Tallulah has luxating patellas as well. Her vet says she may never have problems with them but the most important things I can do to help her avoid surgery are to keep her from getting overweight, train her not to get up on furniture so as to avoid her jumping off, and not to play tug-of-war with her. But otherwise to let her be a dog.
I have to admit I want to carry her everywhere (but I don't do it) and I do watch her like a hawk. I did scale down my plans to take her through a lot of training -- most of agility is out because of the strain the maneuvers can put on the knees -- but she is happily doing basic obedience training and there are plenty of fun behaviors she can learn safely. |