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? Australian Shepherd problem

R

RobertMac

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 10, 2005
Messages
3,705
Location
Mississippi, USA
My wife recently bought an Australian shepherd puppy and when we got her home, noticed she was limping. My wife, a physical therapist, determined the puppy had a dislocated right shoulder...took her to the vet and confirmed it. The pup is out of a mating of two blue merles...could the weak shoulder be congenital? The vet tried to put the shoulder back in place, but it wouldn't stay. Surgery will be a grand or more with no guarantee of success...Mississippi State Vet Clinic. Another vet has offered to splint the shoulder and tape it in place for several weeks to heal. Has anyone had experience with this type problem? Any advise would be greatly appreciated. This puppy is fearless and shows great instinct at two months...would make a great cow dog with four good legs! She shows relatively little pain right now...limps after a day of hard playing, but other than that, you would never know she has a problem except for abnormal amount of falling.

Thanks, Robert
 
There is a lady here that raised Border Collies and one of her dogs was
badly injured. I believe it was in the shoulder. It took quite awhile, but
the dog has healed up. I will visit with her and get back to you.

I would contact the breeder and tell them of the problem. Perhaps you
deserve some kind of refund.

Our daughter bought a Corgi and she had a parrot mouth. She contacted the breeder and they gave most of the money back. Our daughter had her spayed, of course.
 
If your puppy is one of the family now and parting with it is out of the question, then suck it up and do what ya have to do.. But in my opionion, the breeder should take the puppy back and give you anothr one...
 
Gusie_Lee.jpg


Gussie Lee


As soon as the vet confirmed the problem, we called the breeder. She returned our check and put us down for a puppy out of her next litter in Sept.
 
I had that discussion with a breeder I bought a dog from once. They had a 1 year money back if anything genetic came up and have heard through the grape vine that they even took back a 5 year old dog with displaysia (Also heard that it was the only dog that they EVER had to take back).. Well, I treat my dogs like family and I'll be darned if I am going to send one back after having it for a year or even 3 months probably (I'm a sucker for pups).. They told me that they could work something out in a situation like that... I believed them too, they were good people.
 
I use to raise them and u never bred a merle to a merle ...always bred to a solid and a merle as it will produce mentally retard pups that are blind and deaf....I would consider getting your money back and going to a breeder that knows his aussies....
 
desertrose said:
I use to raise them and u never bred a merle to a merle ...always bred to a solid and a merle as it will produce mentally retard pups that are blind and deaf....I would consider getting your money back and going to a breeder that knows his aussies....
Click to expand...

Desertrose, is a weak shoulder a genetic flaw of a merle to merle mating?
 
its a possibility that it could be linked to that..the genetic makeup is affected by those matings....I think when people bred them they arent aware that the matings have to be a merle to a solid...so not only are u putting the puppies at risk but your hurting the breed as a whole...I think that people need to be aware of that before they even start raising them..its pretty sad to have a whole liter of puppies and they all have birth defects of some sort...Also if they had small children handling them dont let them lift them up by the front legs those bones arent strong enough and could cause problems as well...I would get my money back and go to a breeder that knows the breed you deserve to have a sound aussie.
 
Dear Desertrose & all interested in Aussies,

I have owned Aussies for many years and recently adopted a double merle female who is deaf in both ears and has one eye that has a deformed pupil. (She sees fine but squints a bit in the sun.) Please allow me to respectfully educate you a bit.

Mating 2 merle Aussies results in 25% of the offspring being "lethal white" or double merle. In these dogs, hearing and vision are linked to the presence of pigment in the skin and hair. So, if the dog has an all-white ear (no pigment), that ear will be deaf. Similarly, if there is no pigment around the eye, it will likely have some sort of defect and will be very light blue. (Note: Blue eyes are not an indication of blindness. Blue eyes, marble eyes, or bi-color eyes are perfectly acceptable and normal.) Some vision defects are minor, as with my dog. Dogs with pink noses and/or pink around the eye (no eyeliner) are more at risk for skin cancer in those areas.

There is no evidence that skeletal problems or joint problems are especially linked to double merle crosses. Most importantly, these dogs are NOT mentally retarded! (Where did you get this cockamamie idea?!?) As with all Aussies, they are smart, eager to please, have great work instincts, and are easy to train using hand signals.
 
Im sorry but i feel to many people raise dogs not knowing what there all about ...i guess i feel you better research before doing so and yes maybe there is a genetic link to this problem ..im sorry but i have raised them for many years and people shouldnt just go mating something that they have no clue about....to raise puppies that have genetic problems...Im sorry if i stepped on your toes...i was told when i started raising them and she has been in the aussie show world for many years and educated me on them before i even started raising them... i guess if i paid alot of money for a puppy i would want it to be sound....just like when u buy a bull or a colt u wouldnt buy one that is blind or has a limp to it when u know the problem cant be corrected.
 
desertrose said:
she has been in the aussie show world for many years and educated me on them before i even started raising them.
Click to expand...

Just got to puy my 2 cents worth in here.

People like you are talking about with this lady, if she is in the AKC, are the kind who have screwed up most working dog breeds.

Thats why the Border Collie people fought so hard to keep Border Collies out of the AKC.

Border Collies were bred and raised to work and that is why they are so varied in size and color. When you start breeding for just one thing, as in looks, like the Halter horse people and the show dog people, thats when you start getting poor animals who have genetic problems.

Look at the Quarter Horse people and Impressive.

We need to cull for soundness and forget about looks only.

Look at what they did with the German Sheperd dog. At one time they were great stock dogs. Now they are mostly show dogs and have weird underslung hips, as that is what wins at the shows. As I understand it, many are in bad shape when they are still young, because of this.

Robert Miller had a great story in the last Cowboy Magazine, about the people who have somewhat done this with the horse breeds and especially the race horse people. And the ones who over feed and over work animals at way to young of an age. Hell, some are doing it to their kids!

Just my 2 cents worth and don't get mad at me.

I don't raise animals with defects and I sure won't start.
 
Yeah the border folks fought long and hard and I think the ones that kept their animals out of he AKC well, the animals I have seen from AKC lines and non AKC are like two different breeds...

We run Kelpies as stock dogs, unfortunately they are much better than their handler.. I know there have been a few advances by AKC types and have been met with zero enthusiasm.. Still a minor enough breed that they will be left alone for a while... Most people see them and ask me what the heck is that, A germa Shepered Doberman cross? When the one was a pup it was always "rat Terrier?".. Nope.. aggravating as heck Kelpie...

The German shepherd were bred to have a slopped back like Rin Tin Tin.. Runind the breed (And I love sheps)... We went looking for one that could work a few years ago when we settled on Kelpies.. I might try again for a Malinois but they have been turned into schutzhund and SAR dogs for the most part... The old main land European herding dogs seems to have really moved away from that use.
 
IL Rancher said:
Yeah the border folks fought long and hard and I think the ones that kept their animals out of he AKC well, the animals I have seen from AKC lines and non AKC are like two different breeds...

We run Kelpies as stock dogs, unfortunately they are much better than their handler.. I know there have been a few advances by AKC types and have been met with zero enthusiasm.. Still a minor enough breed that they will be left alone for a while... Most people see them and ask me what the heck is that, A germa Shepered Doberman cross? When the one was a pup it was always "rat Terrier?".. Nope.. aggravating as heck Kelpie...

The German shepherd were bred to have a slopped back like Rin Tin Tin.. Runind the breed (And I love sheps)... We went looking for one that could work a few years ago when we settled on Kelpies.. I might try again for a Malinois but they have been turned into schutzhund and SAR dogs for the most part... The old main land European herding dogs seems to have really moved away from that use.
Click to expand...

We have a guy who moved into this country some years back. He's one of the top trainers of Border Collies, for trials, in the US.

He was telling why the Scottish dogs were so highly thought of, for so many years.

He said that when a Scottish herder had a dog, who he knew was capable of doing the job, he would send it up on a mountain to bring back a ewe and her lamb, for instance. When the dog came back, if he didn't bring the ewe and the lamb, the herder would pull out his knife and slit the dogs throat! didn't matter how much he liked thew dog, he couldn't afford to keep one around that wasn't a good one.

Now, that sounds harsh to most of us, but over there they have no time for a dog who won't do the job. Subsequentley (sp) they only bred the best to the best and had very good dogs.

If people over here would cull as hard as that, on all the different animals we raise, I think we could really raise the bar.

And the fellow also said that we have as good as the Scots do now, if you go to the right breeders, as they aren't afraid to cull hard and only breed the best proven dogs to the best proven dogs. They cost more, but they are worth it.

Maybe we all need stop worrying about pretty and worry more about what a critter can do.
 
IL Rancher said:
Yeah the border folks fought long and hard and I think the ones that kept their animals out of he AKC well, the animals I have seen from AKC lines and non AKC are like two different breeds...

We run Kelpies as stock dogs, unfortunately they are much better than their handler.. I know there have been a few advances by AKC types and have been met with zero enthusiasm.. Still a minor enough breed that they will be left alone for a while... Most people see them and ask me what the heck is that, A germa Shepered Doberman cross? When the one was a pup it was always "rat Terrier?".. Nope.. aggravating as heck Kelpie...

The German shepherd were bred to have a slopped back like Rin Tin Tin.. Runind the breed (And I love sheps)... We went looking for one that could work a few years ago when we settled on Kelpies.. I might try again for a Malinois but they have been turned into schutzhund and SAR dogs for the most part... The old main land European herding dogs seems to have really moved away from that use.
Click to expand...

Kelpies are great dogs. I worked on a ranch with Kelpies and Huntaways(sp?) and really was impressed by the Kelpies. Been keeping my eyes open for one for a long time now.
 
I got three... Want one.. lol... There are some breeders up in Idaho, Oregon and even Calfiforna that have some nice ones.. They would ship em. Mine come from Idaho, Wisconsin and Oklahoma respectively... Look like three diffferent breeds of dogs but looks don't mean much to me when it comes to dogs...
 
this lady i was educated by wasnt in akc they were in asca ...she bred for stock dog trials and agility...all im saying is just not fair to the dog to take away something from them that a breeder could have prevented...thats all and you didnt make me mad and i agree with the breeding...all i wanted to raise was a stock dog that could work well for ranchers and farmers..like a hired hand a good dog is a valuable partner.....
 
desertrose said:
this lady i was educated by wasnt in akc they were in asca ...she bred for stock dog trials and agility...all im saying is just not fair to the dog to take away something from them that a breeder could have prevented...thats all and you didnt make me mad and i agree with the breeding...all i wanted to raise was a stock dog that could work well for ranchers and farmers..like a hired hand a good dog is a valuable partner.....
Click to expand...

Glad I didn't make you mad. :-)

What is the asca?
 

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