Pointers and LS disease

[lehughes]

Hi Laurie!
I know you’re very busy, but I was wondering if you knew of any information looking specifically at the upright tail position that is considered “desirable” in sporting competition with Pointers and correlation with LS disease. This question comes after reviewing your blog posts on LS disease.

Part of this is selfish as I own and compete with these magnificent creatures and have a 5 year old that has had occasional bouts of severe pain (screaming, holding left rear leg up) which then goes away relatively rapidly-but I would assume he is still in some degree of discomfort even though he seems normal in gait. I also have a client with a Pointer who is severely affected.

Thanks so much, and I understand if this doesn’t fit into your busy schedule!!
S.

[lehughes]

Hi S,

I’ve not seen anything in regards to ‘desirable tail position’ in a research paper. In fact there is not much in regards to conformation in research papers. Furthermore there’s not much on sporting dogs!

Of course, we know that ’tail jack’ is a ’traditional’ method for assessing L-S Disease, and that a dog with L-S disease may hold it’s tail lower…

But other than that, I don’t know if there’s much out there specific to what you're asking.

Sorry, but all the best!

Laurie

PS I wrote a blog inspired by this topic... but it still doesn't answer your question!