Sammy glad to hear your puppy is doing well. They are like our kids. I have a 17 month old black, toy poodle. His name is Baby Bear. He was neutered at 6 months old, but he misunderstood and was proudly telling all of his friends that he was getting tutored. Ouch! He is doing fine. I just brought him in last month for a yearly check up and necessary shots. I cried Ouch! It was $167. bill. I'm about to recover from it now.

The Vet costs are really high, aren't they? When I think about how high they are, I realize that many Vets cannot read the blood tests, and must send them out. At least I got my answer immediately.

We have two dogs, and the yearly check ups are quite high.

Sammy

Taureau, you are funny, lol!

Sammy, I'm sure you feel better having done the tests. The only time I haven't was with animals that are terminal anyway, and then I still feel guilty!

KiKi ripped his 'vasectomy' stitches out the 1st night he was home after being rescued/neutered. That sure made us bond and cost a bit right early on... yep, he was mine alright!

I hope your baby is doing AOK from here on out!

Thanks Meredith. He seems great. We had to wait to walk him because of the bleeding, and we also had to put an Elizabethan collar on him. That also slowed him down. Now he is using all that energy he has stored up.

Sammy

I sometimes try not to read about puppies and dogs, as still grieving after three years when we had to put our last Springer to sleep. The last of four we have had. I miss them terribly.

But sometimes I cannot resist a read. I remember you losing your lovely dog in October Sammy, and I remember how quickly you took on a new pup. I believe that is the best thing to do, though you still will NEVER forget your last friend. It sure helps.

I am so happy things have turned out well for him, but what a worry for you.

Pauline.

Oh, Pauline, what a nice thing to say.
It took me months of mind control after we lost Rocky. As I would drive onto our main road on the way home from work, I would think of what I called to him when I got home, and would begin to feel the tears well up.

Our new puppy and our other dog would help me be distracted, but I will always remember my adoration for that dog.

The distraction of a new puppy helped me, and also helped our other dog. Seeing that he was happy helped me a little.

Are you preparing to get another dog?

Sammy

Moodyblue, Sorry to hear about your loss. Maybe it is time to consider getting another friend??????

Sammy, I probably missed this, but is your puppy a Doberman? Sounds like a dog who is heterozygous for von Willebrands - VERY common in Dobies, unfortunately.

Better to know if he has it for future emergencies. And I'm glad he's OK now.

Nickelsmumz, you sent me to the dictionary, and made me realize how archaic our dictionary is compared to Wikepedia.

Websters says "heterozygous -having the two alleles at corresponding loci on homologous chromosomes different for one or more loci". LOL

What you are describing is a bleeding disorder common to Golden Retrievers too. I sure hope he does not have that. Since they did the clotting test, and said it was normal, and did the blood panel, and he showed me it was normal, I hope that everything is fine. I am hoping that it was the infection that caused the problem.

Do you work for a Vet, or are you a trainer? Those terms are not really laymen's terms you know.

It is interesting to me to look up something like this in the dictionary, then look it up on the internet. The dictionary definition means nothing to a person without expertise. In this day and age, they could describe it better than they did.

Thank you for the information. As comfortable as I feel, I will probably always be more cautious with Blaze if he gets an injury.

Sammy

Sammy, sorry, I mostly hang out on dog forums where terms like "heterozygous" and "von Willebrands" are tossed around as cavalierly as the terms "abscission layer" and "nitrogen uptake" are used here.

Yes, I'm a trainer.

Von Willebrands (hemophilia) exists in plenty of other breeds. It just happens to be extremely common in Dobermans.

I realized I made a mistake in my earlier post to you, though. If the dog is heterozygous for vWd, he would not be symptomatic, but would be a carrier that could pass the disease along. He would have to be homozygous (carry two copies of the gene) to have an actual clotting problem. This is how simple recessive disease genes work.

In some other genetic disorders, if you have one copy of the disease gene and one normal copy of the gene, you will have a mild form of the illness. If you have two copies, you will have a severe or even lethal form of the disease. It depends on the disease. I was thinking of vWd this way but actually it is a simple recessive.

Hope I didn't confuse things even more.

Taureau and Sammy, No puppy in the cards yet for us, unfortunately, but hopefully in the not-to-distant future.
Pauline

Nickelsmumz, I wish I were a trainer. I do understand a little about genetics, but really understand that no condition that Blaze has will ever go to an off spring. ha ha ha! He is a real challenge, and a very interesting dog. We wanted spirit, and we got it. We wanted our other dog to be distracted, and he sure is.

I just wish I had the techniques down for dealing with a dog.
Sammy

Sammy, here is the secret. 1. Reward the dog you want. If he is being good, make a point of noticing. Praise, feed, or play with him when you like what he is doing. 2. Do not reinforce behavior you don't like, and prevent him from reinforcing himself for it. Remember, things like car rides, greeting people, digging, and barking can all be self-reinforcing.

If you had kids and did well when they were aged three, you can do it.