Much to my severe distress, my 7 month old lab pup has been diagnosed with hip dysplasia.  He had an operation a couple of days ago and is now on almost total bed rest to give his hips the best chance of making a good recovery. 

Does anybody have any ideas of how I can keep him occupied in a largely down position?  Obviously, I need to be careful to avoid weight gain, especially as I will not be able to exercise any excess off over the next few months, so pigs' ears, chewies etc. should be kept to a minimum, and he has never really taken to his kong, so that is not an option.  The vet recommended crating him except for toilet breaks and two 10 min lead walks a day, but he is frustrated, bored and distressed.  When out of his crate he just demands to play and tries to run around. 

I'm hoping someone out there has had a similar experience and can offer advice!

Thank you

Thank you for the advice.  Unfortunately he gets even more distressed if he can see me!!  I have taken to putting a big blanket over his crate and since your advice have installed a small radio for him to listen to.  Hopefully it will make him feel comforted.

I'll keep you posted... 

Hi Jojo71,

I was really sorry to read your post, and I can feel for you because, although I haven't been in your position yet, my lab has the other problem - elbow dysplasia, and my vet and orthopaedic surgeon strongly advise me to have her operated on. Because I anticipate exactly the problems that you are encountering now, I am putting it off with medication for the time being, but know that the evil day will eventually come.

I can only think of giving him nylabones and the other treated bones that you get from a pet shop, and that a puppy wouldn't chew through. The other thing that I have been thinking of for Lucy, and mean to ask my vet about, is whether, after the operation, I could take her for careful car drives in the crate to give her some stimulus. Although she is a very active dog she is always quiet even on long drives, as she can see through the hatchback, and it relieves her boredom. Also, she is very still and attentive while watching other dogs, and so I was even thinking about taking the crate to the local dog training club so that she could watch and touch noses. Only a thought - and no doubt someone will tell me it's not a very sensible one, but I have been thinking for a long time about the dreaded crate rest.

How long must he be kept in the crate?

Thinking of you  . 

Can't really help on how to keep a pup quiet, its so easy for the vets to say "keep them quiet and only gentle exercise" we're talking lively pups!
Ownedbyriley, you can have  puppy xrayed for HD at any age, its just that you cannot have the xray scored by the BVA until after 12 months old. My one Old English was xrayed at 7.5 months old because of limping on the back end, and sure enough he'd got HD, I was lucky enough that resting and restrictive exercise was the course of treatment recommended by my vet, he's now over 9 years old and still doing ok.

Ownedbyriley not all back end limping is down to HD, it can be a pulled muscle or a strain. I had a suspicion with Monti that it was more than a pulled muscle or a strain, and when the vet checked him over, he was able to feel the looseness of the hips in the sockets and suggested xraying to confirm his feelings that Monti did have HD. When we looked at the xray it was plain that Monti's hips were quite bad, but as he was only 7.5 months old I couldn't have the xray scored. If Riley did develope a limp please don't assume that it is HD because as I've said there's many reasons that a dog can limp on the back end, but always to be safe get them checked by a vet.

Ownedbyriley its good that you are aware that there could be problems, it means that you will more  alert to any signs of any trouble. But as I've said there's lots of reasons that dogs can limp. I think we're all paranoid even when its our 12th dog!! I was worried about having Mona xrayed, but was lucky to get a low score 5-3, I was expecting something higher because when she was 8 weeks old she started clicking when she walked. Talk about becoming a nervious wreck took her to the vets and when Edward asked if everything was alright I replied "yes as long as you ignore the clicking when she walks" Edward pulled her back legs out behind her and rotated them, said he couldn't feel anything wrong, he felt that we should wait and see hhow things went. Thankfully she stopped clicking at about 14 weeks, but this did leave me to worry until she was 12 months old to have her xrayed. Had the xray done when she was 12 months and one week old, I couldn't wait any longer! So sometimes we panic and things aren't as bad as we'd worried about. I wish you luck with Riley and am glad that at the moment you've no reason to worry.

I had him x-rayed last week because he started limping - once it set it, it did not let up and got bad very quickly. 
I would try not to worry about it unless or until you need to, as Tophat stated, limping could be caused by many things apart from CHD anyway, but if he appears to be in good health then relax and enjoy him.   

Unfortunately I have no idea how long he needs to be crated.  He begins hydrotherapy on Monday and the vet is going to advise us as we go along.  I will keep you posted as it will obviously be of interest to you when/ if you go ahead with the operation.  Good luck with keeping it in control with medication in the meantime.

Thank you everybody for being so supportive!

Many thanks Jojo, I will be very grateful to hear how you get on. I'm so glad you're having hydrotherapy - it's served my dogs very well over the years, and will certainly relieve crate boredom.