The Venting Thread

SaraB

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The worst hip case I saw was a sweet little shepherd mix girl who could barely walk at the age of 4 months. She was euthanized. Oh and her coat was nice and shiny and she was a good weight at the time.
 

JessLough

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Grab;I posted 247788 said:
My first Chow was from a BYB. They had dogs from decent lines, but did not health test. He had horrible hips, which he had surgery for. He blew out a knee (which he had surgery for) and he was allergic to everything green (which we managed by keeping him away from all things green). To look at him, he was in wonderful coat and condition. Even seein him walk around, you'd not know he had any issues since we fixed them.

To continue, my Grimm was in fabulous body condition..even when an autoimmune disease was taking him from us.

And Julian, who should be the poster dog for BYB, is in fine coat condition (except right now, because sometimes you need a haircut) and he's a little turd..physically and behaviorally.

There is not a single thing you can tell about those pups from a photo, except that, yep,those are Mastiff mixes.

I'm not certain that you are grasping what a BYB actually is... most BYBs don't have their starving dogs caged in a shed, covered in filth and grime.
Yep.

Hell, i posted pictures a week before Rosey died. Everybody commented how great she looked, and how healthy she was looking. She had a large cancerous tumor. She looked great, though! ;)
 

Beanie

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E-mailing with my insurance agent so he can give me a quote and I mention I haven't moved into my home yet. He asks when I think I will move into the house.

I have no other response but to laugh.
Through tears.

"Six months ago?"
 

Dogdragoness

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Stupid phone refreshes the page every time I switch windows when on photobucket ... ****ing phone :wall

This is Josefina ... She is a shelter Heeler (mix??? We're not sure) who I am sure was from a BYB ... Does she look unhealthy? She has no skin problems, perfect eyesight & I assure you she has no hip problems :/.



This is Izze ... Who was from a BYB (parents weren't shown, only ears/eyes tested & worked). Her ear is messed up because she was kicked by a cow, it didn't start that way. & believe me she was healthy til she died ... I think she would have outlived me :D



This is buddy he is a rescue & prolly from a BYB also & he is healthy as a horse


SOOOOOOO ........

Four dogs, all (likely) from brb's/shelters all healthy. I have numerous mixes, all healthy, so please excuse me if I do not believe that all dogs from BYBs are inferior & riddled with health problems.
 
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JessLough

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I... don't understand the point? Congratulations? There is no way ANYONE can know that for sure just by looking at pictures. Nor can you know they don't have any health issues because "they can run just fine!"
 

Beanie

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There is no way ANYONE can know that for sure just by looking at pictures. Nor can you know they don't have any health issues because "they can run just fine!"
x2.
or x1million.


"Looks healthy" and "IS healthy" are two entirely different things. NOBODY said "all BYB dogs are riddled with health problems!!" They said you can't tell health just by looking at a picture.

Would you look at a picture of a car and buy it without ever test driving it? "Well, it's clean and shiny - looks like it runs well!" Of course not.
 

Xandra

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She looks great... but I think the whole point is that a dog can look great and have

underlying health issues.

In other words,

health issues that are not visible to the naked eye.


My guess is that you resent people's attitudes toward BYB dogs, because your dog isn't from health tested lines and she is fine, so now you want to defend BYB mastiffs.

There are a number of issues with untested e.g. heelers :
  • It's about probability, or the incidence of health problems... just because one dog is fine doesn't mean the rest of the litter isn't crippled.
  • Dogs can have problems and still look great.
  • Dogs can get problems later in life.


That said, people have been breeding working dogs (hard) for centuries and producing reasonably healthy animals. Could they be doing it better, by testing, yes, but am I really that worked up about it? No. I think we're in agreement there.

But should we apply system to all dogs, considering (in addition to the problems listed above for a relatively healthy breed):
  • Large and giant breeds are more likely to get e.g. hip dysplasia.
  • Some breeds have more prone to health issues than others.
  • Dogs from non-working lines are arguably more prone to health issues.


I mean I think you'll agree that there are breeds that are just riddled with health problems... how do you think they got that way? How are people supposed to make them healthy again?
 

Laurelin

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I'm on my phone but you've seen pucturess of Mia and Mia being Mia. She's active and in great condition and... Bad knees. You can't always tell.
 

Dogdragoness

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A lot of people but dogs from breeders sight unseen, reputable breeders, "show" people do it all the time with pups & adult dogs they want to intrograte into their breeding programs.

Though I have never done this, I am sure there are written contracts that protect buyer & seller
 

Laurelin

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The idea that working dogs are healthier is anecdotal at best. Probably depends on what you are comparing to. A bulldog? Ben yeah probably. A show bred border collie? No idea. Sadly I know of working breeders that have bred dogs with health issues. You can't really blanket a breeder type as 'good' or 'bad'. Lots of grey and lots of variety even among breeder 'type'.
 

Laurelin

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A lot of people but dogs from breeders sight unseen, reputable breeders, "show" people do it all the time with pups & adult dogs they want to intrograte into their breeding programs.

Though I have never done this, I am sure there are written contracts that protect buyer & seller

So? Usually if a serious dog person is buying a dog they will want Health cert. If they can't meet the dog in person they research lines and try to meet relatives. Or they have trusted friends that see the dog and eval in person.

Both breeders unlike are on the over side of the county. I probably wont get to go visit. Buying nextdog is way way way different than picking a pup off an ad.
 

GipsyQueen

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I... don't understand the point? Congratulations? There is no way ANYONE can know that for sure just by looking at pictures. Nor can you know they don't have any health issues because "they can run just fine!"
This.

Gipsy was from a BYB. We didn't know any better. Not an excuse, but we just didn't know any better. Her coming from a BYB did not make her any less of who she was. She was my heart, but her health wasn't too great.

She looked really healthy up until she had cushings, and developed liver cancer.
What you didn't see all those hers were back problems, as well as horrible allergies. She couldn't eat most foods, was sensitive to many things and had skin and ear problems on and off.

Looks like a pretty healthy puppy to me though.
 

RedHotDobe

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I ordered something from Amazon, two days later received wrong item. Refund issued, prepaid return label emailed to me, new item ordered with overnight shipping. No problems. Newly ordered item arrived today. It was the SAME WRONG ITEM. :mad: Refund issued again, but I can't order again because they need to figure out why I keep getting sent the wrong thing first.

Boo. :(
 

Xandra

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The idea that working dogs are healthier is anecdotal at best. Probably depends on what you are comparing to. A bulldog? Ben yeah probably. A show bred border collie? No idea. Sadly I know of working breeders that have bred dogs with health issues. You can't really blanket a breeder type as 'good' or 'bad'. Lots of grey and lots of variety even among breeder 'type'.
I don't think it's as simple as just "working breeders." Most "working breeders" I've seen are weekend-warrior types, who go to retrieving or manwork or herding trials on weekends... some have 20 acres, 20 sheep and some mini-horses or something... not that this is bad! but I don't think that helps much in maintaining health.

Now, dogs that truly work on big ranches or run miles beside an ATV hunting... yeah I think that probably helps weed out dogs that are less robust. I would also guess that people who have dogs for work first and foremost are less likely to make excuses for dogs that aren't quite right. I mean if you think of dogs that have life expectancies of <10 years, how many are breeds that have been used for some legitimate, physical job until recently?
 
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What about hip dysplasia? Elbow dysplasia? Eye problems? Allergy problems? Thyroid problems? Patella problems? Heart murmurs? Liver shunts?
Yes, thank you.

That begs the question .... Are mixes really healthier then purebred dogs?
Some individual dogs (who may be mixes or purebreds) are healthier than other individual dogs (who may be mixes or purebreds).

Four dogs, all (likely) from brb's/shelters all healthy. I have numerous mixes, all healthy, so please excuse me if I do not believe that all dogs from BYBs are inferior & riddled with health problems.
Nobody said all dogs from BYBs are inferior and riddled with health problems. But I take exception to anyone claiming that an litter of puppies is healthy because they "look healthy" in one picture on a CL ad, whether they are purebred OR mixed.
 

OwnedByBCs

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The idea that working dogs are healthier is anecdotal at best. Probably depends on what you are comparing to. A bulldog? Ben yeah probably. A show bred border collie? No idea. Sadly I know of working breeders that have bred dogs with health issues. You can't really blanket a breeder type as 'good' or 'bad'. Lots of grey and lots of variety even among breeder 'type'.
I would have to agree somewhat with this, epilepsy is extremely common in working and sport line BCs, but then again, when you compare it to HD, CEA/CL/TNS, Elbow dysplasia, cancer, etc that are rampant in some of the top show BC lines, which is better? IDK. Hard question.

However, don't think its as simple as saying "working lines" and "show lines"- there are even huge differences within those worlds, so how can we truly lump them all together? There are some lines healthier than others but it is not because of what they were bred for, rather how careful their breeders were.

My vent for today is that I have incredibly swollen nasal passages and I can't breath. Also, something is seriously wrong with my foot/ankle and I don't know if I can handle my dogs this weekend.
 

*blackrose

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Still feel icky. :(

And, not yet bad news...

We had a little kitten dropped off at work today. She's around six weeks old. Her anus never formed, and somehow her body reformed itself to let her excrete feces out through her vaginal opening. Urinating completely normally. Gorgeous, totally sweet kitten. Playful, curious...just a doll.

One of our vets said he would come in on his day off and operate on her to give her a chance if the other vet thinks she'll have a good quality of life afterwards, and we techs can help place her in a home where her being incontinent won't be an issue (such as a safe, outdoor home).

She may be euthanized tomorrow. Or, if she's operated on, she may not make it through the surgery, or recover well enough since she's so young.

But regardless, everybody say a little prayer for this little kitten tonight.
 
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Oh I forgot about my other byb purebred, Pippin, a chow chow. I raised her until she was two then she went to live with a good friend until she passed away at 12 of old age, she was arthritic, but otherwise she was very healthy and had a superb temperament.

Her dad was a CKC Ch. and her mother was from Petland.

IMO we lucked out with her health though, it really could have gone either way.
 

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