I recieved a new puppy at 4 weeks of age because its mother  could no longer care for him.  Quickly he became the most loved baby.  Rusty is a chocolate lab.  At 8 weeks of age  Rusty started to show signs of weakness in one of his front legs and we thought that someone had stepped on it or he had hurt it somehow.  After a week of this walking with his leg all bowed out it straitened up and the next week it started on the other front leg.   I was concerned now as I knew that this was not normal.  We tried to put on a splint made with popcycle sticks and that didn’t help at all.  Over the next week he got so bad that he was walking with both front leggs totally bowed out to the side and sometimes they would touch the ground sideways.  Rusty looked to be in pain however he never even whimpered.  I took an ace bandage and cut into small peices and tried to wrap his legs.  After we were checked by the vet we were told that this would not help either. Apparently this is a common occurance in large boned dogs.  I was told some dogs inherit this tendency to have weak pasterns and he would either grow out of it or would have this forever.  I watched Rusty carefully and tried to keep him in confined areas so he would not run on his legs to much.  I became over cautious of him.  I started researching on my own and have found the best things for him was to run and play and get exersize.  He needed to be running through soft sand and on uneven ground.  Most importantly I needed to take Rusty off high protien puppy food.    I realized that what I was  doing was not only preventing him getting better but probably making it worse.  I immidiately took him  off the high protien food and moved him outside where he doesn’t stop running and playing.   At first I could not see an improvement but over the course of 2-3 weeks Rusty’s pasterns grew stronger and now at 5 months old Rusty is perfect and his pasterns are strong.