[seashoreduck]

My dog is a 45lbs German Shepard Mutt. She's always had an extraordinary amount of bounce and preferred to fling herself headlong off/into things rather than act with any measure of grace.

Well, she's getting up there in age, going white and loosing vision but her preferred method is the leaping before the looking. Just yesterday, in the middle of icy snow she flung herself off the deck stairs and plowed into the ground, tumbling base over apex with a force that seemed to mock gravity.

Today shes limping, just a little. She's nearly 10, so I know exactly what happened and why. if it doesn't resolve in the next day or 2 I'll bring her to the vet to make sure it isn't too serious. Yet even with this on-and-off limp she still insists on flinging herself about rather than take more measured steps.

I've tried to teach her to go slow, in fact, I've spent considerable time in the past year trying to train her not to run on the pergo flooring, but some will'o'whisp catches her eye and boom! She's flying into things.

When she was younger, I just shrugged and figured she was made of rubber and would learn to slow down...now she's actually hurt herself but isn't slowing down, I'm quite a bit worried.

 

[ciscorox]

Hi! It sounds to me she is fighting getting old My dog does the same thing but instead of jumping he plays with our younger dog until he almost falls asleep!

I think she knows her limits though and should settle down some pretty soon.

What I would do though is maybe take her out on more walks or find some fun older dog friendly toys to help her kill some energy! I think there are some toys that have treats in them that go in circles or something. Anyway they make her think about she's doing and help her burn out her energy through getting that treat!

I hope I was some help!

 

[Artdog]

When my older shep was at risk of falling down stairs we just hauled out the baby gates, and enjoyed her good days.
Can take her out on leash, and then let her off lead once she's on ground level?

 

[seashoreduck]

When my older shep was at risk of falling down stairs we just hauled out the baby gates, and enjoyed her good days.
Can take her out on leash, and then let her off lead once she's on ground level?

I think I may get a gate to slow her down. I have a baby coming so the gates are going up in a few months anyway!

Leash doesn't seem to work...that's what Ive been doing over the pergo and as soon as the leash is off and she thinks she hears something interesting, she tries to run across it and slides into the walls.

 

[seashoreduck]

Hi! It sounds to me she is fighting getting old My dog does the same thing but instead of jumping he plays with our younger dog until he almost falls asleep!

I think she knows her limits though and should settle down some pretty soon.

What I would do though is maybe take her out on more walks or find some fun older dog friendly toys to help her kill some energy! I think there are some toys that have treats in them that go in circles or something. Anyway they make her think about she's doing and help her burn out her energy through getting that treat!

I hope I was some help!

It is, I'll use her ball-treat toy more. I just put her regular food in it. I'm not sure it's an energy thing so much as it's her personality because she does it when she's exhausted, too. I guess I just have to trust she will hit her limit before breaking her head.