If the animal limps at all, something hurts and I would take him in to be examined. Dogs do not limp for no reason. Why wait for it "to get worse?"

This is hard, I do believe in what elly said but also we have two dogs and both have limped or had a knee/hip problem at one point.

When we brought the our first dog to the vet they couldn't see any problems. He only limped at certain times also. They wouldn't give xrays because they didn't believe the problem was severe enough. Eventually because our poor dog broke a tooth (and had to be knocked out for the extraction) we had them look at the leg a little further and they found nothing.

Our other dog showed NO pain at all. He would just not use his leg at random points during the day. It was weird. I watched him carefully and looked at all his joints and nothing. I talked to the vet about it at our next apt and they also could not find anything. We put him on a diet (he was a little overweight) and he hasn't had a problem in a long while. Maybe his extra weight caused a problem??

So, basically I guess I am saying this is SO hard for vets to diagnose sometimes. I prefer to not give my dogs any meds and try other things first, like limiting certain play that may irritate the leg or joints. My one dog isn't allowed to run up and down the stairs anymore because I believe this may have caused his problem.

If it were me, knowing all that I know now, and my dog did not SHOW me that he was in pain that would prevent him from doing what he likes to do then I would try to alter certain things in his life to maybe help fix the problem. This is how I would do things for myself if I had a pain in my knee. I would lay off it for a while and let it heal. Of course I can always say that is hurts more or less, dogs can't say that.

Oh, also look at his nails. He could have broke one and it hurts to step on his paw.

I have just brought my dogs to the vet a couple times for similar problems (they were both adopted to we had no history for them) and the vets really couldn't help us at all and the charges add up. Your dog's leg may not get worse and it is likely that even if you brought him to the vet the vet couldn't prevent it from getting worse unless you give him meds, which may carry a greater risk than just letting him heal on his own right now.

I sometime limp can be a sore muscle, a pinched nerve, sore paw, lots of things the vet cannot find---as several folks already noted.

That sort of thing happens to my dogs now and then.

One question---do you have a lot of hard surface flooring? My GSD mix has a terrible time walking on hard surface flooring---he bows his back and stiff legged scrabbles across the floor when his front nails get too long.

Oh, also look at his nails. He could have broke one and it hurts to step on his paw.
This was the first thing I thought of...check for a broken or cracked/split nail. Also, with icy conditions and dry inside air this time of year, you might also check to be sure he doesn't have a cracked pad.

A 1.5 year old dog should not be limping. Dogs are stoic and have an amazing ability to hide pain. If you rule out nail/pad issues I would take him in ASAP.

Having been a GSD owner my entire life let me first say that when it comes to matters of Limping I don't mess around. The list of why the dog is limping has so many items to it many of which may need to be addressed ASAP or at least be made aware of so that the owner doesn't make matters worse by not knowing what the dog should or not be doing.
And if anyone's vet down plays it by saying wait and see isn't exactly the wisest move either.
Simply put the best way to answer your question is if you had a child that was limping what would your incline to do be? And if your vet couldn't figure it out or it's not his or her criteria than it is up to them responsibly to refer you over to an orthopedic.

Agreed...I think you should take him to the vet. The limping cannot be "normal", and if it were my dog, I would want to know what is causing it.

Thanks for the responses everyone. My vet didn't want me to bring in my dog since it is a slight limp and he said it would be difficult to diagnose especially since he probably wouldn't do it in front of the vet. After being around him after I got home tonight he seems to be getting a little better. He started chasing his tail and trying to play with the cat, but I made him quit as I didn't want him to aggravate whatever's wrong.

To answer a few questions: His weight shouldn't be an issue; at his last checkup the vet said if anything he could stand to gain just a couple of pounds going into winter.

I have about half wood floors and half carpet. I keep his nails trimmed pretty short so that shouldn't be a problem and I hadn't trimmed them for a few days before he started limping so it shouldn't be a nail trimmed too short. None of his nails appear to be cracked or split.

I looked at his pads closer and one is slightly cracked right at the tip towards his toenail. He has a similar small crack on another foot that he hasn't been favoring, so I didn't think anything of it. It's not bleeding and doesn't appear irritated or infected and he didn't seem to mind me messing with it. He also hasn't been licking or chewing at it. I'm wondering if I can just put some crack creme or bag balm on it and see if it helps.

Sounds like my German Shepherd mix, except my boy is 5 years old with arthritis, hip and elbow dysplasia, not 1.5 years old.

One day my boy started limping in his front leg, I took him to the vet several times as we tried to even figure out what part of his leg was hurting. Even through the vets manipulation my dog didn't bat an eyebrow. After several hundred dollars, I gave up trying to figure it out. He now gets a joint supplement, which seems to help the most. If he's looking bad, I have the vet's permission to give him pain killers on a controlled basis.

It's very possible that your dog just twisted something while running around and it will get better. The best thing to do is to keep the dog from running around, refrain from long walks, and try to keep him quiet for a couple of weeks. If you think you know the joint that hurts, try a warm pack. I use an old tube sock filled with about a cup and a half to 2 cups of brown rice and microwave it until it's warm.

I forgot to mention, my female Belgian strained her hip on some ice a few weeks ago and I took her to a physical therapist. Yes, they have those for dogs So, that might be another alternative. The only thing about the therapist is she wasn't experienced in diagnosing ACL injuries and for that my dog would have to be sedated. But I was positive it was her hip and since our agility training is in full swing I didn't want this complicating things. The therapist gave me something called Traumeel for the pain, but I haven't had to use it. So far she's heeling fast, but she's really loving the hot pack on her hip.

This is from the Traumeel brochure "Physicians have been recommending Traumeel for over 60 years as a safe, effective and prescription-free alternative to NSAIDs. Traumeel consist of a combination of 12 botanical substances and 2 mineral substances as active ingredients. Backed by over two-dozen scientific and clinical studies. Traumeel has become - to millions of people worldwide - a trusted therapy for musculoskeletal aches and pains and an essential addition to at home healthcare". The dosage for my 57 pounds Belgian shepherd is 1 tablet 3 times a day 15 minutes from meals, food, or water. I'll be trying it on my boy next time he has trouble with his limp.

I hope your boy heels up soon.

Here is a link that might be useful: Traumeel Tablets

My vet didn't want me to bring in my dog since it is a slight limp and he said it would be difficult to diagnose especially since he probably wouldn't do it in front of the vet.
How's a limp difficult to diagnose? Your vet should have you bring your dog in and physically manuver the dogs legs, feet, shoulder, knee joints etc. observe stance, condition of feet pads, check for any kind of tic borne disease as limping slight or not is also a symptom of that and based on what he found or not should incorporate if at the very least an X-ray. Your GSD is also still at the stage in which Pano can happen. A qualified Vet should be able to see that on an X-ray or by manuvering certain parts of the legs both front and back lead to that conclusion.
Is this your first GSD?

Many vets won't give xrays for dogs that are not having severe problems and/or don't have a history of having joint problems. This is because they have to give the dog general anesthesia and this can be risky. Having your dog under general anesthesia is scary. There is always a chance something bad could happen, this is why we waited for xrays. We had our boy neutered, tooth fixed (he happened to break it the day before the surgery) and xrays for his hip at the same time. Then he only had to have general anesthesia once.

Our dog has had a problem with his rear leg since we have adopted him (3 years ago). We have gone to three vets and one specialist. We have had xrays for him and they checked his ACL and all other tendons and not one vet has been able to give us an answer about what is wrong exactly. So these things can be difficult. Our boy had severe problems where he would whine and cry sometimes. It was horrible. Luckily he is crate trained so we could put him in his crate and he would take a nap. He would get better with anti-inflammatories but then it would come back a week later. We finally cut down his dosage and made sure to watch him for signs of pain or limping. He is now off the meds totally after about a year and is doing fine so far (yay!) He may have had some soft tissue damage that has healed (crossing our fingers) but our experience was still very frusterating and expensive. It is terrible to have to drop a hundred dollars a visit and get NO answers. We were just told to give him pills when he hurt a lot and let him rest.

Like I said, our poor boy had a SEVERE limp (wouldn't use the leg at all, would be in terrible pain) and four vets couldn't diagnose it. I really believe that the OP should wait, then bring it up at a routine checkup, unless the problems gets worse. I am 99.9% sure that the vet will not give the dog xrays.

I've had several dogs X-rayed over the years and have never had anesthesia?
I've also gotten the "wait and see" approach. As my dog's advocate, it's my responsibility to seek an answer. A limp lasting more than a week needs to be checked more thoroughly.

I vote watch closely also. Be sure to watch when the dog does not know it, as that can be very revealing.

No a dog does not have to be knocked out to have X-rays,of course the better behaved dog the easier to get a clearer Xray. The truth is you don't know what's wrong, and with this breed they are known to be susceptible to certain bone and joint issues. The Vet is probably feeling you out and responding due to the way you're asking...but for futiure references it's better to just make an appoinment.

I appreciate everyone's concern. My dog is fine now. By Sunday he was walking completely normal but still seemed slightly more subdued than usual, and I was making sure he wasn't doing anything that might aggravate whatever was injured. He's fully back in action now. He's still walking without favoring his foot at any time and more boisterous than ever. He's emptied out his toy box and tried to bring me every toy in the house to play with...apparently he feels we must make up for lost time. In fact I woke up covered in toys this morning. He apparently thought that if he brought me the perfect toy I would wake up and play with him.

They had to knock our dog out for xrays because they had to place him in odd positions to get good pictures of some of the joints.

I also worked at a vet as a tech (different locality than where I live now) and they also always knocked dogs out for xrays because even the most well behaved dog will move and it is difficult to get them in certain positions and stay that way while awake.

Msventoux: I am so glad he is feeling better!

and they also always knocked dogs out for xrays because even the most well behaved dog will move and it is difficult to get them in certain positions and stay that way while awake.

True, BUT different Vet offices handle things in different ways. Many vets won't be bothered & won't do it unless a dogs is knocked out, however it can and is done all the time without.