on. The dogs we have done them on do well until they die, which has been from 3-7 years. So it all depends on the dog's age for sure. He is so very young for this to happen to.
I hope that you will speak to the breeder about this. These people need to stop breeding this line so this doesn't happen to other innocent puppies.

I hope he does well. Good luck.