Thanks, everybody - as some of you know, this is a dog I owned with my late husband. She's dear to me anyway but this is an added connection.

Appreciate the support.

Hi Judy. I'm so sorry to hear about your dog, I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

I don't know anything about DM but our poodle had many spinal problems. At one time we were told that he would be paralyzed from the hips down because of his issues.

We found a wonderful vet that believes in natural remedies, his suggestion to us was to keep the dog immobile for a few weeks. It wasn't easy, we had to keep him kenneled which he was used to, and then tied up for a while to keep him from running around and jumping. It was a very difficult few weeks, but it worked.

The premise behind it was to let the spine relax, then build it back up. For our poodle his vertebra were too close together and the more he ran or jumped the closer the vertebra were pushed together. At one point they would lock (sorry, not a vet, can't explain it as good as he could) and then he'd be paralyzed. He had the same symptoms you're describing in your GSD, dragging the foot and other things.

I don't know if this would help with your dog, or if it's even similar to what you're going through, but anything is worth a try.

I wish I had an answer, I can only wish you the best and hope it's a problem that's easily fixed.