My young gyp pulled a muscle in her shoulder a few weeks ago and while I have tried to rest her, she is still limping.
She is a ball chasing maniac and that is how I keep her in shape. I've been throwing a ball for her for a couple of years now and it works well. I usually run her with the ball twice a day, I let her run around a bit to warm up before we start in on the serious ball chasing. She runs very hard for it and I had her in good lean hard shape.
Until she fell in the drainage ditch! A few weeks ago she knocked the ball into the ditch which had water in it, she had not done this before and I don't think she realized it had water in it until she went in after that ball. She dropped the ball and refused to go get it and that night she was limping from her right shoulder.
I rested her for a week and she was not limping so I let her chase the ball a couple times and she was limping again. Rested her another week and she was bouncing off the walls from not getting that exercise. She goes out and runs laps in the yard and is limping again.
I think she must have pulled a muscle or tendon in her shoulder from the shock of falling in the water. How long does such an injury usually take to heal? It's been hard to keep a high energy dog quiet as she is used to daily exercise. Now she's not getting it since she is still limping and I don't want this to be a permanent problem.
Any suggestions? Or should I just keep her quiet as much as possible and give it more time to heal? That's what I've been doing so far.
Here's a photo of her taken the week before she hurt her shoulder, she was in great shape --