Welcome to Pupster Passion USA. All of our team are passionate dog lovers.
We do our very best to research and share the most accurate and helpful advice we possibly can.
But it is worth noting that we are not vets. So if you are in any doubt about your dog’s well-being, please always seek advice from a fully qualified vet.
If your dog is disabled or is suffering from hip dysplasia, you might need to consider getting a wheelchair to help it get about.
If you are interested, you can click on this link to read about the best dog wheelchair cart for pet dogs with hip issues.
What is Hip Dysplasia?
Hip dysplasia is a genetically inherited condition affecting a dog’s hips joints.
A dog with hip dysplasia will have improperly formed hip joints that are too loose; this can cause painful wear and tear on the joints over time.
The condition can be exacerbated by obesity, too much (or even too little exercise), and old age.
The condition can start affecting the dog anywhere from being a puppy to old age; hip dysplasia can affect all ages.
It can cause dogs a lot of pain and suffering, and in severe cases, it will cause disability.
Exercises for Your Dog’s Bad Hips
As hip dysplasia can be a serious condition, it is well worth knowing the best ways you can help you treat your dog.
The goal is to reduce both the pain of the condition and limit how much it may disable your pet dog.
So knowing some exercises that are good for canine hip dysplasia is a great place to start.
Short walks at the dog’s preferred pace
If your pet dog has hip dysplasia, one or two short, slow walks each day is good exercise, and it can really help your dog’s hip joint mobility and pain levels.
Just the basic movement of walking will help keep the joints more relaxed, supple, and active.
You must let the dog set the pace, so you do not cause it any unnecessary pain.
Also, you should pick fairly safe, firm, non-slippery surfaces to prevent any risk of injury.
Gentle circular massage around the hip area
You can give your dog with hip dysplasia some relief by gentling using circular massage motions applied to the muscle mass around the dog’s hip joint area.
As long as you make sure that the dog isn’t being hurt in any way by the massage, it is a good exercise to try, and it will help the dog relax and reduce the pain of hip dysplasia.
Canine Hydrotherapy
Hydrotherapy involves getting the dog to walk on a treadmill or swim in a heated pool and is excellent for dogs with hip dysplasia and similar hip joint issues.
The water supports the dog’s weight so that it can get a full range of motion in its hip joints but without the pressure of supporting its body weight.
When done correctly by a trained canine hydrotherapy specialist, this can make a big difference to the dog’s quality of life.
Other Methods of Help Your Dog Cope with Hip Dysplasia
As well as the exercises above, buying a good quality orthopedic bed (see this post for the best dog bed for hip dysplasia), using a heating pad on the dogs affected hips, and making sure your home doesn’t have any slippery, hard to walk on floor surfaces can all help.
Before you leave… Why not check out this great little video of a dog with hip dysplasia learning how to walk in his new walkers for dogs with hip dysplasia:
Finally, we would like to thank you for visiting our dog lover’s website and blog.
We hope that this post about exercises you can do with your pup to help soothe their hip dysplasia has some benefit for their hip joint issues.