RoseAmy

Thanks everyone. I was hoping it was just kennel cough and not the start of something bigger. As a matter of fact he hasn't coughed at all the afternoon.

Has anyone had a dog get kennel cough even through they were vaccinated? Of course this started Friday night and my vet is out of town until tomorrow. 1 yr. old dog. coughs once or twice just a couple of times a day. Eating well, very energic seems perfectly normal except for the cough. I might add he doesn't cough when exercising. Seems mainly when he gets up after lying down. Also I have been baby sitting 2 pups for the last 2 weeks..which have also been vaccinated. Of course he is going to vet first thing tomorrow.

So a few friends were sitting around talking and the topic of breeding and cea came up. Now here is where the discussion got interested. If you breed a "normal" to a "carrier" none of the puppies in the litter will have cea. However 50% of the litter will be "carriers". For a dog to get cea both parents must be carriers. So a carrier must be bred to a normal or puppies in the litter will be affects with cea. So here was the ethical question that came up. Should carriers even be bred? It's something I never gave any thought to since I don't breed. Needless to say everyone had different thoughts on the matter. Just some food for thought.

Look it's too early to say how things will go. I had a weimaraner that the very same thing happened to at the age of 6yr. Only she couldn't stand at all, even with help. Since she was six I opted for the specialist. Long story short she had surgery except she began to bleed and they had to stop and sew her up. When I picked her up they wheeled her out on a stretcher. She could not walk, let alone stand, all she could do was raise her head up. I was heart sick. She laid on ortho bed in the middle of the living room and I slept next to her at night. Both vets (my regular one and specialist were great). She was put on high doses of pred and slowly begin to improve to where she could stand with help. After about six weeks she could stagger around on her own. Long story short after 10 months of pred she was good enough to go back to doing search and rescue. She always maintained a bit of weakness and from time to time had to have low doses of pred. I laugh when people get so bent out of shape with pred. Tuffy lived to 3 months short of her 16th birthday. It's a long slow process so don't give up. And just for the record I think you have made the right decision.

At my vet's the tech restrains the dogs and the owner is directed to stand at the head of the table.

I could see where it can be easier to not have to deal with an owner being present. But dealing with owners comes with the territory. There is no way I would use a vet that did not allow me to stay with my pet. Nor to see the "behind scenes" of their office. At my vets I have been welcomed in every area. I have seen first hand how the vets and techs act and interact with the animals and each other. Also that the "back" areas are just as clean as the front areas. Even dogs coming in for surgery..owners stay with their pets until they get "drowsy". With my fear aggressive dog I even carried her to the OR myself and stayed with her until she was totally "out". All dogs but especially puppies are give treats and played with.

Update. I don't know how she made it but the ewe lived. She retained the afterbirth. She was so swollen I thought she was prolapsing. She barely move more then 3 or 4 feet for a week. Took her 2 weeks to fully recover. I hit her up hard with the drugs so I guess that helped.

Just for the record in no way was my intent to belittle anyone but myself. I wrote this thread tongue in check poking fun at MYSELF! This is not the first time I've encountered this. I have no clue what all those letters are or what they mean or what you do to get them. The conversation always turns towards what titles I have when I explain I don't get titles, the next questions are "Just what kind of herding do you do and what do you get". At which point I feel like the village idiot trying to explain in a zillion words or less what I do and what I get from it.

Sue I loved your post. I've run into this before and it always leaves me speechless. How does one explain what it is we do. Next question I'm asked is "If you don't get titles what do you get?"

So I run into an old friend. I have one of my dogs with me. We chat and then she says you just have to meet Connie she would love to meet you she herds!!! Well Connie walks up with a Rottie and proceeds to tell me that he has his tk td it ut mt uk. I assume she is rattling off akc titles. I smile politely as she tells me that she uses a handler to trial him as she can't walk fast enough to keep up.. I have no idea so I keep smiling politely. She finally stops and says what titles do you have? Politely I tell her I don't do akc herding. She says all she does other kinds to abc cba, me I don't have a clue. I just keep (hopefully) smile politely. Then she says Well what kind of herding do you do? Me. Well the kind where I stand here and my dog has to run out anywhere from 300 to 500 yds. bring back the sheep then while I stay here my dog has to drive them away 100yds or so. Her. Oh my that sounds hard. So what kind of herding do you do??

Thanks! That's what I'm worried about..infection. I was here by myself, the lamb was rotated sideways with her legs behind her. She was so wedged in I couldn't push her back and could barely wedge my finger between the lamb and mom. Tried to keep things as clean as possible. She is up and eating some hay and been drinking water. I'm sure she is dead tired and sore. Time will tell.

Had a ewe with a stuck lamb. Really had to work to get it out. Came down to the lamb or the ewe. Lamb was dead. Ewe is tired but seems ok so far. I have hit her up with LA 200 and some baninine. Anything else I can do to up the chances of saving her?

I too have an older dog almost 15 with problems. At this point it is about quality of life. He has been on at one time or another most of all mentioned above. What ever seems to be working at the time. They were many times when we really thought it was time to say goodbye but he rallied. Back in Sept. I tried him on a supplement ( I'm not much on supplements btw) as a last ditch effort. It's called Connectin made by In Clover. The change in him is unbelievable. Most days he takes no pain meds and he's acting like he's 4 yrs younger.

Look I really can't decide if you are a troll (your comment about cloning your dog so you could post the same thread every 8 yrs made me think that) or if you are so racked with grief and guilt. Let me just say I do live in the country. I have a horse farm. It is nice BUT death is a part of nature and on a farm you experience it all the time. A boarder just lost a 10 yr old horse very suddenly (cancer) it was horrible. I myself just lost a dog last week, yes it ripped my heart out. A new puppy was born last week in 8 weeks it will be moving in with me. Why? Because the best way I can honor a dog is to realize that no matter how painful that final goodbye is, it can not over shadow all the good times, love and fun that my dog brought into my life. Let me ask you this. When you got your dog 81/2 yrs age, if you knew it was going to end like this would you have still gotten her. Was the pain in the end worth those wonderful 81/2 yrs? Those are the questions you need to be asking yourself. Some hospices offer pet grief counseling you might want to give them a call.

Maybe we have a troll???

Timely question. My new puppy is now 1 week old. Like others here I don't "play" with my puppy or my grown dogs for that matter. We do "hang" out together and they tag along while I do chores. Back to puppy. When puppy arrives the pup will have toys to play with but I won't play with him. There will be no "formal" obedience. As he hangs with the older dogs and me he will just naturally come to understand sit, lie down, stay, come. He will also come to understand a correction. He will learn house rules and how well mannered dogs behave. Of course we will share snuggles and puppy kisses. I feel so many dogs nowadays are totally ramped up by owners thinking that they always have to be playing or exercising their dogs.

Bringing a new puppy into the household soon. Normally as they learn the house rules they start to get free time in the dog wreck room (screened porch). My male is 14 1/2 yrs. loves pups and would think nothing of rough housing with them, however he is not up to being slammed dunked even if he doesn't know it. I don't want him to get accidently hurt. He loves lying on the porch and I hate to ban him from it. Also new pup will be about 6/7 months when we hit the road for trials. So I'm thinking of an x-pen. I can section the porch off with it.. Set it up in the barn..take it to trials. My thinking is that as I work with puppy and old dog to chill with each other I will have a safe place for old dog without having to isolate them from each other. For those of you who use x-pens what size do you recommend? And have you had problems keeping hyper little guys in them.

Bringing a new puppy into the household soon. Normally as they learn the house rules they start to get free time in the dog wreck room (screened porch). My male is 14 1/2 yrs. loves pups and would think nothing of rough housing with them, however he is not up to being slammed dunked even if he doesn't know it. I don't want him to get accidently hurt. He loves lying on the porch and I hate to ban him from it. Also new pup will be about 6/7 months when we hit the road for trials. So I'm thinking of an x-pen. I can section the porch off with it.. Set it up in the barn..take it to trials. My thinking is that as I work with puppy and old dog to chill with each other I will have a safe place for old dog without having to isolate them from each other. For those of you who use x-pens what size do you recommend? And have you had problems keeping hyper little guys in them.

One question. Before I decide whether to tape my dogs ears or not...Will it make them work better on sheep???

Totally untrue. A rumor that has been floating around for a long time, along with the "it will make them more aggressive" . I've been feeding raw for 8 yrs. My youngest dogs have never even had kibble of any kind. Feeding raw in not way will encourage a dog to start nipping or killing. Honestly I really doubt if a dog makes the connection between the hunk of meat you throw on the floor and an animal walking around. Like anything you feed you just need to make sure it is a balanced diet.

I had thought of the woven wire panels cut to 8 ft lengths. The three sheep I use for nativity are professionals (LOL.) doesn't take much to contain them. I just wasn't sure if the pen would be free standing or I would need some how to anchor it in place.

So it's 98 degrees out and here I'm thinking of Christmas!!. There are several churches that hire my sheep for Nativities at Christmas. Most build a little pen for the sheep, but this year I have picked up a few more churches that want me to bring a pen. Any ideas for a simple easy (cheap wouldn't hurt either) pen. Something that would be easy to lug around and quick to set up.

Sentences used and understood: Go get a drink. Go jump in the pond. Get in the golf cart and I'll take you for a ride. Let so work sheep. You getting hungry? Go find ______(who or whatever) That's just a sampling there are many many more.

Kelleybean he's had blood work. Everything is fine. I did shave him down all last summer his belly, chest, collar area and 1/3 up his sides. And twice already this year. Grew back just fine. In fact have to reclip every 6 weeks or so. Maybe he wants to be a poodle???

The bacon fat (by which I mean the drippings left over from frying it) was the vets idea. His hair looks beautiful very shining and healthy looking. Just matts. Doesn't do it in the winter only the summer. I've tried detangle sprays etc on him with no change. I'll have to try show sheen that stuff works great...at least on horses. Rushdoggie that was kind of what I was thinking. I really feel that it's an age thing. Was just checking to make sure there wasn't something I had missed. At 14 he's earned the right to look a little "funky". Right?