A fit well exercised dog will cope better with dysplasia than an unfit one. If you exercise your puppy you cannot create dysplasia ..you will only possibly bring to the surface an already underlying problem. But a fit well muscled puppy will be better off with or without dysplasia. Of course if the puppy is lame you need to rest him / her...but once the limping stops slowly build up some muscle tone again by walking.
I have experienced on a number of occassions vets tell my puppy owners that their pups have dysplasia. When consulted I ask the owner to ensure xrays are sent to a specialist radiologist for a report ...99% of the time the specialist reports back that there is no problem. Of course no hips are perfect and if the vet is comparing BMD xrays with fox terrier xrays the BMD will always look worse. Shoulder OCD is very easily fixed with surgery ..its the best to have if you have to have any of it. As the shoulder is the first point of contact in any body slamming game or a clumsey pup running into something you can often have soft tissue or ligament damage which can take a while to heal. Although a puppy might have periods of lameness growing up, often problems right themselves after the growth phase is complete. In some cases I would not rush to have surgery performed...especially if the dog is not cronically lame. How many stairs are we talking about when lifting? I think a Bernese puppy can manage a few stairs ok ...the problem lies with a puppy deciding he/ she might just skip the last 6 and do a superman act off the verandah etc. These are just my opinions. All the best with your baby! Nicole Lennon Zanzebern Bernese Australia www.zanzebern.com
