Improving Your Breed

[colliewog]

Off thread topic, but have you considered a bloat kit?

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Scroll down to bloat kit ...

Included in kit: foal tube, 4" roll of vetrap, 4-14 gauge 1 1/2" needles, lubricant, illustrated instructions. To complete the kit, you must purchase simethicone (Gas-X) at your local pharmacy. Simethicone must be occasionally replenished with fresh dated supply.

[Artfish]

I have thought of it, probably should go ahead and get it and see if the vet can teach me to tube him. Kinda stupid of me not to have one if I'm so far from an e-vet.

ETA: Already calming down. No more licking, less pacing. Gotta love GasX.

[Spiritwind]

Originally Posted by Artfish

Honest question, and this is coming from a breed whose ears are also make-or-break for the image: if a dog's ears must be taped for it to stand erect, and the breed standard calls for naturally erect (not requiring cropping) ears, would it be a better practice to stop breeding dogs that consistently produce dogs with weak ears/large ears/etc? I know we're talking a silly cosmetic issue when we have much bigger fish to fry in collies and GSDs, but it does irk me that these genes for large and heavy ears get passed on. GSDs are not supposed to have satellite dishes for ears, they shouldn't require taping, and, unless the dog would make von Stephanitz stand up from the grave in jubilant applause, it probably should not be bred.

How are collie ears? Is taping just about mandatory to get the "collie look" or should the collie ears stand and tip without assistance? I've got my popcorn out and I am ready to learn.

As far as Collie ears. They don't usually need to be taped to stand erect, most of the time the dogs ears will go up just fine on their own... and be prick....so often times they do need to have the tips taped over for a little while (usually through teething) to tip correctly... though not always.


This is a bitch I sold as a puppy, who came back to me a little over a year ago (but she now lives with a breeder friend of mine in Ohio).... her ears were really barely touched as a puppy.... and here she is at 3 yrs of age. I call her pretty natural eared. Her sister, who my brother owns is the same way. Now her rough brother, Pete, that my mom has, his ears are actually low... very low...

This is Pete (rough tri).. as you can see his ears are a bit to low, and I taped them for almost a year!! and every time they came out, the ears flopped... they really just come up at the bases, and fall foward.


Ben (8 yr old smooth blue - he was also my first champion - ears haven't been touched since he was a about 8 months old) and Pete...

I have found, smooths are some times harder to get good tipping ears on (compared to roughs) because roughs obviously have more hair on their ears, which helps to weight the ears down. At least with the roughs I have had, as my roughs are VERY hairy headed!! LOL

Originally Posted by colliewog

However, since there is no test to show a predisposition for it and no CLEAR CUT proof it's genetic (although I too believe it is genetic), breeders will tiptoe around it and make excuses when it happens. Therefore, like CEA, PRA, and DM, bloat too will continue to plague the breed.

Honestly, if breeders want to be to stupid to recognize they have an issue with bloat, then that is their own problem I guess. There are certain lines of dogs I will not TOUCH because of obvious bloat issues. I know there is not proof it's genetic, but I feel MOST cases are genetic in nature.

I have had 2 Collies bloat.... the first bloat I had was in a 7 MONTH old rough male. He bloated on an empty stomach, in the middle of the night. He survived and was neutered. Almost exactly 1 yr later his father (owned by a friend of mine) died of bloat.... also on an empty stomach!

If breeders can't look at their own pedigrees and see all the dogs that have bloated.. and not realize SOME THING is wrong here, then they really need to stop breeding. It's not just some random dog bloats... it's generation after generation! It really bothers me when breeders just sweep an issue under the rug, so to speak, and act like it's not a problem.... especially a life threatening issue! Or they make up stupid excuses to justify it.

It cost me $1500 to save my bloating puppy 6-7 yrs ago. And that was the low end of the estimate for ER treatment, because I caught it early and he was only hospitalized for 36 hrs!!

I'm looking at a 4 generation pedigree right now. In that pedigree, just on the dams side of the family I can name SEVEN dogs that have bloated. That is just one side of the pedigree, in 4 generations. This pedigree is based on a pretty popular line too. The two dogs I had who bloated are closely related to the dogs on this pedigree.

[noodlerubyallie]

Dobermans: DCM is the mysterious and sudden killer. Everyone knows about it, worries about it, and there's nothing we can do about it but try to breed away from dogs we know died of it.

Thyroid issues, liver issues, cancer, elbow/hip dysplasia...you name it, Dobermans are pretty commonly afflicted with it.

As a result, most dogs don't live past their 10th or 11th birthday.

Temperaments are big issue. BYB's and breeders who breed dogs without any regard to temperament/health are ruining this breed. They are creating unstable dogs that give others a bad rap, and Dobermans don't need help with that.

[FoxyWench]

on the cresties id like to see an improvment on the hairless skin...
too many breeders seem to say "dealing with skin issues comes with the breed" and i dont think that should be the case.

id also like to see the abilities that brought the breed to the world, as much as the breed is NOW a companion breed, many still have strong ratting and sight hunting instincts, id like to see this being brought back to the breed, it may make them less popular in the "pet" group of fanciers, but i feel that instinct is just as important since thats what the bred origionally did, and many still have it in them.