It's been a while since I got out for a hike. My black lab, Jax, has been having some problems with his shoulder so the vet told us to give him 2 months without any exercise. Given Jax's super energetic personality, this was a lot harder than you would think. Near the end of the two months he was getting absolutely loopy. The sad part was, his shoulder didn't heal and I didn't think that it would.
This injury happened to his shoulder before. It's almost like there is a tendon or nerve getting stuck in his shoulder and it doesn't allow him proper movement. He doesn't appear to be in any pain and it gets worse and calms down on different days, sometimes for no reason at all. The first time this happened, we also spend a bunch of money and time at the vet trying to figure what was wrong. Nothing they suggested worked and they couldn't find anything actually wrong with him - except he limped.
Then one day, Jax must have moved a certain way because his shoulder got really bad, but then he stopped limping. Whatever was stuck must have just let go and he was able to get back to his old hyperactive ways. There was almost 5 years between when that happened the first time and when it happened again.
The second time this happed, even though we describe to the vet (a different vet) how this happened before, it's still the same procedure. Take x-rays, give medication, give rest, etc. They still have no idea what it is and neither do I. I was hopping it would let go again, but it's been almost 6 months now.
Anyway, Jax visited the vet this last week and the they gave the go-ahead to take him out for a hike. He was so happy to be out running around and his shoulder actually doesn't slow him down at all when he runs, it's only when he's walking. We also got 
We didn't get out very far. Just a little warmup before the real snow hits.
Enjoy the pics.
On a side not, I'm trying out eSteem on this post using my iPad. I'm liking how it works and I'm not sure why I wasn't using it before.