Broken leg in pomeranian

As we were away on holiday we placed the care of our 8 month Pomeranian to my brother who we paid to stay in our apartment to look after him. After a couple days of him limping we got a call from him saying Ponyo managed to have a full break in his front leg and apparently this happened out of nowhere when he was playing by the curtains. I just don’t understand how he could’ve broken his leg when our apartment is very puppy proof. I have suspicions that ponyo was either dropped or fallen off the couch. It’s hard to know whether I was told the truth about my dog I’m not upset at my brother either way as I know accidents can happen. I just want to know what most likely caused a full broken leg as I’m hoping my dog isn’t as fragile as what was made out to be since I fear even leaving him unattended around the house in the future if he can break his leg like this. Could perhaps his leg getting stuck in a groove by the balcony sliding doors caused this? Would really appreciate some insight on this matter.

Hello   I don't think you need to be fragile to break your leg;  I guess that it may be more likely in animals that are overweight or have an existing problem with their bone density (we call these pathological fractures), but we have seen plenty of young, fit animals with fractures. In the two cases I've seen where an animal has jumped too far e.g. to the ground from a platform, both front legs have landed together and both have been affected, but I guess it's possible that one leg might hit the ground first.  I can easily imagine a dog running, getting a leg stuck and then being carried forward by their own momentum.  We do not look at radiographs on this site and nor are we forensic pathologists, so I'm sure that there are people more qualified (you should be officially 'under their care') to assess the radiograph if you had reason to be suspicious.

I've been thinking about your pup today; I hope things are going well.  Having been thinking about this, I don't think that dogs usually break their legs just chilling on a flat floor, although pathological fractures (see above) do happen if bones are struggling for some other reason.  Could a fracture happen in a run-and-trip-over-your-feet type of scenario?  Yes.  Young racing greyhounds are well known for them and I don't think that being a pom is enough to rule it out, especially when their legs are still growing.  Or if a nail got stuck in the carpet and the  patient kept going - I think these are faesible.  The good news is that young, still-growing legs heal the best too.  Please do keep us updated.

Thank you for your insight. I’m thinking he must’ve jumped off the couch or something because this was not a fracture and only such a force would’ve broken his leg since I was told this happened at home. However I’m sure he will recover fine he’s seems pretty happy even with his new confinement