An eight-year-old male neutered Staffordshire bull terrier was presented for investigation of right forelimb lameness of 14 months' duration. Radiography showed mottled osteolysis of the right radial carpal bone. Histopathology of the bone demonstrated replacement of healthy bone with granulation tissue suggestive of ischaemic necrosis. Lameness resolved following pancarpal arthrodesis. In humans, Preiser's disease is a condition in which idiopathic ischaemic necrosis of the scaphoid bone, the equivalent of the canine radial carpal bone, occurs. This disease may be analogous to the presentation seen in this case. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first report of such a condition in a dog.