Dog knee Problem? What to do?

I have a 10 months old Maltese Poodle mix. She has all her shots and lately I took her for dental visit which everything is ok now. However this past week we were playing in backyard which i noticed she is quiet and when I checked her she was limping. After 2-3 min she start to walk normally and even she chased my sister's dog without any problem. 2 days after that we were walking at the street all of a sudden she lay done and when I checked her ,again start to limp. I message her knee and felt the pop back to normal. 3 days after that no problem with knee but I took her to vet and she with force pop the knee out and in and after x-ray suggest me to do the surgery. She said it is luxating patella. I said need to do some research about it. short story checked the web and find out that in general if the dog walks and runs without any issue and this is happening once or twice a month and pet dose not have any other problem no need to do the surgery. Is there any other way beside surgery? Please respond if you know for sure or you are a vet or work in a vet clinic. Thanks