Pup Limping

[Persian Spitz]

I have a 10 month old Japanese Spitz. We keep him in the backyard when we're not home. Yesterday we came home and he was favoring his left hind leg; limping and couldn't run. We keep the backyard pretty clear. I don't think he can climb onto any high places and injure himself. There's some bricks and such lying around though. I was told by a couple of people that pups this age, especially with the bounciness of the Spitz, get into all sorts of mischief and shouldn't worry about it.

I was thinking whether he pulled a muscle or something; or bruised it by running into the some of the larger bricks. Or maybe it's a tick paralysis of some sort (I watched Bondi Vet last week with the paralysed Samoyed looked a lot like ours). Is this normal?

[poodlefan]

Limping is not 'normal'. It indicates injury. Your dog is in pain. It could be something as simple as muscle sorenes or something more serious.

If you suspect tick paralysis, you should be making a beeline for the nearest vet. Time is of the essence.

Otherwise, the usual approach is to rest the dog for a couple of days and see if things improve. If not, you should take the dog to the vet to find out what's happening.