Large breed puppy joints: how to protect them while your puppy grows

To protect your large breed puppy’s joints, three things matter more than anything else: slow, steady growth thanks to a suitable, carefully measured diet; plenty of free movement but no forced exercise and no stairs too early; and early screening for hip and elbow problems. Labradors, German Shepherds, Golden Retrievers, Bernese Mountain Dogs, Great Danes, Newfoundlands… these puppies grow fast and for a long time, and the choices you make during their first 12 to 18 months shape their joint health for life. Here are the practical rules, month by month.

Why large breed puppy joints are vulnerable

Spectacular growth

A dog is generally described as a large breed when it weighs more than about 25 kg as an adult, and as a giant breed above 45 kg. A giant breed puppy can multiply its birth weight by almost 100 in eighteen months. To keep up, its bones lengthen from growth plates (areas of growth cartilage) located near the joints. Until they close, these areas are softer than adult bone and sensitive to repeated impact, dietary excess and excess weight.

These timings are a guide only: your vet can confirm that growth has finished at a check-up and, if needed, with an X-ray.

Developmental joint diseases

Vets group several conditions that mainly affect large breeds under the heading of developmental orthopaedic diseases:

• Hip dysplasia: the hip is too loose and wears out prematurely. See our complete guide to hip dysplasia in dogs.
• Elbow dysplasia: a group of elbow abnormalities, often behind front-leg lameness in young dogs.
• Osteochondrosis: a fault in the way cartilage turns into bone, which can cause a flap of cartilage to come loose (shoulder, elbow, knee, hock).
• Panosteitis: inflammation of the long bones causing a lameness that shifts from leg to leg, usually temporary but painful.

All of them have a genetic component. Environment (diet, weight, type of exercise) does not cause the disease on its own, but it can make it noticeably worse or milder in a predisposed puppy.

Feeding a large breed puppy: the foundation of joint health

A complete ‘large breed puppy’ food

Choose a complete food formulated specifically for large breed puppies. These foods have a moderate energy density and adjusted levels of calcium and phosphorus to support steadier growth. The WSAVA (World Small Animal Veterinary Association) recommends choosing manufacturers who can show that their foods are formulated by qualified nutrition experts. A home-made diet is possible, but only if it has been worked out by a veterinary nutritionist: calcium mistakes are common in home-prepared diets.

Calcium: no more, no less

This is the classic trap, usually set with the best of intentions. A young puppy absorbs a large share of the calcium it eats and is poor at protecting itself from an excess. Yet too much calcium disturbs normal skeletal development in large breed puppies; nutrition researchers stress that intake recommendations must take these potentially harmful effects into account (Böswald et al., 2019). In practice:

• Never add calcium, bone meal, vitamin D or a ‘growth supplement’ to a complete food unless your vet has prescribed it.
• Don’t mix puppy and adult food at random, or commercial food and home-made meals.
• Treats should make up no more than 10% of the day’s intake.

Slow, steady growth

A large breed puppy should grow at its own pace, not faster. Its adult weight will be the same; it will simply reach it a little later, and that is a good thing. In a study of 48 Labradors followed for life from 8 weeks of age, dogs fed 25% less than their littermates fed freely developed hip osteoarthritis much later, at a median age of 12 years compared with 6 years (Smith et al., 2006).

• No free feeding: weigh each meal on the kitchen scales.
• Weigh your puppy every 2 weeks and adjust the ration according to body condition, not just the chart on the bag, which is only a starting point.
• Aim for a lean puppy: you should feel the ribs easily under your fingers and see a visible waist from above. A ‘nice round’ puppy is not a healthier puppy.

How many meals, and until when?

• Up to 4 to 6 months: 3 to 4 meals a day.
• From 6 months to the end of growth: 2 to 3 meals a day.
• Switching to adult food: usually between 12 and 18 months for large breeds, sometimes as late as 18 to 24 months for giant breeds, on your vet’s advice.

Looking ahead, our guide to overweight dogs and joint health explains how to assess body condition and keep your dog slim once adult, and our dog nutrition section brings together our other feeding advice.

Large breed puppy exercise: the right rules

What helps

A puppy needs to move to build muscle, coordination and strong joints. In a Norwegian study that followed 501 puppies of four large breeds (Newfoundland, Labrador, Leonberger and Irish Wolfhound), those that could exercise freely outdoors up to 3 months of age, on soft, moderately uneven ground, had a lower risk of hip dysplasia (Krontveit et al., 2012).

• Free play on grass, firm sand or woodland paths, at the puppy’s own pace: it stops when it is tired.
• Short exploration walks on the lead, varied, with lots of sniffing breaks.
• Simple balance and training games, which tire the brain as well.
• Calm paddling in shallow water, introduced gradually and under supervision.

What to avoid until growth is complete

• Forced, repetitive exercise: jogging, running alongside a bike, canicross, long hikes.
• Repeated jumping: jumping out of the car boot or off the sofa, agility jumps.
• Endless ball throwing, which strings together sprints, sudden stops and sharp turns.
• Rough play with big adult dogs that knock the puppy over and roll it around.
• Slippery floors, where the puppy skids and strains its hips.

The 5-minute rule: a guide, not a law

You will often read that a puppy needs ‘5 minutes of walking per month of age, once or twice a day’ (around 20 minutes at 4 months, 30 minutes at 6 months). This popular rule of thumb has no solid scientific basis, but it is a useful reminder that a puppy should not be walked like an adult dog. It applies to structured lead walking, not to free play. Your puppy remains the best guide: it should come home happy, not worn out, and never be lame or dragging its feet the next day.

Two gentle exercises suitable for puppies, to build coordination and muscle without excessive strain:

Exercise

The texture trail

Level

Easy

Duration

3–5 min

Frequency

3–4 times a week

Focus

Body awareness and confidence

1. Lay out a few different surfaces on the floor: a rug, a flat firm cushion, a flattened cardboard box, a folded towel, a square of turf.
2. Guide your puppy at a walk from one surface to the next with a treat, without rushing.
3. Praise every crossing; change the order of the surfaces from one session to the next.
4. Stop as soon as your puppy loses interest.

Good to know: everything stays at floor level, with no height: the aim is for your puppy to feel where it puts its paws, not to climb or jump.

Exercise

Stepping over poles on the ground

Level

Easy

Duration

3 min

Frequency

2–3 times a week

Focus

Hind-leg coordination

1. Lay 4 or 5 sticks or broom handles flat on the ground, about one puppy body length apart.
2. Walk your puppy over the poles on the lead, in a straight line.
3. Do 3 to 5 passes, in one direction and then the other.
4. Keep the poles flat on the ground, never raised, while your puppy is still growing.

Good to know: walking slowly makes your puppy lift each paw in turn, which builds coordination with no impact at all.

Puppy stairs, jumping and the car: what to avoid

In the same Norwegian study, puppies that climbed stairs before 3 months of age had a higher risk of hip dysplasia (Krontveit et al., 2012). Here are the practical guidelines we recommend:

When you carry a puppy, support both the chest and the hindquarters: never lift a puppy by its front legs or just under the armpits. Once your puppy becomes too heavy to carry, a car ramp quickly becomes essential.

Hip dysplasia in puppies: warning signs

Dysplasia and other developmental conditions often show between 4 and 12 months. Don’t put a limp down to ‘growing pains’ without asking your vet.

• A swaying walk, with the hindquarters rolling from side to side.
• Bunny hopping when running, both back legs moving together.
• Sitting lopsided, with the back legs splayed out to one side.
• Lameness in one leg, or a limp that moves from leg to leg from one week to the next.
• An elbow that sticks out from the body, or a front paw turned outwards.
• Tiring quickly, not wanting to play, difficulty getting up after a nap.

If your puppy is limping, our guide to dog limping: what to do will help you describe the problem to your vet.

Screening: the right times

1. Before you buy: ask to see the official hip screening results (and elbow results for breeds at risk) for both parents. In the UK, these come from the BVA/Kennel Club schemes. Each hip is scored, giving a total from 0 to 106: the lower the score, the better, and the BVA recommends breeding only from dogs with scores below or close to the breed median. Elbows are graded, 0 meaning normal, and the BVA recommends breeding only from dogs graded 0. If the parents were screened in an FCI country (much of mainland Europe), hips are graded from A (normal) to E (severe dysplasia): look for parents graded A or B.
2. From the vaccination visits (8 to 16 weeks): ask your vet to feel the hips and elbows, especially in an at-risk breed. An abnormally loose hip can be checked for under light sedation.
3. At around 4 months: in puppies that are at risk or show suspicious signs, the PennHIP method gives a precise measurement of hip laxity. According to the ACVS, this is the age at which a short, minimally invasive procedure (juvenile pubic symphysiodesis, or JPS) can still influence how the pelvis grows.
4. At around 6 to 10 months: if there are signs, an X-ray can point towards other preventive surgical options, which are only possible before osteoarthritis sets in.
5. From 12 months (often 15 to 18 months for giant breeds): official hip and elbow screening, essential if you are thinking of breeding and useful for tailoring your dog’s lifestyle. Under the BVA schemes, dogs must be at least 1 year old.

Neutering and joints: talk it through with your vet

Sex hormones play a part in closing the growth plates. In some large breeds, very early neutering has been linked to more joint problems. In a study of Labradors and Golden Retrievers, neutering before 6 months doubled the rate of at least one joint disorder (hip or elbow dysplasia, cruciate ligament rupture) in Labradors, and multiplied it by 4 to 5 in Golden Retrievers (Hart et al., 2014). These results vary between breeds and are only one part of the decision, which also takes other health risks and your lifestyle into account. The right age is decided case by case with your vet.

Key points for your large breed puppy’s joints

A large breed puppy doesn’t need to be wrapped in cotton wool, but it does need guidance: a suitable, measured diet so it grows slowly, lots of free play on soft ground, no stairs or repeated jumping too early, no forced exercise before growth is complete, and a watchful eye on how it moves. Add a breeder who health-tests their dogs and a vet you consult at the slightest doubt, and you give your puppy the best chance of strong joints for life. You will find all our advice in our puppy health section.