Bukka Red

Willow hadn't been to the vet in 6 months (when she was spayed). They all know her. They would giver cookies and baby talk her and give her lots of kisses. She would wiggle and her tail would wag. When she was sterilized she was ok. They told me they could hear her tail thunking against the kennel when they came in the room. Bukka doesn't like what they do there, but loves the attention! Especially since it is a bunch of women. And Bukka loves the ladies. Brad

Willow had her annual yesterday and man was she scared. She got loose from the vet techs and ran in to the receptionists area and got under a desk. She came out for me and went back into the exam room. She wiggled and squirmed like nothing. They couldn't do anything to her. We had to sedate her. She was out cold, with her tounge sticking out a little. When they came in to vaccinate her she came out a little and tried to resist, but it wasn't much of a resistance. The part she hated most was putting the Revolution on her! When I do it at home she wont talk to me for the rest of the day. The next morning and she is fine. I asked them to do it for me and while sedated she tried to get up and run. She knows the feel of that plastic and wetness. she would rather get shots andand blood tanken then take her revolution! Brad

You did good. Be mindful of your dog and let the owner of the abused dog handle it. We had something similar at our dog park. A man showed up with two dogs. hwalked the outside perimeter of the park. Of course all our dogs barked through the fence at them. After about 20-30 min of this he brought his in and kept them on the leash (BIG mistake). All our dogs went over. We immediately grabbed willow and wren. Another BC (Hamish) went up to the dogs. Hamish is VERY sweet and very playful. he climbed on the back of one of the guys dogs. The guy hit Hamish with the plastic part of his retractable leash! it was a loud thud. Hamish didn't yelp, but he got off. I went immediately and told Hamish's Mommy. She verbally tore the man a new @#$hole. She chewed him out, then calmed a little, got him to unleash his dogs and showed him how the park works. The guy was a stoneage dog "master". We left right after that. There are soem major problems with dog parks, but the good outweighs the bad. clueless parents are bad, but one of my pet peeves in unsupervised children. People are bringing little kids in, not supervising them, and letting them , literally, run around. One guy even brought in his toddler with his tricycle!!! Running, unsupervised, children and a pack of herding dogs (BC's, ACD's, Ausies) is a bad mix. I dont want my dogs anywhere near that place when a child is bitten. Brad Brad

When we took Wren in for Xrays our vet said the same thing. We felt good about it. But we kept seeing a problem. Our vet got us an appointment with an orthopedic specialist. He siad her x rays looked ok, but when their hips are Xrayed they are put in a position that can be misleading. He wanted to articulate her hips and feel the joints. Wren resisted, so he had to sedate her to do it. When he did that he could feel laxity (i think that's the right word) in the joints. That was last December. The link below will take you to a thread were I explained in more detail what we did. Our vet couldn't find anything, but he knows us pretty well so he suggested the specialist. We were feeling just like you. We wanted her to come to us and say "my hips hurts..." or "my leg hurts..." Dont give up checking. http://www.bordercollie.org/cgi-bin/ultima...1515;p=1#000018

We had a similar situation with Wren. Both parents were "excellent". When she was bout 6 months old we noticed her getting up a little stiff legged for the first step or two and a fairly loud pop. We took her to an orthopedic specialist. He diagnosed her with the beginnings of HD. That was the bad news. The good news was that it was caught before the developement of bone spurs in the joint (i think they are called osteophytes?). The vet told us that as far her future, she had a 50/50 chance of living with substantial pain later in life. If it does get worse later her only option was total hip replacement. Or she could have a triple pelvic osteotomy (TPO) to save her joints while the are smooth. We opted for the TPO. What was said above about breeders is true. There is a bit of a random element in all of this. Our breeder new we would NEVER return Wren. As for the TPO, she had the first one done the second week of Jan and she will be released in 5 weeks (she gets her 2 month Xray for her second hip on monday). TPO's are a big deal if you decide to do it. Our life has been turned upside down for 4 month and will be for another month. We have three active dogs and we had to create two areas in the house (one for wren, and my wife, and one for me, Bukka,and willow). Wrens activity has been severely limited. My wife and I have not slept in the same bed for 4 months. We put our matress on the floor and she sleeps with wren in our room. Rehab is stressfull. The first week after surgery is the worst. They look so pitiful. Right now, she is doing great. SHe has lost some muscle in her hind end, but she is ready to go. We are taking her on several short walks a day and she cant wait for them! We feel like we made the right decision for us ('us' includes Wren). It's rough, but we felt that it was a best way to go for her. Wren likes to do things FULL THROTTLE and we felt that in the long run that this was the way to go to keep her that way. Brad

Something similar happened with Bukka. I got him when he was a little under 3 Months old. He was very calm in the car. Then, one day when he was about 7 months old he became a spaz. He would whine, pant, and act as nervous as can be. It was quite shocking, and annoying. At first I thought he was nervous (It really looked like he was nervous to me). But it turns out it was excitement. He started focussing on all the cars on the road. He would pant and whine and go from side to side in the back seat. He would see a car, quiet down, start giving it the eye, and lung just a little at it, and bark, as it passed. Living in a rural area he would be anxious and excitied until we passed another car. That and construction Barrels. It was like someone just flipped a switch. It was really anoying! The only time I corrected him was when he barked (it was usually in my ear). It was one of those things we learned to live with. Oh, we have made some really long road trips that I thoguht would desensitize him. No such luck. I thougth the trip from Fairbanks, Alaska to Fayetteville, Arkansas would do it. By the end of the third day he was mellowing out. On the fourth day he would even lay down and nap in the car! After one days rest in arkansas he was back, full throttle. Brad

I have another one, but it makes me look really stupid. I had miles of trails went were near my cabin ( I mean I could catch a trail 1/8 mile and by switcfhing trails I could probably tavel the whole Alaskan Interior). One day, at sunset I was walking the pups on a trail near my cabin. I had forgoten my glasses. I'm far from blind, but in the twighlight at a distance.....i'm pretty close at times. I came to a fork in the trail headed back to my cabin. I saw a moose in front of me about 30 yards at the fork. I saw it turn to look at me then freeze. I called the pups, they came, and I leashed them. Then I watched....and watched....I thought for sure the moose felt threatened because it just stared at me. And stared.....I was getting reallt nervous, afraid it would charge. After a minute or two I slowly led the dogs back and backtracked a few miles back to the cabin. I was on gaurd afew days afterward because I thought there was a bull moose in the neighborhood who was totally unafraid of people. When I finally made it back there, with my glasses, I realized a large white spruce tree had fallen and what I thought was the moose was the lower trunk and rootball! Brad

In my experience, the biggest danger of walking dogs in the woods unleashed are porcupines. My vet had a wall fo fame. Every dog that came in with quills in their muzzle got a polaroid tanken and put on the wall. All those sad little faces with quills in theor noses! I also got good looking for moose. Often times I would see them before the pups and and leash them till we went by. After reading my post earlier I realized I sounded dismissing about the danger. That wasn't what I was trying to get across. My point was that If I worried about moose too much Bukka would never have gotten off leash up there. And whe I say they were everywhere, I mean they were EVERYWHERE. One winter night I was going to to my outhouse and had a run in. My poddy time, was the dogs poddy time. While I was in the outhouse they would run around the cabin playing, sniffing, and eating moose poop (mushers call them dog treats). It was a very dark night and while walking the short trail to my outhouse I heard some movement then 'saw'this HUGE dark mass rise right in front of me! a moose had bedded down behind my cabin. It scared all of us. We ran back to the cabin! I gave it a few minutes and went back out to finish my business and the dogs stayed on the porch! Work really hard on the recall and keep your eyes wide open. I agree with the terrier comment. Most dogs will chase then come back. Terrier may try and fight. I spent a lot of time on the trails with my dogs. We used to go on backcountry trips where the dogs had their own backpacks. I'm hoestly surprised we never had a run in with a porcupine. I always felt like I was more in danger than the dogs. All this talk makes me homesick for Alaska. Brad

Another thing...I find it very odd that a moose would be at the dog park! Especially laying down at one!

I lived about 15 miles outside of Fairbanks for 6 years. I lived in a little log cabin w/o running water. I had moose ALL around my place. One day I was walking to my mail box, in winter, with Bukka, who was about a year old. It was about a 1/2 mile walk oneway. On the way back we came around a bend and there was a momma moose with a calf. Bukka stopped for a second and I could see the excitement building in him. I gave him a frim "Stay!" The meeses (i know plural is moose) turned, took one step and that was all. They ran into the woods and Bukka went right after them. I saw him enter the woods tight behind them. I called him a couple fo times and he returned with a big grin on his face. Bukka always had a 99% (Now it is 100%)recall even when he was 3 months old. I walked him off leash around my cabin, since it was so rural/wild. I agree onm the cars. I spent more time with him on that. If there was a car comming I trained him to come to me and sit next to me as the car passed. I'd hear a car, I'd whistle, he'd come next to be and plant his butt down, watch the car go by, and look at me for a release. Dogs and moose are everywhere in alaska. Dogs especially in Fairbanks. If you went to a party up there, most of the time you were expected to bring your dog. So, at a party you could have 50 people there drinking and having a good time, with 20 or so dogs playing. The only time I have heard of moose injuring dogs was a a dog sled team that came upon a bull on the trail. That was ugly. It is still soemthing to be concerned about, but don't let it stop you from having fun. Brad

WOW! Our dogs eat acorns like crazy every fall. We have oak trees all around our house (post oak, red oak, and white oak). Bukka started eating acorns the first fall after we moved into this house. Since then he has taught Willow and Wren to eat them. When the acorns are dropping the dogs run into the back yard put there noses to the ground and start rooting around for acorns. They look like wild hogs. They dont eat the shell. They crack them open and eat the nut. I even atea couple because they seemed to like them so much (I writer i know of has written about making tea out of acorns). Too bitter. Too many tannins. Brad

Bukka (7 yo red heeler) had a fibrocartalegenous embolism (FCE)in his spine. He was totally paralyzed in his hind end. I had to express his bladder when he came home. I bought a stock tank and a life jacket for him. Filled the tank just to where he could not touch, grabbed him by the life jacket, and held a liver treat just in front of his nose. He has a high food drive. It helped him gain some movement back (that and a doggie "wheel chair").

Our one year old BC (Wren) was diagnosed with loose hips. We noticed here doing the "bunny hop" after she would get up after being down for a while. We had x-rays of her hips and they looked ok. We still kept seeing it. She seemed slightly hesitant to move her rear legs when she got up. It was Very subtle. Our vet referred us to an orthopedic specialist. He told us that her X-rays looked ok, but that X-rays (because of the position the hips are put in to take them) can hide laxity in the hips. He sedated her and articulated her hips and found they were loose. The good news was that we caught it before she developed actual Hip displaysia (she had not developed the bone spurs in the joints). That made her a candidate for a triple pelvic osteotomy (TPO). She is halfway through the recovery of her second TPO. Good luck

Does she chase the ball when you throw it? If you throw the ball and she shows no interest in it, you will have a tough time. But if she will at least chase it, there is hope. A couple of my dogs would go after a frisbee or ball with gusto, but when they got it would only chew on it for a couple fo minutes then leave, or proceed to destoy them (e.g., remove the felt of the tennis balls). What I do/did is use the ball with a couple of treats. try to get her to associate giving you the ball with getting a treat. you may have to start with VERY small steps. Give her the ball and say "give it to me" or some such phrase, quickly, before she drops it. when she drops it, probably out of disinterest. praise and give her a treat. Use a clicker if you want. If you work from there eventually she might learn that the ball is related with the treats. So you might be able to work her up to the point to anticipate the throw so she can bring it back for a treat. When she is regularly bringing the toy back start alternating giving her treats. Every two times she brings it back. Then 3 times. Then 4 times, etc. Always leave her wanting more. Never let her quite on her own because of boredome. Do a little bit each time. If she makes the connection and the prospect ball and treats is exciting her, quit the session at the height of excitement. ALWAYS leave her wanting more. And keep the ball out of sight when not training her. Make the ball a super special toy. tell her about the ball when you get it out to work with her. that way the the word "ball" will start to get her excited. I have used this method (for both frisbee and ball) and it has worked. In fact, I still give them a treat every so often while playing fetch.