New or old injury?

[Maximus]

I have somehow been blind this whole time. After teaching my puppy "paw", he seemed like he always raised hes right paw in the air when I made him "sit". I taught he was trying to give me "paw", but today I noticed that there is something wrong with his paw. Today for the second time within the 3 weeks he fell and rolled over while running. First time I was like "haha what a puppy thing to do".

Today I took him to the local park, it's fully fenced (NOT A DOG PARK). Another dog showed up very friendly, he was off leash. I let Max off leash too, after seeing how well they are playing. During the play I noticed max being a little "drunk". When he started running after the other dog he tumbled like the first time 3 weeks ago, same side, same turn, same way. When he walked home he did amazing!!! I didn't even have to correct him on the walk. He came home drank water and laid on my bad. Started licking hes right paw, AND IT ALL CLICKED IN MY HEAD. When I examined hes wrists the left one went straight about 90% but the right paw went back 100% more then it should from knowing my dog. I see some swelling also just a little bit. He is a very brave little boy, when I touched him he closed hes eyes, but didn't make a sound I felt so bad!

Last time we saw hes veterinarian was on 03/29/2012 for the last set of shots for a while. He was very surprised at Max's temperament, he said your dog seems too nice for his own good, I might take him. We looked up the guy, asked friends, He checked out and has been a vet for 25 years. My point is he didn't even notice anything during the check up....


Max is;
3 months, 4 days old.
Weighs 25.8Lbs.
unneutered male.

No im not going to breed. Vet said, I'll let you know when to get him neutered.


Do you guys think this is a old injury coming back?
My vet is already closed :/. I was wondering what to do till tomorrow?

[cashisking]

Make an appointment to bring your little guy in as soon as possible- and try to keep him from walking on it too much. It's possible he may have just sprained himself or some hyper-extension, and it could be that it's a recent thing.
It's also possible he could be experiencing a painful growth spurt; when Cash was growing he would sometimes pick up a hitch in his step that resolved within a day or so. However, there was never any obvious signs of pain, swelling or discomfort in Cash's hitch.
Your little Guy's injured paw, combined with hyper-extension and swelling- and a reaction to the paw's manipulation- should be big enough clues that something's not normal.

Also- for a general check-up and shots, vets don't always do full-on physicals unless an owner raises some concern. Your pup was there for shots, and he got his shots, and you raised no concerns about your pup's development and your stoic pup showed no outward signs of injury.
Ask any of us, our Bully dogs can be too stoic for their own good.

So go ahead and make an appointment, with the reasoning that your dog's got a swollen paw. The Vet will me more aware of it in his checkup and help you out much more this time around.

[Leslie H]

At his age, bull breeds often go through some crazy growth stages, so hopefully, what your seeing is just some temporary looseness that he'll grow out of. His always giving you his right paw could be totally coincidence. Dogs are "handed", just like we are right or left handed.
I would still make the vet appointment though.