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How injury prone is your puppy?


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This is my first dog so I'm not sure if I've got a daft one or if this is normal for puppies. Bob is 8mo old now and always seems to be injured in some way in the past 3 months we've had:

 

1 bout of Pancreatitis

1 allergy and accompanying itchy bald spot, unknown allergen but has cleared up

2 cut pads

1 happy tail syndrome

3 grazes (at the moment anyway)

 

The pancreatitis was definitely a screw up on my part by trying to fatten him up with cottage cheese when he was a bonerack a few months back.

 

The split tail followed the allergy where he pulled out the fur on the tip of his tail.

 

His trainer said she's had similar pups before which who seem perpetually at the vets but also others which haven't needed a vet in 14yrs.

 

Temperament wise he just barrels on through any injury, tis but a scratch. I'm just wondering if this is a common thing or a Bob thing?

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I think it's a bit of Bob and a bit of just plain puppy-ness. ;) I have 5 dogs and among them all, the 3 year old female and the 10 month old female almost constantly have little dings and divots on them. Who knows where or how they collect them all, but I presume most involve traveling at high speeds!

I'd say unless you start ending up at the vet a lot, it's probably pretty typical. Border collies can be notoriously hard on their bodies and display little regard for their own health or safety. :P

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Dinged and divoted is the perfect way to describe it. Providing he gets his quarry be it a ball, frisbee, stick, or something alive which makes leaves rustle then he's content. Injuries don't factor into it until he's done his work for the day.

 

Of course not...he'd make a terrible working dog if he noticed something hurt when he was in the midst of bringing in his flock.

 

That is a kind of par for the course with Border Collies (and many working breeds).

 

Years ago I took 2 Border Collies on a hike in rough-ish terrain. They were both bouncy and keeping up and showing no signs of anything like pain. Got to the car and noticed a bloody footprint on the parking lot, one had ripped the pad off 2 toes. No limping at all until about 30 minutes after we got home. Then much limping and foot licking etc. Its like she didn't even notice until then!

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My first border collie was Frisbee obsessed. We were at a park with friends and some guys were tossing a Frisbee back and forth on a paved tennis court. Mirk ran back and forth between them hoping he'd be able to play too. Don't remember any more how long it was, but I figured he'd stop when he'd had enough. He didn't but the guys finally did and stopped. Mirk soon started limping and when we checked his feet he'd worn the pads of all 4 feet and 16 toes to bloody pulps. We had to carry him to the car and into the house so we could bandage them up. The next day his muscles cramped so badly we had the spend the best part of the day massaging them. He was in a world of pain. It was a good week till his feet healed enough he was able to walk normally.

 

I learned my lesson that day that border collies have no sense of self-preservation when they're really into doing something. It's up to us to keep hem safe from themselves. :rolleyes:

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