gracie's_dad

how many of you have vet insurance for your dogs (& cats)? are you happy with it? who do you use? thanks for any info. Gracie has got a bad limp and I think I want to get the insurance before I even go in for the diagnosis. it has me very concerned. and I am hearing all kinds of horror stories about ligament and knee surgery

thanks for the replys. i have been conserned. she does have water at hand while playing. the temp has not been a factor this year so far. and she is typical of the bc, she does not no when to say when. chasing a ball is her lifes work. she is not a working dog. she needs the exercise. she gets at least 2-30 min play sesions a day in the dog park, so she plays hard. thanks again

after a 30 min of playing fetch with her she seams to be overheating, panting hard, but she does not want to stop. and when we go in she will spend 20 min laying on the floor panting, real hard and fast. just does not seem right. thoughts? thanks

her pad is doing much better. it was a long week of limited activity. she has been hell on us and the house. tonight will be her first good run sence we discovered the split.

it has been a very miserable couple of days at our house. while trying to limit Gracie's activity she has managed to make us all wish we could just let her do what she wants. she is use to two walks a day, and this week end she got one a day and that was on leash. her pad looks better, but there is still a split, it is not red, warm, or swollen. the flesh matched the flesh tone of the pad. she does not favor it any more, but she has not got to run either. should the split be entirely gone, or do we need a couple more days of limited activity. open to any and all input. thanks Gracie's dad.

this morning while removing a black berry thorn from he back right foot I noticed a split in the large bad. we rinsed it out with hydrogen peroxide, but on some a.b. ointment. all of that was easy enough, but now I have a 1 year old coiled spring that I can't take on her walks. normally she gets two a day. she is going to be hard to live with if she can't go for her walk. I have never had to deal with this before with any of my other dogs. how long do these take to heal? any thing else i should do? any ideas on indoor activities that we can use to distract her. she will really be upset when I take Echo for her walk.

that is exactly what it reminded me of. funny I, miss my grown kids so I get another dog to keep me company and active. and here we go again, so to reward me for treating her so good she abuses me, just like my teenage daughter did. thankfully she will grow out of this just like my daughter did. hopefully sooner then my daughter did. I could not wait another 4 years for her to come around.

for her the treat is a ball, she does not respond too well with food. it is all about the ball! other then the last couple of mornings, i have not had to use a leash in the last few months. she would alway come when i call her. thank you for your input and i will try to comeup with some creative ideas.

Gracie is just about 1 year old and is quite a good dog most of the time. her digging has dropped off, but that is becouse she is not out side for too long unsupervised. but she has got a new "trick" i could use some help with... while walking in the fenced dog park she will take off after something, and when i call her, she will look over her sholder at me, make eye contact, and just keep going. this is a new twist, she has always stopped and returned in the past. when she does return, i make her come to me and i put her on her leash for a while. it seems to work for a while but she will see a ball or chuckit, or what ever strikes her fancy and bang...like she was shot out of a gun. where have i gone rong and how can i fix it?

we are trying to keep her mind and body busy with kongs, balls, squeeky toys, rope toys, bones, frozen clean rags, and stuffed animals. as well as a 3 year old german shepard/ blue healer mix (who is a excelnt dog, no bad habits). they play alot. we crate her all night and at times when she is over excited, and when we antisipate thAt it is close to time to go potty. we also feed her in her crate. i think we will try fencing the roses off. any other ideas will be considered thanks all

i don't know if it is posible, but i would like to try and stop the digging, butif we can't then that is a good option

Gracie is 16 weeks old and a exert ditch digger! I would love to encourage her to find a new "job". if she is left alone for any time in the yard, she thinks it is time to dig up those pesky ROSES making her my wife's favorite dog :mad: . what have you all done to combat this excavating tendencies