Thread: Anybody had their dog blow an ACL joint?

Have recently (New Years Eve) had to have my nine year old ESS, Buzz put down after one of his cruciate ligaments went during a days shooting. Unfortunately the ligament in his other leg was found to be stretched and thought to be unlikely to take the pressure while the injured leg recovered if operated on. The cost of a cruciate ligament operation here in the UK is around £2000. I’ve also been told that arthritis often follows after this op. I had recently noticed the signs of discomfort in his back legs, stiffness, reluctance to jump up into the back of the Land Rover and back legs out to one side when sitting.
Buzz was a hard going dog who lived to work, phenomenal drive and game finding ability. At the end of a days shooting he would refuse to get out of the Land Rover to go home, he just wanted to get on to another drive. We are out picking up or beating three or four days a week through the shooting season and the dogs cover a huge amount of ground often in heavy cover.
This has been my first experience of this problem fortunately but it is not unknown amongst working shooting dogs here, both labs and spaniels. In my experience working dogs seldom make a full time return to the shooting field after the op.