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| All of this info is available here on forum.oes.org | | Wondered if anyone had any feedback (good or bad) on the new 6-month treatment heartworm shot. I've had Avery on Interceptor (once-a-month pill) for a year and a half, but I'm interested in learning more about the twice yearly injection. | |
| Gabriel is home at last, he had to be shaved so looks like a big spotted poodle. I think he is somewhat embaressed by his new do,  and his over all condition is so what run down, but his heartworm test came back negative!! Great news! He is a real sweetie. Gets along with his canine brothers and sisters, not to fond of the cats but leaves them alone when I tell him to. All he needs now is lots of love, some good food and some vitamins and he is getting all that. I'll try to put up his pics. I hope to get to know all you fellow sheepie(owners/parents) Trish | My brother and his wife lived in Singapore for 6 months last year. They keep showing me pearls, computer programs, clothes and movies that they bought while they lived there.
The pearls are gorgeous! The clothes were also very nice. Out of 6 computer programs that my brother bought, 5 of them worked great and were $10 each. We are talking about programs that run a hundreds of dollars here. The program that did not work, does not work very well here either, because I bought it here and cannot get it to work.
The DVD's were not as good as what I had bought here. Although my sister in-law speaks 6 languages, so all of the ones in Indonesian seem very well done. Some of them looked like they were transferred via camera.
Actually, some American pet owners seem to like their dogs better than people here. But we always think that is good, because it keeps those types of people occupied. If they are busy, they don't fuss with my children so much.
I love my family and my pets. If animal doctors get much more expensive I guess I will have less pets so I can take care of my family. My family will always come first and Abbi will always be cared for somehow because now she is family. But I limit how much I pay for my childrens' care, so I feel it is only right to limit how much I spend on my dog.
Here we have to pay $10 per year to register our dog with the city. They will not register the dog unless it has rabbi's vaccination and a check-up, which runs about $45 per year. Then there's a parasite here called a heartworm which will kill your dog, so that's another $20 for testing and $120 per year for a preventative. Anything else adds to the bills (like vaccinations for distemper, kennel cough, flea and tick preventatives, ....).
I think we make a bit more than you do and our housing is cheaper. When I was poorer, it was very hard to pay for the above registration and shots, so sometimes I would just not do it. You do what you can when you can. We are not prosecuted heavily for not obeying every law, so it makes a lot of things possible. Bad and Good. Like the internet. | Name: Abbi
Age: 5 years as of Feb. 2004
Weight: 73 pounds (She's at her perfect wt.)
Eye color: both light brown
Dog food use presently: Nutro Max for Large Dogs
Behavior problems: Loves to chase cats. And birds. And rabbits, deer, and squirrels. Will try to pounce on new dogs to get their attention. Isn't afraid of anything, including dogs growling and roughing up their "hackles". Loves to lunge at the storm door and try to get out front to play witht he rest of the kids.
Illnesses: Went lame at 6 months, changed diet(went to adult,low calcium) and she returned to normal. Lost hair on back leg at 1 year, after 22 hour trip from Argentina, it grew back black and is now dark gray. Had horrible reaction to REVOLUTION--which was promptly returned and exchanged for old heartworm preventative. Had auto-immune type response to a set of full vaccinations, including kennel cough. Now never receives more than one vaccination a year (trying to get it where she receives just blood titer confirmation and vaccinations alternating every year). Almost lost her this last Fall to that. She still breaks her nails and wears her back nails down to the pads if she doesn't wear baby booties on our longer neighborhood walks. We have to walk a mile or two a day due to personal illnesses.
Cutest thing ever done: Learned how to beg by bowing (a long stretch in front of you).
Cute habit:Will go get her leash and bow, until she gets a walk or trips you.
Bad habit: Sticking her nose under your hand to get you to pet her -- even while you are eating! Taking grooming equipment and hiding it under couch, carpet, or her paw.
Favorite food: Any meat, cooked or uncooked. Canned or fresh.
Least favorite food: Proin tablets or that hyperallergenic dog food that cost $$$$. 
Favorite game: Chase with anyone or Find-the-cat-and-run-it-as far-as-possible.
Favorite place to sleep: At my feet or on her carpet by the back door. This is her favorite place to eat her treats and hide things too.
Anything else: Don't try to get Abbi to "show-off" any of her tricks to anyone else if there is: another dog present, a cat in the vicinity, or a young boy or girl around (she's always wanted her own boy. All of my children are girls.) She will not do her tricks even for fresh meat if any of the above distractions are within sight or hearing distance, except maybe the young kids. I have been able to get her to go through her paces with children, but it takes a bit of time and some very yummy treats.
List of tricks to-date: Fetch leash,Find leash, Sit, Stay, Stay for 2 minutes with me 100' away, Fetch from Stay, Speak, Quiet, Come, Come Back, Jump up, Down, Climb up steps and slide down slide, Dance on hind legs, Lay (we use Lie, because she confused with Stay), and Go away (Goes to kennel or mat). Still working on a consistent PAW and Heel. It is very hard to Heel when you are hunting cats!  Also working on stay, then go get your food. She does it about half the time now. Rolling over seems to be hard for her to get too. Not one to go to that position very much (on her back). | | Which is the safest Heartworm medicine to give your OES? My vet recommended Heartgard. Is it necessary to give it all year or just during mosquito season? | My vet gave us heartgard for Jack and Annabelle. I give one pill monthly. I don't know of any other heartworm medicine to compare it with. My vet did tell me the last time we were there that whenever they got to a certain age or maybe weight that they could get a shot that would last 6 months instead of giving a monthly pill.
Stormi | FYI - Just watching 11pm local news and there is a special report on Proheart 6 injectable heartworm medicine.
Apparently there have been a lot of adverse reactions after receiving the injection. They say over 400 dogs have died now. I didn't hear all of the symptoms but some were weekness in the legs along with some other muscle type failure symptoms.
They interviewed some local vet that was against the injectables since they are so new and recommended the oral meds that have been around for a while like Heartgard. | Thanks for the news report I think I might go trow up now. I must say both my dogs seem fine but I will never use pro-heart again.I was always leary of it but when I found out we were going to be gone for 3 months I thought hey this is the solution.
My chihuahua mix had to stay home whith my house sitter. (I miss him so much)I thought this would insure his heartworm safty.I have seen about a hundred dogs given proheart and I think only one had a problem and our vets made him well again.I wonder if there are any long term effects like they are finding with yearly vacc. | | I had a feeling you we going to say revolution I am not a big fan of revolution.It just dosn't seem right to put Heartworm prevention on a dogs back.I am so sorry that your girl had such a rough time.I had even done my home work on the pro-heart and waited a year befor even trying it.Just goes to show you that nothing over time is 100% safe.I will say one thing for pro-heart we have a lots of people come to the Animal hospital who arnt capable of keeping up with their monthly prevention.So we give them the proheart Inj and send them a reminder in 6 months.At lest these dogs are safe from heartworms. | I would take a stool sample to your vet, especially if it's been a regular occurance.
I had a problem last summer with my 12 y.o. OES. No loss of appetite or any other evidence of problems except for loose mucus stool. It turned out he had some type of parasite worm that you can't see in the stool. I treated him for it and he was fine in about a week. My dog was not around other dogs but the vet thinks that he may have picked up by sniffing around. He was also always on heartworm preventitive so that didn't help with this particular type either. | | We have a sheepie that was basically a "rescue". After treatment (and cure) for heartworms, we are still having a hard time putting weight on him. Does anyone have any suggestions? | Hi Betsy and Puddy,
Welcome to the forum  .
My Abbi is 5 years old and 73 lbs. The vet says she is perfect and I feed her twice a day with Nutro Max for large breeds and walk her at least a mile a day. Since I started walking her a mile or more she's put on 5 lbs.
When they get hot they sometimes compensate by not eating. Give lots of water, exercise and a good food and the weight just adjusts itself. (if you live in a hot humid climate you might consider keeping Puddy in a puppy clip)
Muscles weigh more than fat and is healthier. The dog's apetite will increase with exercise too. A good game of fetch, chase the leaves (birds, squirrels ,...) usually helps too.
And you may want to check Puddy out for worms ... if it is bad you will see them in his stools.
Hope to hear more from you. Heartworms and the cure take a lot out of a dog, so be patient. As he regains strength and stamina his appetite should also increase.
How old is Puddy and where does he live?
In the chit chat section you will find a post where we have all listed little bios of our sheepies, under Sheepie Survey. Maybe if you go through that it will give you some insights or suggestions   . And feel free to contribute to the post or our pictures section! http://forum.oes.org/viewtopic.php?t=554&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0 | This must all bel very scary for you! I would think that the heat could have caused a seizure - but the Vet should have been able to identify heat exhaustion. Was he seen by the Vet following the seizure???
It can also be caused by a reaction to medication - heartworm medication in particular! I would ask the Vet to run some lab tests to see what's going on! The Vet shouldn't just brush this off - seizures are serious and should be dealt with as such - especially to find a cause if there is one.
I hope all turns out well!
Kristen | JMHO - My daughter is 16, my son is 12. Both really, really, really want a dog of their very own. I really, really, really want an art studio of my very own too -- but being a FAMILY we share almost everything but underwear! Families need to share responsibilities, chores, laughs, tears. Before we got Addy -- both kids swore to walk her everyday, keep her water dish clean and full, to brush her, go to classes with Addy, to poop scoop, etc. This was all good for about the first week -- until the novelty wore off. (Fortunately I didn't set them up to fail and knew from the beginning that ultimately Addy would be my responsibility)
Addy would need to be walked but the kids were no where to be found -- at school, a game, their favorite TV show was on, or their friends were over. Needless to say -- Mom got lots of exercise! 
In my situation, Addy and my children were like siblings. They loved to PLAY with each other ... but when it came to the hard stuff -- it was up to me.
Currently my daughter wants a bull dog. Even at 16 -- she will only be in the house for another 4 years. ??? Presuming she lives at home while going to the U of M. She is putting in applications for her first job. She will be in high school, working part time and participating in sports. How can she take responsibility to take on another living being?
My son (almost 13) can't even get his dirty socks in the hamper or his clean clothing in his drawers. He plays a different sport every season which keeps him hopping. (I would equate your caring for your mule and pony with the time he spends playing sports. Both are very time consuming. I know he would have every good intention to think he could care for a dog -- but when it came down to it, it is ultimately the parent's responsibility.
Parents have to drive to the Vet, pay for the Vet, etc. Being a responsible dog owner requires a good amount of money each month for food, treats, etc., and annual vet checks as well as any medication (monthly heartworm preventative is a must in my area!) or medical treatments the pet will need.
Teal, your heart is definitely in the right place! If I were you -- I would do one of two things. Either RESEARCH and share everything you learned with your mom and try to encourage her that an OES would be great for your FAMILY. OR -- Volunteer in a shelter, do some dog sitting or dog walking for fun, experience AND money.  That will help give you a better perspective of what being a dog owner entails.
Good Luck! Let us know what happens!
(Gawd, I sound like my MOM!  ) | OMG! The Rescue called late tonight and told me that I can keep her if I want to! I am SO excited! Also she added me as a rescue contact in MN. so now when there are OES in need I will go get them and bring them to live with me until we can find a good home!
I can't believe it! I started out whining about not being able to find a Sheepie and now I might have multiple OES at one time!
We are going to get our yard ready for multiple dogs - just in case we are fortunate enough to foster more! We are considering putting in a special 'potty area' on the side of the house to keep the grass from yellowing or 'spot greening' in circles.
I never thought I'd be able to say this ... but I am nearly speechless with excitement!
Maggy and I are going to the Vet tomorrow to weigh her and let her sniff around a bit before her apt this week. She's pretty thin. She'll also need boosters, heartworm test, teeth check, etc.
Did I just say I was speechless? I think in all honesty--I could talk about this girl all day long!
My DH and DD put a deposit down on a puppy mill puppy last week. Trying to be sweet, a Mother's Day gift. I am thinking of letting the deposit go. But would that be considered promoting a puppy mill? -- To just let them keep the nonrefundable deposit and the pup? I don't know... HELP 
{{{ Thanks for listening and for letting me share! That you for all of your care and support! }}} | In my VERY humble opinion, there are bad breeders in every genre of breeding.
Looking for my OES puppy I interviewed everyone from top show dog breeders, to puppy millers, backyard breeders, to brokers, to the "I think my dog is cute and I want to breed more like her" breeders.
In the OESCA I found a well known breeder of Ch's who found there was a genetic defect undetected by tests that caused several litters of their puppies to be inflicted with a brain disorder. They are no longer breeding. (obviously)
After researching pedigrees, I found OESCA breeders who were breeding cousins (inbreds) and made claims that there was nothing wrong with that as they produced "beautiful OES".
I found millers who didn't ask a singe question of me, except my credit card number. CLICK!
Backyard breeders with low, low prices and low, low standards of puppies' living conditions.
Also a backyard type breeder who sold puppies from 'reputable breeders' that were not good enough to sell as show pets, and ones that the OESCA breeder didn't want to admit to the other members of it being one of theirs. I found this out completely by accident. I was shocked!
I also found one woman who thought her dogs were so gorgeous she wanted to breed them. She had two males and two females who live with her and her husband. (They were, however, both AKC dogs) She had no professional titles of her own--was simply an OES lover who wanted to pass the love. She had BOTH parents OFA, DNA certified and provided the certs and all vet records to me via snail mail. She provided me with names of people in my area who had purchased her pups. I saw only one of the dogs in person (although there were two within 45 minutes from me) and it was gorgeous! She had the puppies micro-chipped before selling them. She didn't breed quite once a year as she knew both she and her bitch needed the time to recoup. She also believed that a dog should be just that--a dog, able to live the life of a dog and not laying in a whelping box each year. She also didn't breed unless she knew she had a home for at least 4 pups prior to breeding. She also gave the names of all of the puppy's siblings and new owners along with e-mail addresses, etc, so they could compare notes and progress if they chose. She wasn't very keen on shipping a puppy and I wasn't sure I would want to travel cross country to get one. No other breeder promised all of the same.
Before researching and spending tons of money on long distance phone calls talking to all the different kinds of breeders from all over the country ... I never would have thought of buying a puppy from a person like this woman. My feelings have changed in this area.
I have now 'acquired' Maggy. She cost me just over $200.
Of course this doesn't include all her Vet checks, needed shots, heartworm test and preventative, city dog license, grooming tools, occasional professional grooming, doggy classes, high quality kibble, treats, chews, toys, tags, etc.
I am also fortunate to have had a LOT of things she would need such as feeding table, metal crate, plastic crate, collars, leashes, good fence, etc.
After all the research I did, I ended up rescuing a Sheepie. The only thing I know for sure about her is that she was purchased from a 'breeder'. What kind? I have no idea. I also know that she had lived with only one family prior to coming to us. She didn't come with papers as when a dog is relinquished to a pound or shelter in MN, there papers are relinquished also. Thankfully, she is spayed. I don't need a piece of paper to know she's the most valuble Sheepie in my world!
She is also more than I could ever have dreamed of in an OES. Beautiful inside and out.
In my very humble opinion, there are almost as many bad 'reputable breeders' as there are puppy millers.
If you still chose to breed your girl after all of the responses you get, PLEASE make sure to be the very best at it you can be.
I may be booted for this post ... but it is just my honest opinion and observation during my 'Great Puppy Search' that turned into my 'GREAT Sheepie Rescue'!
:: DUCKING!! :: | Mange is awful -- Henry ate his skin raw and bleeding from the time I got him until 8 months later when he was finally diagnosed. Mange is a type of mite (demodex) that we all have in all our hair. However, they are generally benign and we never know they are there. When an animal gets stressed -- in Henry's case it was probably escaping from his original abusive owners and being on his own with poor water, no food and general terror--these mites get out of control.
My poor Little Boo was miserable. He was treated several times for allergies rather than mange. Unfortunately, when I got him he had so many problems it took a while to sort out what he had (kennel cough, giardia, flea allergies, and mange.) Eventually my vet recommended a dematologist vet. The dermatologist knew immediately what the problem was and could find the mange even though my regular vet had done several skin scrapings and had never found the mange. Note about specialist vets, I paid about $1000 for the course of treatments including office visits, medicine, special shampoos, etc. She was worth every penny.
The treatment is a daily concentrated dose of the medicine used in your monthly heartworm pills, you must give this daily dose for 8-12 weeks. It tastes foul and it took all my culinary skills to get Henry to eat it every day for 12 weeks--by the end he was getting peanut butter and Haagen Daaz sundaes. The good news is that Henry healed completely. His hair grew back and more importantly, he stopped spending a good part of his day scratching himself raw. | I know some of you saw my post a while back about my OES mix being taken at Christmas and helped me try and get another one. Well I adopted a mix yesterday. She was on petfinder listed under Sheep Dog... She was actually in a shelter in my town! Here is a link to her. Her name is Laney. She is 3 and kinda small... About 50 or so pounds. Her haircut is horrible in this pic. Looks more like an alien than a dog And the angling of the camera makes her look funny shaped.
http://www.petfinder.com/pet.cgi?action=2&pet=2554963&adTarget=468doggeneral&SessionID=40d04ec8617bda55-app3&display=&preview=&row=0&tmpl=&stat=
Here are some pictures of her straight out of the shelter:
www.geocities.com/tiffanieljones
When I went to see her she had been in a tiny outdoor cage since January (off and on). Her hair was a shaggy mess full of tangles and filth. When they received her with her brother she had heartworms. A family adopted her and returned her because they said she was too aggressive, but I haven't seen anything agressive yet really.
I am sure others of you have already realized this, but in petfinder instead of doing a search for Old English Sheepdog, you can just do a search for Sheep Dog and there are a few that are obviously OES or mixes that need rescuing and one was in a kill shelter... I will put links below to the ones that I think are OES's or at least mixes.
http://www.petfinder.com/pet.cgi?action=2&pet=2899549&adTarget=468doggeneral&SessionID=40d05a1e7a0d7d3d-app5&display=&preview=0&row=25&tmpl=&stat=
http://www.petfinder.com/pet.cgi?action=2&pet=2773523&adTarget=468doggeneral&SessionID=40d05a1e7a0d7d3d-app5&display=&preview=0&row=25&tmpl=&stat=
http://www.petfinder.com/pet.cgi?action=2&pet=2938191&adTarget=468doggeneral&SessionID=40d059af763a72c4-app5&display=&preview=&row=0&tmpl=&stat= | I understand your concern. I have a story about this type of thing (it's long - so sorry in advance).
Last year, I had broken my ankle and was "immobile" for weeks. We were having a horrible time with TICKS - so we got Prescription Tick Collars for the dogs. Well, I read the pamphlet (which was SCARY!) about them which talked about how toxic they were if consumed and could cause death, etc. It also talked about how they should be removed if the dog was around children, etc. I didn't end up putting it on Sydney because she spends so much time with my neice & nephew - plus it scared me - she already had a reaction to Heartworm medication. Well, I crawled down the stairs the following morning (cast and all), came around the corner and found that Sydney had chewed the extra tick collar! Yes, the TOXIC poisonous, deadly tick collar! I could have thrown up! I immediately called the Vet (in hysterics) and they told me I needed to bring her right in! Well, needless to say that was a problem since I was home alone and couldn't drive - I couldn't even walk. I was a wreck! I called my father at work (he was closest to me) and started screaming and crying that Sydney ate poison and she needed to go to the Vet. He rushed home (suprisingly he didn't have a heartattack he was so upset by the time he came to get us - I think he thought she was unconscious or something). Well, he rushed us to the Vet - me in hysterics - Sydney acting like nothing has happened - and my father ready to KILL me (because I'm sure he thought I had overreacted). They checked Sydney - she had some redness on her gums - but other than that - she seemed fine. The Vet didn't think she got enough to cause a problem. THANKFULLY!
Boy - we were lucky! Took a few years off my life - gave me a few MORE gray hairs - but thankfully no harm to Sydney!
The moral of the story is - they are like perpetual toddlers - we have to be so careful to keep things out of reach and keeping an eye on them at all times.
I'm glad that Dancer also had no harm done - although I'm sure you too have a few more gray hairs!
Kristen | You can give a dog some Pepto Bismol - but I'd run it by the Vet to be safe! Also - sometimes diarrhea is the bodies way of ridding bacteria and poisons - so you may not want to stop it.
The one thing I would watch out for (and track) - is he experiencing this diarrhea within a few days of receiving his heartworm medication???? Alot of dogs have a similar reaction to some of the heartworm preventatives. My Vet has told me that they've had a lot of reports of diarrhea in dogs on the generic version of Heartguard. Sydney had a severe reaction to Heartguard when she was younger - which included diarrhea - but much more serious (involving blood and vomitting) - so she was switched from an ivermectin based heartworm preventative to Interceptor (alot of herding breeds - particularly collies have problems with Ivermectin (which is the active ingredient in Heartguard).
It took me a few months to make the connection with Sydney. 
Kristen |
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