Ran hard, hind quarters swelled... is this OK

[Bodegus]

Last summer we ran Marco 3-4 times a week (about 1-2 miles) in addition to a daily walk. I want him to get a bit more exercise and have switched to biking. We are going a bit faster (still a trot) for about 2 miles with intermittent sprints. I noticed that his hind quarters nearly double in size after the run and I never noticed it when we ran on foot.

I do a bit of lifting and was curious if this "pump" was the same thing I experience in the gym (perfectly natural and shows a good workout) or if this is a sign that we're going to hard. Marco is almost 2 years old (80lb) Am Staff. He didn't show any sort of pain. He favored one of his hind legs very briefly the next day going down the stairs (5 flights) which I attributed to being a bit sore from the run. Besides being totally pooped out he is as happy as can be.

TL,DR - Ran dog hard, hind quarters swelled up like a balloon (double in size)

[twisted]

doubling in size seems like alot to me to be "pump". blood does rush into the muscles when worked as you know but ive never seen this in a dog. does it do it in both legs equally ?

[Curly_07]

Do you have any pictures of him? That sounds pretty heavy for an AmStaff, so I'm wondering if maybe he needs to shed a few pounds? If he is overweight, running like that could really hurt him. I've only seen swelling like that on a dog when something has been stressed too much (massages help) or an actual injury from carrying too much weight. It is possible that he is not overweight, and just stressed it from running more/harder than he is used to. I'd like to see pics of the big ham

[Bodegus]

After a week the swelling was not nearly as noticeable, I attribute it to poor pacing on my part. Vet says he's in tip top shape. Weight is attributed to his genetics (off spring of a 65 lb female 80 lb male) with paws and a head to match . I'll add a few pics when I dig up the camera.