BC Wild Child

Glad Mojo was able to go quite awhile without having problems!! Keeping fingers and toes crossed that the video you were able to get will help. let us know!! Liz, Tux and Maj

This got long - sorry!! But sounds just like a repeat of Tux and me... It sounds like you are going through what Tux and I went through last Oct - Dec. Increasing frequency means he could be close to clustering which is life-threatening. After Tux had 2 grandmals within 12 hrs, the vet said to start meds because of the possibility of clustering and status epilepticus (not coming out of a seizure). He was 7 yrs old when the seizures started. Before you start any meds, I think phenobarb is the first choice, the vet should run liver checks, bile acid test and liver enzymes, to make sure there are no liver problems. Phenobarb is hard on the liver and over time can cause liver damage. Tux was not put on pheno because of abnormal bile acid test; which thankfully are now back within normal levels. I took Tux to a vet school for all of the testing, because the wild child is accident prone and has hit his head pretty hard sometimes. so when talking with the neurologist on the phone, she was thinking first injury or brain tumor because of his age versus primary epilepsy. Everything was normal; it cost me about $2000 for everything (including a spinal tap and MRI), but was worth it, because of the possibility of damage from an injury. Because of the elevated bile acid test, Tux is on potassium bromide (KBr), 300 mg (liquid) two times per day on his food. He has been doing well on this and (knock on wood) no signs of seizure activity since Nov 28. My Golden also has some seizure activity (not grand mal) and since we are fairly certain it is due to a botched neutering surgery (at 2 he is now almost 6), blood loss and 2 anesthesias, I will probably not take him to the neurologist for testing, though my vet has been in consultation with her about him. He is on 45 mg phenobarb twice per day, started last year. I was devastated by this as Tux is my first agility dog and we were just starting to do really well for us. Plus he is my soul dog. There are many seizure dogs still competing and doing well. For Tux - his competitive days are over. Unfortunately he is one of these dogs that doesn't have an off switch, so he was always wound at trials (you know - one of the screaming in the crate/car kinds, no matter what you did). At out last trial and run (finished his novice jumpers title in NADAC), I think he had a seizure after the run, but not a grand mal and I thought he was just tired. I can't put him through that again. I want him around for a long time, so we will just be doing agility for fun, which is just fine with him. He has also not shown any signs of ataxia on the KBr, runs, plays in the snow, plays frisbee/ball etc. I currently have him 'vacationing' on a friends farm (I live in a townhouse with little yard space for right now; looking for another place) where he gets out to run multiple times per day and I can go out to work him whenever I want. My Goldie who we think has visceral epiplepsy plus some partial focal seizures, has been doing pretty well on the phenobarb. We are gearing up for our first AKC trial in about a month. Yikes!! We have mostly competed in NADAC. He handles the trial atmosphere much better than Tux, so I am going to give him a try at this fairly local trial and see how he does. If it seems to push him over the edge and he has problems, then he is done competitively as well. The ribbons aren't worth it to me. I can still do it for fun with them. Some in seizure tips, especially if grand mal: make sure there is nothing the dog can get hurt on when in the midst of the seizure; keep things quiet; watch other household dogs. My Golden would just get worried and try to sniff Tux's face (which meant the big black nose could've gotten bit) so I tried to keep him away. Another friend had a dog who would try and attack her dog who was seizing. Some post-seizure tips I was given: have some natural (no artificial sweeteners) vanilla ice cream in the freezer. Give the dog a little spoonful as soon as s/he can safely swallow. A grand mal is physically tasking and really drops blood glucose. This gives them a little boost. Some may still be out of postictus, so just becareful and maybe even put the dog in a crate where he can't get hurt staggering around. Tux didn't have much postictal stuff, except for ravenous hunger! So I would feed him a little ice cream, and then a little later a little tuna fish and honey. Small portions so he wouldn't inhale the food. I don't have the option of holistic/homeopathic veterinary care in my little area. :-( So for now we have to do 'traditional' medicine. I do watch food, no wheat, corn, soy etc and for the Goldie, no flaxseed. My plan is to see if we can go seizure-free for a year and then talk to the vet about beginning to lower the meds. So will see. Yep - life stinks sometimes and isn't fair, but once I began to deal with Tux's seizures, I realized all things are meant to be. The friends who are currently taking care of Tux were having a rough go of it at the time; work, the 1st year anniversary of the loss of their last 2 Akitas etc. Tux and his crazy BC antics have brought them a lot of joy and laughter which makes me feel good as well. (Except now I think they may not give him up! ) Plus Tux is a therapy dog and as we slowly work him back into it, I decided we need to probably try to start working with kids/adults who have seizures. Hang in there!!!

So how have things gone? We do not allow people aggressive dogs in our classes - accident(disaster) waiting to happen, muzzle or no muzzle as other people have already said. This is a liability issue and if the club has insurance, you could be jeopardizing your insurance coverage.

Thanks for the well wishes. Should be only a temporary rehome until I find a better place to live. I had to move for work and moved to a small college town that is not very dog friendly due to irresponsible (or not knowing any better) owners. Makes it hard to find a house to rent when you have dogs. My Golden is more laid back and seems to handle it better.

Here is a link to NADAC's website with several WY clubs. NADAC Clubs There are several NADAC trial held in Casper, Sheridan and Gillette. The Champs will be held in Gillette again this year.

I echo Sue. I would start feeding him all the time in the crate, with the door open. That should help make it sem like a pleasant place to him. When he is in there, lots of things to keep him busy. Also - when you go to let him out, make sure he is quiet before you open the door. Barking, jumping around like a wild man etc - no get out. Calm and quiet results in the door opening. Also try leaving a radio or TV on while you are gone. Hang in there!

Well hopefully I won't jinx my dog... I think I posted here about my BC Tux when he started having tonic-clonic (grand mal) seizures back in November. Took him to Iowa State and could find nothing wrong so he was diagnosed with primary epilepsy, though I guess there is a still chance that it could be due to an injury that didn't show up on the MRI. And the fact that due to alot of other things going on at the time, I couldn't handle the thought of him having another seizure. So he has been 'vacationing' with some friends of mine on their farm. He went in for a one month checkup. KBr level where it needs to be, as far as we know no signs of seizure activity (my friends are used to seizure dogs) and his bile acid test results were improved back to normal range so we don't need to at this time put him on liver support supplements. He is a very svelte 44 lbs and the vet was very happy with how he was doing. He has two people doting on him and he gets to go outside and free run almost everyday - which he couldn't really do where I currently live. My friends who are used to Akitas, are amazed at his beautiful outruns! I tried to explain it to them, but until you get to see it... (you all know) He evidently loves to go pheasant 'hunting', as well as his usual I'm going to herd you if you don't play with me (throw the toy). He figured out how to climb up onto an Akita-sized wire crate and from there to the table where my friend had stashed 2 pigs ears and a T-ball. He was found happily laying on top of the crate chewing on one pigs ear with the other one and the T-ball on the floor. He is finding T-balls that haven't been seen in years. My friends are finding out what life is like living with a BC who doesn't have an off switch! He tried pushing boundaries and quickly found out that wasn't going to work. I tried to tell him that my friends had 8 Akitas at one time, so it wasn't going to be a free ride... So he is doing well. I miss him, but hopefully will get to see him soon. Even though a hard decision, obviously this has been a good one both for my dog, my friends (who were having a rough go of it at the time) and me. The other beneficiary is my Goldie who has also had seizure activity and some other stuff that we haven't decided 100% is seizures, could be behavioral. So I have been able to focus on him and try to get him figured out. I think he is enjoying being an only dog which could leave me in a quandry in the future... So hopefully our New Year is off to a good start.

Many, many hugs! At least she has known love from you and your family. Bless you.

I have done a Dock Dogs competition with my Golden Retriever. I think the last time I looked we were ranked 861st with a whopping big jump of 9' 1"! It is a lot harder than it looks; all in the toss and getting your dog to jump up and out, not just straight out. I had never done it before that day; except retrieving off of a bank into a pond or lake. We entered one flight or round (forget what they are called) and then got do to practice time. My understanding is that you start teaching the dog to jump on land first, then into the water. And giving up some 'good' manners by getting them to jump up for a toy in your hand. Several things to keep in mind. Dock Dog competitions usually jump into a pool with clear water. That can be a very different picture for a dog who is used to jumping into a lake or a pond off of a bank. Mine was a little hesistant at first going off, but then was fine. He had the most problems with the ramp coming up out of the water because of the visual distortion. If you do this for fun be very, very careful asking your dog to jump off of a wet dock that doesn't have any kind of gripping surface (texture). When I was on the Dock Dogs forum pretty regularly, there were quite a few cases of dogs getting hurt (sometimes pretty badly) from slipping or worse off of a wet, slippery dock. It is quite fun and if my BC would have been brave enough in front of the crowd I probably would have done it with him. And for the fun of it I was going to use his stuffed sheep toy as the lure! Wouldn't that have been funny - even though smaller, he is much a bigger jumper than my Goldie.

Because my Goldie doesn't have grand mal seizures, this nutritionist just didn't think he might also be experiencing low blood glucose during one of his episodes. DUH!!! I have been practicing great restraint and still haven't eaten the container of Breyers Natural vanilla. Yes it was a drive for Tux, but well worth it. Even though we were stranded in Ames because of a winter storm and then had to take the longer 'southern' route home because of the weather. I don't want to even contemplate adding up the bills! Tux goes back in a week or so for recheck of KBr and bile acids, plus sample for the behavioral project. Kaching!! Hey - have you had try to contact Melanie with the Behavorial project? Maybe she might be able to help network to someone in your area. http://www.bordercollie.org/boards/index.php?showtopic=4940 Ohh - no, neither of my two have experienced seizures like Mojo's, at least as far as I know. I think Tux would go down first in the hind end and then onto his chest for just a bit before the full seizure hit. Then he would be on his side. I never really saw him go completely go into one (saw the start), as I was running for an ice pack or the valium with the last two.

Hi Lynn - we haven't seen the ataxia effects on Tux on 300 mg (1.2 mL) two times per day. But the neurologist said it could take 3 or 4 months to get up to therapeutic levels. So maybe with the brain tumor, it might take her longer to overcome the ataxia effects? How long ago when they checked the level and found it was high? How much was it reduced? You said 1 mL, but do you know how many mg? T-Touch is a great thing Hang in there and wish I could help more! Liz D

I would do the neurology consult if you have the time and money. I drove 5 -6 hrs one way to take Tux my BC for a consult at the nearest vet school with a neurologist that my vet really trusted. Yes we thought epilepsy, but that was not the neurologists first guess as Tux has hit his head several times. Everything came out normal, but it was worth the trip. The neurologist also recommended checking some other things as well, which my vet clinic didn't have the capability of doing. Since returning, my vet has also been in consultation with the neurologist regarding my Golden who has partical complex seizures, plus what we call GI episodes. Trying to figure out what is wrong with him has been a long process (> 3 years). I was really getting nowhere with regular vets, so the consultation with the neurologist has been helpful. When I recoup the money spent for Tux's evals, then I may take my Golden to her as well. His diagnosis so far - visceral epilepsy. Just like in humans, vets have specialities for a reason. A general practioner or even an internist may not have the special skills/knowledge to help as a specialist can. In my humble opinion - worth the time and money! If you can, video some of Mojo's episodes, so that you will have that to take to the neurologist if you choose to do so. That will help. S/he might pick up on something that you might not think to describe or did not notice. Hmm - I've never thought to try ice cream with my Golden... Good luck and hang in there! It can get really frustrating when trying to figure out what is going on. I think especially so with a rescue when you may not know all of his history. Liz

Ok - I know there will be several youngsters with BCs at the workshop, so I thought it would be ok to post here. I am serving as our State Agility chairperson. I am working with our State 4-H dog project committee (US) to put on a spring workshop for club leaders, extension educators, parents and of course the 4-Hers and their dogs. Anyone on here work with 4-H kids? Or something similar if in another country? We are planning classes on: How to get started which is about getting and making equipment. Include easily obtainable items to use as equipment (eg broom handle for jump bar, plungers for weave poles etc). Then different levels. Beginners - how to teach obstacles Ready to go off leash? - to help those who are moving up to the off leash levels - focus and control. Also for those who have moved up and have no focus or control off leash (I've judged a number of those!). Advanced/Senior - handling moves Any suggestions/ideas are greatly appreciated. Thanks, Liz

I echo the vet visit - it could be a number of things. My Golden has focal or partial complex seizures. Lifts a front leg, curves his body and is unbalanced. Would still be with it and it only lasted 20 - 30 sec at most. He would also act distressed and couldn't move except to look at me. He is on phenobarb and hasn't had any since. I have had inner ear problems and on occasion would tilt to the side as if losing my balance. Only lasted a few seconds and then went away. Very odd feeling. Hope you get some answer at the vets.