Malformed Knees on Our Cardi

I posted this on the Corgi Health group and have not received any responses, so I thought I'd try here. Our darling, 4-1/2 month old Brody went to "our" vet for the first time last week to receive his final shots and get a health check. The vet, who we trust, said that his front knees were more knock-kneed than they should be, even for a Corgi. She said that their structure would put a lot of stress on his joints, both at the knee and at the top of the legs.
She said he would become arthritic. So, he's on glucosamine/chondroiton. She also said that surgery could correct it to a point. She recommended he be limited to moderate exercise, no long runs and to avoid jumping so that he landed heavily on his front paws. I was hoping he'd come on my long 4-5 mile walks (I'm a racewalker) when he got older but she thought that was too long. I also wanted to take him to agility training since he loves going under and over and through things, I thought this would keep his mind busy and challenged, too. Anyone else with an overly knock-kneed corgi? Any thoughts? Thanks! Julie BTW - Brody is enjoying watching the Westminster Dog Show right now. It's the toy group. He enjoyed watching the corgis in the herding group last night!

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Comment by Julie on February 11, 2009 at 9:38pm: Also, I meant to add that we got Brody from a "backyard" breeder, if you will. A colleague who adores Cardis and has a 5 of her own. So it was not a "careful" match.

Comment by Julie on February 11, 2009 at 9:34pm: Thank you for your responses. I really appreciate your helpful suggestions and feel much more positive. I'll add a few more photos showing his knees - see what you think.

Comment by Anne on February 10, 2009 at 11:47pm: Our girl has very knocked knees, plus one of her legs turns back to the rear a bit more than it should. She is almost 3 and I think doing fine. We talk her on long walks about 2-3 miles and sometimes longer. She runs like crazy in the yard and at my sisters. I try not to let her jump down from any heights though she likes to get on one of our sofas that is high and will jump down from it if I am not careful. We put a door up to that room so she can not go in unattended. Jumping down from things are never good for corgis. I would get second opinion. I looked at Brody's pictures and he looks good. Look at Le-Le-' pictures to see some knuckled leg especially her left one.

Comment by Jayne Wagner on February 10, 2009 at 10:34pm: Hi Julie, I just asked my vet husband about this to get his opinion. You may want to see a specialist or get another vet's opinion because if he has elbow dysplasia, surgery can correct. I can't imagine that agility would create problems -- I had my corgi in agility for a few years and he absolutely loved it. A lot of short bursts of exercise rather than the constant stress of a long walk. Unfortunately I got a knee injury and couldn't continue with him :-)

My corgi has arthritis in his front legs - he's 9 this month - and the only thing that taxes him are 3 mile plus walks. I give him an anti-inflammatory (Deramax) after these long walks to deal with the arthritis. I think if you aren't able to exercise Brody, he'll be an unhappy corgi and you will likely have to constantly battle weight gain. Anyway, get another opinion. It never hurts!