Kilo had quite a long time off lead from the start. I was strict with 'enforced' waking on the lead and stuck to the '5 min rule' but offlead on soft surfaces he had a fair amount of time - no distance covered, he just pottered! I am a believer in dogs being allowed to build muscle to stabilise joints, but also in protecting the growing skeleton so I kept off hard surfaces in the main, discouraged a lot of jumping and as I said paid for some hydro.

Kilo's click was only really noticeable when he squatted to wee, sat down / stood up, had his back end lifted into the car. I never noticed it whilst walking and did watch like a hawk!!

It's obvious how much you love your pup; don't think in terms of 'never forgiving' yourself - you weren't to know and if something like HD should come to light you are not the sole cause of any problems.

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I know one thing...if it turns out too be nothing? she aint going out the house (except for toilet) for 2 weeks until that insurance is covered!!! - in any case if it is nothing serious then rest is probably going to be recommended is it not? she has been on puppy foods but been on adult food this last 9 days

I wasn't told to rest Kilo, but to not do much pavement walking (didn't anyway) and not let him go too mad off lead which was fairly easy as he just sniffed about without a toy to chase and get him all wound up!! I decided to book hydrotherapy myself to take away impact but still provide good exercise - the vet filled in a form for me (for free) to enable him to go there as all referrals to the pool needed a vet's go - ahead.

There was also the food change, which did seem to help although it's hard to tell whether his growth was about to slow anyway!

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Posting and dashing, but just wanted to say cruciate problems are not always bilateral, ie they won't always go on to affect both knees, it depends on the cause of the problem. If the initial injury to one knee was caused by poor conformation, which in Labradors is usually down to the knee joint being too upright, then you may see the other knee suffer from similar/same problems, as it too will be too upright. If the knee joint is pretty much correct, cruciate injuries can still occur but are more likely to be down to an awkward twist or jump, that can remain undetected, and become exacerbated over time; the latter is what happened to my bitch Indie, who is sound still on her right knee, but slightly lame on her left as she had to have the knee joint rebuilt.

You need to completely rest your pup if that's what you suspect has happened, and I would try and get some sort of correct diagnosis as soon as you can. Unfortunately, they don't know when to rest themselves, but if there is a problem with the cruciate, it needs to be allowed to heal and for her muscles to develop slowly and surely so as to prevent (hopefully) any further problems in the future. I'd suggest no walks but just play exercise and training sessions to help tire her out mentally; if you've got any friends with dogs that will let her have a bit of a play in your/their garden, I'd opt for that, rather than lead walks.

Will try and catch up later and post a bit more about the surgery and recovery times Indie went through, she also had to have a meniscus pad repaired after the initial surgery to rebuild the knee joint.