He's been taking insulin for a couple months and basically is back to normal as far as his movement goes. Still giving him the joint pills just to be safe. I have to help my brother-in-law take their 10-yr old great dane to get put down today :(
are you still in Colorado or back in Wisconsin? I hope he got to enjoy some of the rocky mountain recreation.
Decided it's not for me right now, moreso the city of Denver. Leaving Sunday for Wisconsin to figure out where to next. We didn't get out as much as I hoped as we got here in August and had tons planned for spring and summer :(
An incredibly sad dog story with a semi happy ending: Spoiler FAIRBANKS, Alaska (KTVF) - Bridgett Watkins of Kennel on a Hill located in Salcha, Alaska, has been preparing all year long to race in her first Iditarod. With almost one month until the start in Anchorage, Watkins and her team had prepared for a training run on Thursday, February 3rd. “I woke up and sure didn’t think that’s how my day was going to end,” said Watkins when I asked her about the events of the day. “I was going to run dogs like I always do, and we got ready and headed out.” Watkins was going to go on a fifty two mile training run with ten dogs on her sled, and her handler, Jennifer Nelson, had six dogs pulling a snow machine. About midway through the run, Watkins noticed a moose, but it was a long ways off. It is not uncommon for mushers to see wildlife while on the trails. About five minutes had gone by since the first spotting, and Watkins saw the same moose again and then a third time too. “This could be a problem. He (the moose) is not getting off the trail,” Watkins thought to herself. “It is really hard to get a dog team to turnaround in a small area.” The moose had once again disappeared back into the woods, but that was only temporary. Watkins chose to keep moving forward with the run and sometime later, the team came around a corner only to see the moose waiting for them at the next corner. “He had basically stopped and waited on us. We were then only about 150 yards apart. At that point, I put both of my snow hooks down, and I actually got my gun out,” Watkins stated. It isn’t uncommon for mushers to carry some form of protection when out on the trails, but the purpose of their protection is to deter danger, not kill an animal. “We are always only trying to deter animals, that’s all we want to do. Get them off the trails if they’re in the trails... maybe shoot a flare gun.” “We never go on training runs with the anticipation that we are actually going to have to shoot and kill an animal. That is never our intention,” Watkins emphasized. “We are not hunting in the middle of February to do this. Which is why we aren’t rifles, and shotguns, and revolvers on our chests. To carry one of those weapons with us is extremely dangerous as a dog musher.” Not only would it be a potential harm to the dogs, but also the musher themselves. Mushing trails aren’t always nice paved, packed down trails with little obstacles in the way. “We get flipped. We get turned and dragged through snow. We hit trees, and it’s not safe to have those weapons on us at all times,” Watkins explained. The weapon Watkins had was not for killing, only with the intent to deter said wildlife obstacles on the trail, if needed. She knew that the weapon she had on her person was not capable of killing a large animal. “When the moose was in front of me, I got my .380, which is what I had. I had one in the chamber ready, but was really hoping that I wouldn’t have to use it,“ Watkins detailed. There was a period of time where the moose was just watching and observing Watkins, Nelson, and the sixteen dogs. The moose had even elected to walk back down the trail, out of sight of the team for a fourth time now. As aforementioned, turning a dogsled around anywhere is tough, but Watkins mentioned that the trail she was on at the moment was too narrow, and she didn’t want to run the potential of tangling the dogs up on accident in case the moose came back. “I stood there, and it wasn’t very long. I looked up, and he came (back) around that corner charging full-blast without ever slowing down... never stopping,” Watkins said. “It’s that moment you realize ‘this is really happening to me’.” This wasn’t the first time that a moose encounter had happened to Bridgett Watkins while on the trails. She was once chased by a moose when she was a child pulling a dog team. When the moose returned again, Watkins had hoped that the moose would charge, but then divert off to the side, which isn’t a rare thing that could happen, but that wasn’t the case. “I shot my gun a few times, and then it got jammed. He got on me so quick that he was within a few feet away from me before I turned to retreat as fast as I could. I thought he was going to trample over me and kill me at that moment.” Despite Watkins being able to escape from the moose, her ten dogs were still in the same position and the moose got tangled in their lines when he charged. “That was a horrific sound to hear behind me,” Watkins added. Once she had gotten her gun unjammed, she emptied her remaining rounds hoping to get the moose to go down. The moose, still standing charged back within feet of the snow machine. “He sat there and huffed. I could hear him breathing. I could see him breathing. I could see the anger in his eyes. He thought we were there to kill him; we thought he was there to kill us. Both of us just wanted one another to go away. It is really unfortunate that this had to occur,” Watkins said sincerely. Things had gotten so escalated that only having a knife remaining, Watkins opened the S.O.S. button on her Garmin inreach knowing that pushing that button was the only way to signal for help if the moose chose to charge again. The team that was first attacked, then drew the attention of the moose, and he returned to standing over them. “He then proceeded to stand over my dog team for the next forty five minutes... close to an hour in total, where he repeatedly, and repeatedly attacked them,” Watkins explained as she was holding back tears. “I had no idea how it was going to be okay, but I just knew that it was.” ADVERTISEMENT No one was killed in the event, but some were left with physical damages and everyone left with emotional scars. When help arrived, the moose on the other hand had been shot with a rifle and quickly euthanized there after. The moose was then turned over to troopers who would give the meat and help feed people. After all of these events of twists and turns had transpired, Watkins, a emergency room nurse, took over the situation and treated the situation as if it were a scenario in her workplace. “I didn’t know if they were alive or if they were dead, and I knelt down to look at each one of them and picked their heads up and I asked, ‘buddy are you alive? Are you alive? Look at me. Open your eyes’.” Every dog was responsive, and Watkins executed gracefully with her career training to make sure all of her dogs were properly before the team would be taken to a emergency veterinary clinic in North Pole. Watkins sacrificed her coat because she knew dogs were going into shock, and used her gear to keep her dogs warm. When a snow machine came to the rescue, Watkins carried the most injured dogs in her lap while being ushered to help. One week later on the same trail:
so sorry, keep your head up. Keep yourself occupied(when Spock died I was a total wreck and could not sit still for 5 min)He would want you to just enjoy your life, you gave him a great life. time will help but I am sure you will never forget him. I am still crying sometimes and it’s been over 2 years. Spock was my parents dog so it was not even an everyday thing, I can’t imagine what you are going through. stay strong
Somehow they know they gotta be gentle with the new calves. Fuck them cats No idea what was going on here.
Correct, considering the purpose is to protect your team from moose. My hockey buddy ran into the same moose a couple weeks later who was again aggressive and “dispatched” it. Found numerous slugs in it while processing it.
Anyone of you have any recommendations on something to give your dog that has bad anxiety/stress? My dog (for years) always is very antsy and will bark at my wife when I leave the house. It's even worse now that I am in the office and my wife is working form home. It's not like a mean bark, but like "hey, you, look at me," but she doesn't need anything, i.e. go outside, eat or water. Any suggestions besides talking to vet to calm her down?
These are solid, but they'd get pretty expensive for daily use: https://www.hollywoodfeed.com/p/40638/heavenly-hounds-dog-treat-relaxation-square-peanut-butter
Away from our dog who is at home with a pet sitter coming by a couple times a day. we have a ring camera but don’t know if taking to her would comfort her or make her more anxious. Anyone know?
We used to give Flash CBD spray in her food. She is so chill we couldn’t tell the difference lol. This was when she was a pup and we didn’t know what to do about the seizures. She has only had a couple at the time and we freaked out and that was suggested by someone.
Not to be all sappy, but depressed, confused, hearing and seeing him even though he's not here. Routines are all thrown off since they all involved him outside of work. I was weeks away from surprising Dierks with another GSD companion through a preferred breeder in Wisconsin. Now I feel as though I'm betraying him by thinking of getting another pup/adopting later in the year. IHHH thanks for asking, though no /s I also feel wronged and hurt. https://www.germanshepherds.com/threads/dierks-my-everything-to-me.771184/
Dierks wanted nothing in his life more than for you to be happy. Another dog will help to make you happy, it's what he would have wanted for you.
Just found this on my dog. He doesn’t seem overly sensitive to it but I’m going to make a vet appointment
Where is it located? Kinda looks like some type of cyst or mass. It is good that you are taking it to the vet.
Definitley do a fine needle aspirate on that thing. Rule out mast cell tumor at least. How old is your pup?
I won't say anything definitively, but it might not be a sebaceous cyst due to the distinct hair loss around the growth, from what I've been told.
Gotcha. There isn’t any hair loss around the growth luckily. I was just pulling it back. Definitely going to get it checked out though
So we have a 2.5 year old GSP who has seizures and is now losing hair and has small open wounds. The vet thinks it’s lupus or an autoimmune disease or possible a fungal infection. She got blood work done and biopsy last week. Just waiting 7-10 days now. The phenobarbital she’s on for seizures showed a low amount which is positive news because it kills their liver and prevents seizures. Hoping we have a long time with her and she can be our kids first pup.