hardly any muscle on back legs (GSD) Health

hi, my GSD is active and gets plenty of walks and loves chasing his ball but he seems to have very little muscle on his back legs i didn't realise how bad it was untill i bathed him and all his fur went flat. it looked really bad wish id taken a photo so i could show you what i mean. any ideas why it is like that and what can be done to build him up abit? you can't really notice when he is dry beacuse he is soo furry.
thanks

Hi, i had a work gsd who had a lot of muscle wastage on his back legs. We were advised to do more hill work - gentle slopes to start with so we spent ages walking at an angle up and down grass verges and when playing fetch games making him run up hills to fetch whatever we threw.

thans for reply. did this work for your GSD? how long did it take untill you noticed a difference?

IS he really short of muscle or are you just used to seeing all the fluff round his legs??
What age is he?? does he still have some filling out to do??

I would say if he is v active and able to do all the running he wants then there is likely to be nothing wrong
On the rare occasion I bath Ben I am sure the RSPCA are gonna come cos he is sooo tiny - but the vet said he was in perfect shape

Best way to get muscle is to get to the vet and let him give the dog 1 injection with steroids
Afterwards it's up to you to train your dog with miles biking. I'm starting a programme next week with mine who is re validating from injury and the next months we'll be building his daily training sessions to a staggering 40 km daily trotting besides a bike

Greetings

Johan

lol same here. mine looked like one of them neglected dogs when i bathed him and his head looked too big for him.
his legs do look short of muscle, they dont't look normal when hes wet or if i push the fur down. i will try and get a pciture to see what you think

I have a GSP who has muscle wastage of his back legs (one more than the other) because he has arthritis in the spine. He tends to favour his back end - for instance he will pull himself up from a sit with his front legs rather than push with his back legs. It might be an idea to ask your vet if you think it might be a similar problem. I would also add that at present my GSD has moulted almost all of her undercoat and looks very skinny.

heres some pictures, cant really tell how bad it is untill his fur is wet but you get the idea

What a fluffy boy! Why don`t you pop into the vet if you`re worried? I must say Daisy looks like a greyhound when wet (which is most of time ATM) so he looks OK to me.

Sorry but why would you want to do this, and surely a vet will not just jab a dog with steroids for the sole purpose of building muscle up.

Have to agree, always best to check with your vet nothing more is going on...

If your dog is well exercise he should build muscle up naturally... will also depend on his age... how old is he... he many not have finished growing yet.

I have a boy with muscle wastage behind, he had HD and Spondylosis... the muscle wastage comes from not using his hind limbs as he should, dogs with any form of arthritis will learn to adapt their movement... to compensate , for the stiffness/pain...

Best to have him checked out first to make sure you know what, if anything you are dealing with.

A good non invasive exercise for any dog with muscle damage, is swimming.... it is low impact, and will help the dog build up muscle in the effected area without any strain on his joints.

thanks for the advice guys. i will take him to vets just to be safe although i am probably just worrying over nothing.
might take him swimming as he loves it but hes not a very good swimmer lol his back end sinks

oh i forgot to add he has finished growing, he is 3 years old

hi, this wasn't a quick fix - it took months as we started off gently and making sure things weren't progressing too fast.

Swimming is excellent also - i think someone has suggested this already.

My dog is recoverign from a knee injury on both knees and hasn't practicaly moved for over 3 months

Now we're building muscle to strenghten the knee joints and next mont we're going to start his normal training build up

Greetings

Johan

Like the others have said, get the vet to check him. Personally i wouldn't go down the steroid route, i would reserver this for conditions where there is no other option.

I think hydro therapy would be a good idea, once the vet has checked your dog over.

For goodness sake dont even think of a steroid injection. You need to let someone who knows about dogs and in particular GSD's to go over him and check if this is normal. He looks fine on the photo to me.

My 7 English Setters look like greyhounds when wet but they are all fit and well muscled.

If your breeder or GSD judge or experienced owner thinks he lacks muscle for his age and fitness level, he needs to be checked by your vet for hip/back problems which can cause deterioration in muscle tone, but my guess is that he's perfectly normal !

Hope all is OK

Thalice's Mum

Have looked at your pictures & he looks fine. My biich has completely thrown her coat after a litter & she looks as though she is lacking in muscle, indeed someone from another breed who came to a meeting here asked if she was a cross, good job her breeder or all the judges at open & champ shows who've given her firsts didn't hear him , howver her muscle is fine. My boy is badly lacking in muscle due to CDRM but with his big bones & coat he looks a lot more muscled than the bitch.

He looks fine to me...GSD's are not meant to have huge bunched muscles such as bull breeds etc.They are built for endurance ...compare the musculature of a sprinter to a long distance runner and its the same.
As long as he is getting plenty of exercise and the vet says hes fine then just carry on the way you are

Hi Kirsty it is hard to tell with him being coated, when he is wet can you see the muscle definition, all mine are stock coats so you can even when they are dry. I do a lot of hill walking, I also let my dogs free run in the field from 8wks, so they build the muscle up slowly other a long period.
Pam

he was checked by the vet and they said he was fine and hes just a lean gsd, shes said theres enough muscle there. think i will still take him swimming soon for fun though.
thanks for all the advice