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Every few days, for some months now, I've noticed Jasper stumbling on one of his back legs - it's very brief, I'm not even sure which leg it is. Often it'll be while going upstairs and he'll almost fall upstairs. I get the impression it's as if he's not picking up one of his hind feet properly and wonder about some nerve damage/weakness. Has anyone seen anything similar?
He's 10.5 now and we do wonder if he's showing his age - when walking his back end just looks a bit more unstable or weak, as if he's walking on stilts that aren't completely reliable. This is quite possibly normal because he is a large dog with very long spindly back legs. Most days he's still up for 1.5-hour-long walks, though he's often very slow at the end and is likely to lie down on a grass verge for a snooze given half a chance. And other days he'll walk to the church yard at the end of the road, have a poo, and decide to go straight home again! A friend wondered if I should be walking him so far - he normally chooses where we go, but I suppose he might decide that he wants to go to the woods/heath and not think too much about whether he'll have the energy to walk home again after.
The weather doesn't help as he's not great in the heat, so even when we're keeping to cooler times and places, he'll be less energetic than he'd be in the cooler months.
I doubt arthritis is a major factor as he's not limping. I'm just finding it hard to come to terms with the fact that he's getting older.
He's 10.5 now and we do wonder if he's showing his age - when walking his back end just looks a bit more unstable or weak, as if he's walking on stilts that aren't completely reliable. This is quite possibly normal because he is a large dog with very long spindly back legs. Most days he's still up for 1.5-hour-long walks, though he's often very slow at the end and is likely to lie down on a grass verge for a snooze given half a chance. And other days he'll walk to the church yard at the end of the road, have a poo, and decide to go straight home again! A friend wondered if I should be walking him so far - he normally chooses where we go, but I suppose he might decide that he wants to go to the woods/heath and not think too much about whether he'll have the energy to walk home again after.
The weather doesn't help as he's not great in the heat, so even when we're keeping to cooler times and places, he'll be less energetic than he'd be in the cooler months.
I doubt arthritis is a major factor as he's not limping. I'm just finding it hard to come to terms with the fact that he's getting older.