Here is some more great advice from Bonnie. She is respondng to a new adoptive Mom whose 8- year-old male cairn has been limping, and may need an xray.
If you're going to have an xray done, try to work with Noah before doing that to see if you can get him to lie still in various positions for short periods. There is really NO reason why a dog HAS to be put under anesthesia for xrays. The vet wants to knock him out and do the xrays as quickly as possible for his own reasons which may not be best for the dog. I'd see if another nearby vet might be willing to do xrays without anesthesia.
I'd recommend positive training like clicker training where you> get him to lie still for just a second and then give him a treat. Work on extending the time he will lie still. Of course, I'm assuming that he doesn't lie still easily. You can also give a short massage after the treat to increase the time relaxed.
I'm going to give you a link to one of the websites I use all the time. It is owned by Mary Straus who has been a great friend to Col. Potter dogs and is likely to get a Cairn in the future. Here's a link to her section on supplements for arthritic dogs. http://www.dogaware.com/arthritis.html#supplements
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