Between 4-8 months of age, puppy skeletons will be developmentally ahead of the soft tissue (muscle, ligament and cartilage ). So we have these large heavy front leg bones ( the Radius and Ulna ) with cartridge between them ( The elbow ) that is too immature to adequately support these bones. So as a result of this, and the fact that these bones grow at different rates between 4-8 months thus putting unequal pressure on the elbow joint, tears ( called lesions ) often occur in the cartilage inside the elbow. When these injures occur ( and they are common in 4-8 month old West German GSD’s ) your dog will develop a profound limp that will last for 4-5 months. This because there is very little blood flow to this injured area, and the elbow continues to take a beating every day.
This is a condition that is highly misunderstood in the European West GSD by the American Veterinarian. Either thru ignorance or greed, this is ALWAYS confused with Elbow Dysplasia- a condition that RARELY exist in the European West GSD. Americans who own these dogs, who expose them to an American Veterinarian during such as injury are repeatedly scammed with the misdiagnosis. Again, this could be occurring thru ignorance or greed by the American Veterinarian ( probably a combination of both ).