Sore 3yr Old Corgi

Just looking to see if any other Corgi owners have run into this issue and if they have any suggestions.
I have a 3yr old Female Pembroke. She was the runt of her litter and was told by our vet that she has a smaller build. She is not over weight and she is active mostly with chasing the ball around our big back yard daily, and walks around the neighborhood. We use to take her to the local dog park, but since having our son she has gotten very protective and cranky with other dogs. I got tired of breaking up the fights she started. Only with dogs her own size. The little guys and big guys she leaves alone. That is not my issue though, as I know this can be a Corgi thing.

My issue is we go to our lake house a couple times during the summer and she spends the days chasing my parents Golden Retrievers up and down the dock and she swims a lot also. It is then at night where she is limping and I know she is sore. She is only 3 years old I did not think I would have to curb her physical active for fear she "over does it". I am just wondering if this is due to her little legs and they get sore, or there might be something else going on. Also if anyone else has this issue do you give your dog some sort of pain reliever?

thank you.

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Permalink Reply by Beth on July 9, 2012 at 1:02pm

Just like with people, if animals exercise beyond their limits they will get sore. Some dogs know when to stop, others don't. This happens sometimes with Maddie and we do need to police her because she will go and go and go until she drops. She's swam until she was shivering with cold and exhaustion and still did not want to stop. Don't be afraid to step in and enforce rest time. Also, swimming is a different exercise than running and uses different muscles, so if she is swimming more than she is used to she might get sore.

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Permalink Reply by Jennifer Markley on July 9, 2012 at 2:10pm

Like Beth said, her soreness is probably from over-use. What will make her feel the best is slow exercise the next day or even that day (slow walks) to get the lactic acid out of the muscles, and ice to the sore areas. Good luck with the ice though. I haven't met a corgi yet that likes it. Gentle massage works too. The thing I try to remember is that corgi's are a hardy breed--they won't stop until they absolutely have to. They way over-do it a lot. I try to keep Seanna down to a dull roar if we are out doing more activity than normal. Most of the time it doesn't work! That's probably why she tore her other ACL last week...:-(

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Permalink Reply by Roger/Laurie on July 9, 2012 at 3:18pm

Chepstow is an over-doer also. We say his "I'm tired button was broken at birth". He will run, chasing a ball, swim all day and be so tired he can hardly walk. We have to police him like a child. He gets mad when we take the ball away, and down right angry when we force him out of the lake. (he pouts and gives dirty looks) We sometime lock him in the house and make him rest. His job in life is to chase every ball, swim across the lake daily, catch the geese..........he was born to run!

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Permalink Reply by Jessica Ballweg on July 9, 2012 at 4:14pm

Thank you so much. This helps a lot. They day goes by so fast and it is not until later that night when it is too late when I realize just how long I have let her run and swim all day. I will make sure to give her rest times as she just can not keep up with her big Golden Retriever Uncles.