We had an incident that occured this past weekend that really has me fuming.It has to do with the veterinarians that are only interested in the easy quick money to be made.I don't know how many here admire and owns dogs but we as a family have raised imported West German line-Working-Show class German Shepherds for over 30 years now.I got my first one when I turned 18 and thinking back now,that dog was really nothing to the dogs we presently raise and import.He was american bred from AKC registered parents going back many generations but none the less,he was a German Shepherd and loved people and attention.
Many breeders will place dogs into new homes when they are getting too old to breed with.In our household when we buy a German Shepherd,that dog will die here.A dog is not something to be used then gotten rid of once it's not paying it's way anymore.Yet we know many people who will find a dog a new home after it reaches 5-7 years old.
This story has several coincidences that occured within hours of each other this past weekend.To start with about 6 years ago we were contacted by a Vietnam War veteran in Pennsylvania that had sustained a leg injury during the war and was looking for a friendly companion dog that could eventually become a service dog for him.We owned a nice male that had just turned 3 years old,and was too tall and a little too heavy to produce puppies within the breed standard. It was a tough decision for us,but since we knew if we bred him to any of our females,good chances are those pups would grow to also be oversized.So we met this man,and decided to let this male Sheherd named Logan to become this mans dog for life. During the time Logan was here with us,he shared a kennel run with a female named Leanna that was one year younger than him.These two dogs did everything together and you could tell they were best of friends.When Logan left to go to his new home,the female Shepherd that was kenneled with Logan was very down for many,many weeks after losing her playmate.
We got a call from the man who purchased Logan last Thursday,saying Logan had been having siezures for two days and was in the vets care.He was very concerned about this.This story really tears at my heartstrings here because the more we learned,the more sympathy and sorrow we had.The owner of Logan named Dan did call and give us updates from time to time.But only after Logans passing did we hear the entire story.
Dan's ex-wife stole all the money they had when she moved out,only for a richer man living in Florida.Dan is on permanent disability from his war injuries.He is not rich but we knew when we allowed him to buy Logan he would have a much better purpose in life than he would have had with us here.Dan told us two years ago because of Logans size he needed an operation on his spine.Dan took out a first mortgage on his home to pay for this operation.About a year after the operation Logan needed medication for arthritis in his back costing $1200 a month,,without it the dog couldn't move around near as good so Dan once again borrowed some extra cash to pay for the medicine needed.Durng their time together Dans home was broken into one night as Dan was sleeping.Logan,being one of the most friendliest dogs in the world grabbed ahold of thie man who broke thru the frontdoor that night with a gun,and clamped down on his arm and punctured an artery so bad that Dan told us blood was on his living room ceiling.Logan would not let go of this would be thief until the police arrived.He easily could have saved Dans lafe that nite.
About last Wednesday we started to notice the female Leanna was not eating.This was the same female that Logan had as a playmate when he was with us for 3 years.We brought Leanna into the house that nite,took her temp,which was normal,and clipped her nails and tried to get her to eat some human food.We noticed a slight vaginal discharge but it was getting close to her next heat cycle so we weren't for sure.
My wife called a local vet here that we use for giving shots and easy things such as health permits,ect,but she is one of those veterinarians who is not available in an emergency over a weekend.You will get a message if you call after noon on Saturdays until Monday morning giving you Purdue University or the U of I's veterinarians clinic for emergencies.This vet told us to just keep an eye on her and if she didn't make any improvement to call her back Monday to set up a visit. I suspected pymethra which is an infection in the females reproductive organs.Tell-tale signs are they seem weak and will not eat and they will drink lots and lots of water which Leanna was doing when we brought her inside Wednesday nite.
Sunday morning Leanna was not getting any better so we called another vet clinic that always has one vet on call over the weekend.She advised to bring Leanna down to her immediatedly.While making the 45 minute drive to this vets office we got a call from Dan saying at 8:30 that morning (Sunday) he finally decided to have Logan put down.He none the less was lost and very,very upset.We on the other hand was trying our best to figure out what was wrong with Leanna and after we arrived and the vet examined her,it was thought she may have pymetra so surgery was needed asap.
When the vet began giving Leanna anastesia Leanna's heart stopped.After 15 minutes of trying the vet stopped and Leanna died about 10a.m. Sunday morning,,about 1 1/2 hours after Logan finally was allowed to give up his struggle.
Is this coincidence beyond belief? Two dogs thathad spent over 2 years together,then seperated and never see each other again for 6 years both passes away within 1 1/2 hours of each other and both over 600 miles apart?
We all see the commercials over xmas from aspca and other groups about mistreated dogs and cats.This is because so many time children are presented with pets as gifts to only lose interest in them soon after the holidays.These commercials do get their point across in a rather subtle way.Not every person is inteligent or responsible enough for themselves,let alone taking care of a dog or cat that is 100% dependent on you for everything in their lives.
But our family looks at dogs in a complete diffrent manner because as in most every case where we sell a puppy,that family always keeps in contact with us,some for many,many years.Many has bought two puppies from us.I know that buying prices makes a diffrence in who will be a responsible owner.Lets face it,the sunday journal listings for a $200 puppy makes us sick here because it's easy to assume the breeders do not care too much about the buyers,they just want the puppies to go away as quick and cheep as possible.
I don't want to start a campaign here about dogs,ect,,but when you see these commercials about mistreated animals their owners should never be allowed to own an animal again,,period! I myself am proud of the breed of dogs we raise and from the positive feedback we get year after year we know our puppies are going to great homes.
When we allowed Dan to take Logan it was very,very tough,but not as tough as this past weekend was here.Losing two adult dogs within hours of each other that were best friends when they both were younger.Yet seperated so far apart and for so many years.
There is many things in life we as humans can either elect to deal with,or pay to let someone else take care of for us.Dan told us when he took Logan year ago,he would bring him back here before he was too old and allow him to pass on here,where he grew up and be with Leanna again,but this did not happen and I'm not sure we emotionally could have handled the events if the same was to occur again only with oth dogs being here at the same time.
Many of my best friends who never has owned a dog before cannot understand how anyone like us can get so emotional when a dog dies.A dog does not know what death is,plain and simple.They cannot fear what they will never be trained to experience so dogs passing is peaceful and we can only hope their suffering has ended.In closing,to all dog lovers here if you have not heard of Rainbow Bridge,here is a link to it for you.http://rainbowsbridge.com/poem.htm
When people die sometimes they have requests and I have instructed my wife to include dog biscuits in my casket when I die.Possibly an entire bag of them,because when I pass,I will have a lot of lost time to make up for with some of my closest friends in my entire life.The sorrow will continue here for many more days but the loving memories we have of every dog we own and have owned that has passed away will always bring a smile to our face.I feel better now that I have told the story of these two loving dogs we owned.I hope many of you out there can relate to our feelings of loss and the fact they can never be replaced.If anyone here can look a puppy in the eye and not say they do not have a soul,,that person has a very,very closed mind.They are truly a gift from God.
Many breeders will place dogs into new homes when they are getting too old to breed with.In our household when we buy a German Shepherd,that dog will die here.A dog is not something to be used then gotten rid of once it's not paying it's way anymore.Yet we know many people who will find a dog a new home after it reaches 5-7 years old.
This story has several coincidences that occured within hours of each other this past weekend.To start with about 6 years ago we were contacted by a Vietnam War veteran in Pennsylvania that had sustained a leg injury during the war and was looking for a friendly companion dog that could eventually become a service dog for him.We owned a nice male that had just turned 3 years old,and was too tall and a little too heavy to produce puppies within the breed standard. It was a tough decision for us,but since we knew if we bred him to any of our females,good chances are those pups would grow to also be oversized.So we met this man,and decided to let this male Sheherd named Logan to become this mans dog for life. During the time Logan was here with us,he shared a kennel run with a female named Leanna that was one year younger than him.These two dogs did everything together and you could tell they were best of friends.When Logan left to go to his new home,the female Shepherd that was kenneled with Logan was very down for many,many weeks after losing her playmate.
We got a call from the man who purchased Logan last Thursday,saying Logan had been having siezures for two days and was in the vets care.He was very concerned about this.This story really tears at my heartstrings here because the more we learned,the more sympathy and sorrow we had.The owner of Logan named Dan did call and give us updates from time to time.But only after Logans passing did we hear the entire story.
Dan's ex-wife stole all the money they had when she moved out,only for a richer man living in Florida.Dan is on permanent disability from his war injuries.He is not rich but we knew when we allowed him to buy Logan he would have a much better purpose in life than he would have had with us here.Dan told us two years ago because of Logans size he needed an operation on his spine.Dan took out a first mortgage on his home to pay for this operation.About a year after the operation Logan needed medication for arthritis in his back costing $1200 a month,,without it the dog couldn't move around near as good so Dan once again borrowed some extra cash to pay for the medicine needed.Durng their time together Dans home was broken into one night as Dan was sleeping.Logan,being one of the most friendliest dogs in the world grabbed ahold of thie man who broke thru the frontdoor that night with a gun,and clamped down on his arm and punctured an artery so bad that Dan told us blood was on his living room ceiling.Logan would not let go of this would be thief until the police arrived.He easily could have saved Dans lafe that nite.
About last Wednesday we started to notice the female Leanna was not eating.This was the same female that Logan had as a playmate when he was with us for 3 years.We brought Leanna into the house that nite,took her temp,which was normal,and clipped her nails and tried to get her to eat some human food.We noticed a slight vaginal discharge but it was getting close to her next heat cycle so we weren't for sure.
My wife called a local vet here that we use for giving shots and easy things such as health permits,ect,but she is one of those veterinarians who is not available in an emergency over a weekend.You will get a message if you call after noon on Saturdays until Monday morning giving you Purdue University or the U of I's veterinarians clinic for emergencies.This vet told us to just keep an eye on her and if she didn't make any improvement to call her back Monday to set up a visit. I suspected pymethra which is an infection in the females reproductive organs.Tell-tale signs are they seem weak and will not eat and they will drink lots and lots of water which Leanna was doing when we brought her inside Wednesday nite.
Sunday morning Leanna was not getting any better so we called another vet clinic that always has one vet on call over the weekend.She advised to bring Leanna down to her immediatedly.While making the 45 minute drive to this vets office we got a call from Dan saying at 8:30 that morning (Sunday) he finally decided to have Logan put down.He none the less was lost and very,very upset.We on the other hand was trying our best to figure out what was wrong with Leanna and after we arrived and the vet examined her,it was thought she may have pymetra so surgery was needed asap.
When the vet began giving Leanna anastesia Leanna's heart stopped.After 15 minutes of trying the vet stopped and Leanna died about 10a.m. Sunday morning,,about 1 1/2 hours after Logan finally was allowed to give up his struggle.
Is this coincidence beyond belief? Two dogs thathad spent over 2 years together,then seperated and never see each other again for 6 years both passes away within 1 1/2 hours of each other and both over 600 miles apart?
We all see the commercials over xmas from aspca and other groups about mistreated dogs and cats.This is because so many time children are presented with pets as gifts to only lose interest in them soon after the holidays.These commercials do get their point across in a rather subtle way.Not every person is inteligent or responsible enough for themselves,let alone taking care of a dog or cat that is 100% dependent on you for everything in their lives.
But our family looks at dogs in a complete diffrent manner because as in most every case where we sell a puppy,that family always keeps in contact with us,some for many,many years.Many has bought two puppies from us.I know that buying prices makes a diffrence in who will be a responsible owner.Lets face it,the sunday journal listings for a $200 puppy makes us sick here because it's easy to assume the breeders do not care too much about the buyers,they just want the puppies to go away as quick and cheep as possible.
I don't want to start a campaign here about dogs,ect,,but when you see these commercials about mistreated animals their owners should never be allowed to own an animal again,,period! I myself am proud of the breed of dogs we raise and from the positive feedback we get year after year we know our puppies are going to great homes.
When we allowed Dan to take Logan it was very,very tough,but not as tough as this past weekend was here.Losing two adult dogs within hours of each other that were best friends when they both were younger.Yet seperated so far apart and for so many years.
There is many things in life we as humans can either elect to deal with,or pay to let someone else take care of for us.Dan told us when he took Logan year ago,he would bring him back here before he was too old and allow him to pass on here,where he grew up and be with Leanna again,but this did not happen and I'm not sure we emotionally could have handled the events if the same was to occur again only with oth dogs being here at the same time.
Many of my best friends who never has owned a dog before cannot understand how anyone like us can get so emotional when a dog dies.A dog does not know what death is,plain and simple.They cannot fear what they will never be trained to experience so dogs passing is peaceful and we can only hope their suffering has ended.In closing,to all dog lovers here if you have not heard of Rainbow Bridge,here is a link to it for you.http://rainbowsbridge.com/poem.htm
When people die sometimes they have requests and I have instructed my wife to include dog biscuits in my casket when I die.Possibly an entire bag of them,because when I pass,I will have a lot of lost time to make up for with some of my closest friends in my entire life.The sorrow will continue here for many more days but the loving memories we have of every dog we own and have owned that has passed away will always bring a smile to our face.I feel better now that I have told the story of these two loving dogs we owned.I hope many of you out there can relate to our feelings of loss and the fact they can never be replaced.If anyone here can look a puppy in the eye and not say they do not have a soul,,that person has a very,very closed mind.They are truly a gift from God.
