Many orthopedists recommend surgery for treatment 
of cranial cruciate rupture in large breed dogs, 
and not trying to treat the condition with 
conservative management.  With surgery, the 
prognosis for cranial cuciate rupture in large 
breed dogs is good. The prognosis with a cranial 
cruciate ligament rupture is worse for a large 
breed dog than for a small breed dog with 
conservative management only.  The dog is also 
overweight which also causes the prognosis to be 
worse.  The dog needs to be put on a 
diet in order to improve the prognosis and to help 
remove the added strain of extra weight 
that has been placed on the joint and ligaments.
  Small breed dogs tend to recover 
satisfactory function after 2 months mandatory rest 
(with conservative therapy only), but 
with large breed dogs, this is not always the case.  
Large breed dogs tend to develop 
severe degenerative joint disease.  The prognosis 
also depends on how much 
degenerative change has already occurred in the 
joint such as bony proliferations, 
articular erosions, and severity of ligamentous and 
meniscal injuries. 
 We would recommend not waiting 8 weeks (for 
restricted rest and other conservative management), 
and instead for the dog to have surgery to repair 
the cranial cruciate rupture at the present time.  
Since large breed dogs do not tend to regain 
satisfactory function with 
conservative management alone, the prognosis of the 
dog would likely be improved with 
surgical therapy.  There are many surgical 
techniques that can be used to repair a ruptured 
cruciate ligament, and no single technique has been 
found to be clearly better than any 
other (to improve the prognosis for the animal).  
Intracapsular surgical repair techniques 
have been reported to be better choices for large 
breed dogs, and tend to have a 
consistently high success rate (78-95%).  Good 
postoperative care is an important part in 
ensuring the best possible prognosis/outcome for 
the dog, allowing strength and normal 
function to be regained in the cranial cruciate 
ligament.