hip muscles

Question
Dear Dawn: I have an eleven y.o German Shepard which the vets say is losing muscle control of his left hip. (they expect the right hip muscles will also go bad in the future). He doesn't seem to be in pain from it but does fall down a lot when running, squatting, etc. Just want to verify that this is the problem and not hip dsplacia since i've never heard of it before. Would also like any info you might be able to give me on the subject. Thank you and bless you, EMatherly

Answer
Hi Earl,  When a GSD gets older, their hip muscles do get more lax which can cause hip dysplasia to come out because when the hip muscle starts to relax, that can cause the hip to slowly separate from the socket, which technically is hip dysplasia.  That is why pretty much 99% of GSD's after the age of 9 have hip dysplasia, because their bodies will cause it naturally with the muscles slowly deteriorating.  When correcting hip dysplasia in younger dogs, they rely on those hip muscles to compensate for the hip joint not working correctly.  When the dog gets older and the muscles start to breakdown, the joint can't hold up the dog and that is why you see the falling down.  Unfortunately it all goes hand in hand when the dogs get older.  Hope this helps,

Dawn