"I THINK DOG OWNERS SHOULD TAKE AN EXAM"

[Angela Clarke]

I read on Yahoo ansers sight the following text: And can`nt believe that any one even if they didn`t know about bloat, would not be able to see this dog neaded URGENT vet help! There is a clue in her question.

To go on to this sight and type all this text. It`s unbelievable

 

What could cause my dog's belly to bloat up to the size of a basketball in about an hr's time ?

My dog's a blue healer/rottie mix, about 75 lbs when up until about 2 yrs ago, 60-ish lbs now when an elderly 14 yrs.  She was fine this morning, ate her first meal of 2-3 daily at noon and seemed  normal and happy when my boyfriend came home from turkey hunting about noon.   About 5:30 tonight, she was standing by the door and wanted to go out to puke.  So I let her out and finished fixing dinner.  About 7:15, my boyfriend went out to hang out with her and noticed her belly was huge.  Including the normal girth of her body, about basketball size.  She has a barrel chest, but her belly's usually pretty thin, especially in her old age.   Naturally, because her big swollen belly and whatever else was going on, she was lethargic and in pain (quietly, no wimpering or anything)  She didn't want to be helped up and protested when lifted, though she's quite used to being helped because her hip dysplacia.  Her puke was watery and thick white foam.
Thanks for helping

.

Three hours later:

     Thank you all and RIP Gretel

 

[JOANNE]

I have just had a lovely litter of 14 Irish Setter babies. All lovingly reared and thoroughly spoilt. Most were pre sold but I did advertise for the remining few. I was totally amazed and more worringly frightened at the amount of people who contacted me about the pups thinking it quite normal etc to put a dog on a chain, had no idea about dietary needs or indeed such conditions as bloat. Hence they were politely told that we did not feel one of our babies would be suited to them. Luckily the 11 babies sold have gone to super homes. However, I did sell them with a life time contract stating that I would have them back at any stage in their life and that they were not to be put in the pound under any circumstances. I also provided information on bloat, dietary information and the general care of an Irish Setter puppy. We have also kept in contact with all the new owners and are happy to provide help 24/7 whatever the problem. One thing is for sure though there are a lot of potential bad dog owners out there a breeder just needs to be careful and read between the lines, sadly we can't get it right all the time :-(.

[Cornelia]

Switzerland has a new law since 2008 about the keeping of a dog: All new dog owners must do a theory course (6 lessons) about how to keep a dog and learn the basics before getting a dog; contents are: 'Dog and law, health, behavior, learning theory, race/breeds studies, expressive behavior and communication and problem behavior.' All dog owners have to go to school for at least 5 lessons with every new dog, no matter if they are pet owners, breeders or trainers themselves or how long they have had dogs before and work the basics of obediance like: 'Praise word, abort signal, recall, heal, sit, down.' It is not much but it is better than nothing and it is an attempt to reach those that are unlike us interested in every problem that might arise or have the dog from a breeder like ours that can be reached and did warn about bloat and has all the important information on the homepage and some on a leaflet as well.