My Sophie dog (GWP) crossed the rainbow bridge early at nine years old this summer.
After a divorce where I got no hunting done last year I was looking forward to this year. My new Girlfriend came through and ended up buying a Drahthaar pup for me.
Ruby is a great dog and truly different than any pup that I have before. She is very mellow and not as puppy like as most puppies that I have had in the past. When I went to get her second set of shots she had swollen lymph node glands in her legs and up in her neck. The vet decided to hold off and wait on giving her, her shots until the next week. We did this and then moved on for three weeks with Ruby seeming fine doing puppy things. Last week we noticed she was getting sluggish and a little lethargic. By Saturday she seemed stiff and her joints in her legs looked bigger than normal (we even had her at the vet this day with our other dog getting his shots). On Sunday when we got up her hind end didn't want to work and she was falling over. Her joints were huge along with her jaw. Off to the vet we went. I contacted the breeder and found that one of her siblings had the same issue. The vet their said HOD. After some tests our vet said the same thing. I guess HOD happens in large breed pups where the growth plates in the bones swell which causes swelling in the joints. It usually affect the legs, but can affect other areas also. It is not a genetic disease and neither one of her parents had this issue. The docs don't know exactly what causes it, but think it may be over nutrition.
We have Ruby on antibiotics and anti-inflammatory medication. She seemed like she was doing better until yesterday when we got home she had swelling in joints in her legs again. It was only day five of 14 days of medication, so I am hoping it will get better.
Has anyone ever had any issues with HOD? What did you do? Was there any long term affects for your dog? We paid a pretty penny for her and I was going to run her through all the VDD testing, so I am hoping for the best.