Daisy Girl on left (150 lbs) and the puppy on right -- he's six months old now.

Here is a link that might be useful:

Beautiful dogs

Please look at Duffy's feet (the dog on right). See how they are turned out? and they are kind of flat and look a little like flippers? when he walks, he kind of flips them out. like a pony or horse would walk. very weird. very cute, but very weird.
Is there a breed of dog with feet like this? or was he bred with a seal? lol or an otter maybe?
Yes, he LOVES the water.

Trisha, you have beautiful dogs!! As for Duffy's feet, I have a new Havanese puppy and the breed book I bought shows a picture (a drawing, really) of the dog with the forearms curved outward like Duffy's. It's a condition called chondrodysplasia and basically has to do with the growth plates of the long bones stop growing earlier than normal. If the condition is mild, which seems to be the case with Duffy, there seems to be no long term problems.

thank you so much for posting. we knew there was something wrong with his feet. they were adorable, but weird. I will bring him to the vet and suggest chondrodysplasia. I just let out a big sigh when I read your post. thanks again.

You are welcome. Keep me posted as to what the vet says. Carmelita has such hairy legs, I can't tell whether they are straight or not. LOL She's going to get a hair cut on Wednesday and maybe I can tell then. Here is her picture. She's a cutie.

Beautiful dogs! Carmelita too!

I saw a big bob cat walking down the bayou here, and he was
"winging his feet"...throwing them out to the side, just like some horses do.

The slight malformation of the dog's front legs could have been the result of an injury when it was a pup. A vet gave a lecture once to a dog group and cautioned the owners not to allow young dogs jump from the tailgate of s station wagon to hard ground. He said that pups do not know better and will hop off this height and are in danger of damaging their growth cells, notably in the shoulder. It doesn't show right away but will later in life as a bad and painful shoulder joints.

A dog's gait varies depending on the speed he is making. Some speeds are not natural and the animal's body will compensate. Ever watch a dog following a wagon drawn by a team of horses? The speed is less than a easy trot and faster than a slow walk for the dog. You may see the dog trotting merrily along with his hind quarters not in-line with the front part of the dog. A common discription is he's 'dog tracking'. This keeps the hind legs from hitting the front paws. The same dog, when chasing a rabbit at full speed, will straighten the alignment, stretch his body, and become the speed demon that he is.