Denise -- not sure (cos my computer's trashed so I have no emails that I usually save), but did you get my article?
Personally, I've found that it is critical when taking any sort of "NSAID" (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug) that it is critical to take a relaxant (which I always use an herb that's not habit-forming -- something gentle on the liver and body).
Why? Because when you hurt you tense up EVERY time that part moves that *hurts*. BUT the more you tense, the **harder** bone moves on bone -- that completely normal, natural tension works **against** the arthritis and makes it worse. Also -- when there is tension in that joint that keeps those pieces closer together and rubbing, then any nsaid you take winds up having to work on *recent* inflammation (irritation caused by today) rather than it being able to go deeper to work cumulatively to reduce the deeper inflammation. (in other words -- there is only so much it can do -- and if this joint is irritated constantly then it's not addressing the deeper inflammation that may be boney ossifying tissue).
You have to be careful with pharmaceutical relaxants like valium -- they are habit-forming. Things like passion flower, valerian root ... they aren't.
Also -- the topical essential oils (like peppertmint & wintergreen & eucalyptus -- or blends together like White Flower Oil or the more oriental 'woodsy' blends like WoodLock Oil) do one heck of a job of reducing inflammation even from the outside. They bring a tremendous amount of relief.
Someone said to me (a chiropractor who should have known better) the other day "Oh, I don't want to use something OILY that will get all over" -- but frankly, that just showed me they never bothered to look at them. These aren't heavy oils like bath oil. These oils are mostly so thin you almost can't tell they are "oil". They cling (so you have to wash your hands carefully and make sure you don't inadvertently rub your own eyes) but they don't just rub off on furniture or clothing. These oils penetrate incredibly well.
Things like BioFreeze and Mineral Ice are goopy and messy. (Well advertised, but darned messy). But in my opiniond the oils are worth 10 times what those messy lotions are -- there are places I put the oils that I can't even *reach* to rub -- but just drizzling a bit of oil brings great relief. The more you *rub* the more heat you get, but the more of the oil you use also brings more heat and anti-inflammatory properties.
I've had arthritis since I was a child. Frankly, I control all of my pain with just 400 mg. of ibuprophen a day (and dogs can't take ibuprophen and aspirin causes stomach bleeding in a big way). My point is 400 mg isn't even the prescriptive dose. It's MINOR but I do take a relaxant herb with it and I work the oils into whatever joints hurt that night.
I also use the Knox Nutra Joint on both me and the dogs -- it takes about 3 months usually to work, but particularly when you have one bothersome joint it helps. Now, that's not available in Canada but you can take just gelatin powder with some calcium (if you can't find someone in the States to send it to you).
Any of Dr. Fox's books on dog massage are very very good. http://www.petmassage.com also gives really good advise.
http://www.morningstarhealth.com is where I get all my massage oils/anti-inflammatory oils from.
But the one other thing I'd strongly suggest for you to try is acupuncture for this dog. If you go to the Chi Institute website http://www.tcvm.com -- on the left UNDER the "locator" is a sentence link that will take you to a huge list of "out of the US" practitioners and there are TONS in Canada. In fact, aren't you near Toronto? There's one of the Toronto vets I know.
Acupuncture is one of the chief ways I control my own pain (and Billy and Kee get acupuncture every month). It does not hurt -- Kee falls asleep and Billy has no problem with it (in fact I uploaded a video of him getting needled just so people could see it). Helps enormously with pain management.