Cody has torn his cruciate

Last Tuesday, we took Cody for x-rays at the vets, as he'd been limping intermittently for a few weeks, despite resting and painkillers. It was discovered he had a torn cruciate ligament. The vet suggested TPLO surgery (due to his size this was the best option) and referred him to a specialist vet an hour away, for the following week. We re-searched as much as possible about cruciate problems in dogs, TPLO surgery, rehabilitation etc. When we got there, we took Cody in (muzzled as he was so nervous he was shaking; although he let them pet and examine him). We decided to go ahead and we left him at the vets. It was a long day (this was about 9.30 am, we picked him up around 7 pm). He used the ramp to get into the car. At home, Daddy made him a pen, big enough he can stretch out but not too big he can jump around or anything. For that first night Cody was panting a lot and whining a little. He settled down though and seemed okay with the idea of the pen. The other dogs greeted him through the pen, well he wasn't really noticing but they were all doing lots of tail wagging, which was so sweet!

The next morning he ate his breakfast and we took him out for a toilet break. He is allowed to go out about four times a day for 5 to 10 minutes, which we can progress to 10 to 15 minutes in two weeks. He was limping on three legs for the first little while, then slowly putting more weight on his other leg and now at three days after surgery he is almost walking like usual, which is great!

He is starting to get bored, so we are teaching him new, calm tricks (chin rest, hand targets etc) and lots of kongs! He is also getting lots of attention from us, which he enjoys.

It's going to be a case of slowly building him up to more activity over the next three months. We are also planning to do hydrotherapy in a few weeks time. We are just hoping his other leg will be okay!

Zara's First Show!

I haven't been good at updating the blog yet again! Anyway, we took Zara to her first show yesterday; IKC All Breed Championship Show. Gilbert was also entered. This was the first day they could be shown, as it was their four month old birthday.

The day didn't begin as we had planned though. We got up early and we're ready to leave pretty much on time but the van wouldn't start. After trying different things to solve the issue, eventually at 10 we were ready to leave (we were supposed to leave at 7!). I texted Gilbert's owner, she said the judging was taking ages so we should still make it.

As soon as we arrived we got the dogs out and headed to the outside ring (it was originally to be inside, but we got moved and I was happier about that). Zara to being with was a little nervous as it was crowds of people and dogs everywhere, although she is very confident with people (so far) she can be shy with new dogs. We saw Gilbert, and the three dogs he lives with, one of whom is Gandhi, the puppies sire. I think Zara & Gilbert recognized each other (this was their second time meeting up after Gilbert left us). They were still judging the Doberman's so we sat down on the grass. Zara said hello to many lovely Bernese and we met Saphy's owner, although she didn't have Saphy with her. Zara also met two of her cousins!

Zara did really well at showing. She was happy with the judge handling her and moved nicely. She got Best Baby Puppy Bitch. We also got to see Gilbert in the ring and he was Best Baby Puppy Dog. They went in together then and when they were moving they were trying to play - Zara was trying to chase him! Gilbert got Best Baby Puppy in Breed. Gandhi was Best in Breed!

We then watched the Agility and Holly & Wilson had a go. Zara enjoyed that. I am really pleased with how well she did :)

Zara Update

Since Freya left on Saturday, it's been a time of adjustments for Zara. Instead of having a 'litter' we now have our new 'puppy' and so it's different. We have given her a big crate (as her bed) with a small pen attached, which has toys, a water bowl and a toilet tray (as she uses it so well I decided to go for the easy option and keep it). She isn't quite as happy about being left in the pen, as you'd expect. The other dogs, so far, are pretty good with her - except for Holly. I do give her time being free (but supervised) on the house, trips out and about, playtime in the garden, training etc. When she is in the pen she sometimes gets kongs / puzzle toys / frozen carrots. Having a puppy is hard work though! Today she managed to chew up a chunk out of the lino in her pen and pee in the van. We took her out with us to Tesco's and she saw lots of people walking by, one person put their hand out to her, she saw traffic and lots of trolleys being pushed and rattling. She was fine with all of that but not impressed about being left in the van for about twenty minutes (something that is great about service puppies is being able to take them everywhere!). Even though there are some challenges, she is such a fun puppy <3

Bernese Club Show

On Sunday we headed up to Dublin for the Bernese Club's Championship Show. I had been really looking forward to it and had bathed & blasted the two girls the day before. Zara went in the back with Amber for the journey & Wilson also came along too. Cody & Holly stayed at home with our friend. 

When we arrived we took them both out and overall Zara was very confident and relaxed. She is slightly nervous around dogs (and there was dogs, like, everywhere; although most were friendly). I think the thing that scared her was when people walked past the cars and some dogs would then start barking protectively. Many dogs did come over to say hello and some of the Bernese boys are big, but most were gentle. 

Her brother, Gilbert was there and it was great to see him again! He was so excited! The two pups enjoyed playing together. Daisy (an Amber X Mr Darcy puppy) came later on and she is lovely. She looks quite like Amber. Her sister, Saphy was planned to be there too but her owners couldn't make it, so hopefully we'll get to see her another time. 

I had Amber entered and she is totally out of coat. Even more so than when she normally sheds because of having the puppies. I decided to show her anyway - to begin with she did pretty good and did everything I asked but then as I was stacking her just before the judge went over her she found something to sniff on the ground and got distracted! She was happy enough with the judge handling her though and did stay standing. She moved okay for the first triangle, then the judge wanted a straight up and down, and she wasn't in the mood, I managed to get her going though but just as we were about to turn she tugged really hard to get out the ring (I wonder if something spooked her). So we just left as I figured she wasn't going to do anything more and she still got a very good :) We need to do more ringcraft and since that's the first show she's been to since probably last year, we didn't do too bad! 

We got to see some other relatives too; Amber's sister (and three of her puppies, two girls and one boy), Zara's daddy and a puppy who is related to Cody as her mother is half sister to the A-pups daddy. There may have been others too! It was nice to watch the other Bernese in the ring, there were a few dogs that I really liked. 

My sister Beth & Wilson did the agility try outs. It was the first time running a full course for them both. Wilson, despite having not done it before, ran up the A-frame quite happily! Go Beth & Wilson :) I would have had a go with Amber but when I went over there was a long wait so didn't get to. 

After the show we headed back to Daisy's owners house. All three dogs were welcome to come in and they were quite good actually! Zara peed & pooped on their floor plus tried to steal food a few times but didn't chew anything; other than dog toys! She didn't mind the little children cuddling her and wasn't fazed by Daisy's barking (she wasn't sure about other dogs in her house). 

It was a lovely day, lots of fun :)

Zara, Gilbert & Freya!

The puppies are now 12 weeks old! I had hoped to do lots of posts on here about them but so far I've not done very well at that, I will have to make a big effort to keep it updated now :)

They now have their new names! Gilbert (Mr Dizzy) RockyBear Count On Me - Zara (Little Miss Sunshine) RockyBear Follow Your Heart & Freya (Little Miss Chatterbox) RockyBear On My Way. 

Gilbert went to his new home on June 1st. He is settling in well and is living with three other bernese, one of whom is his Daddy, Gandhi. Freya went home on June 20th (so we had some extra time with her) and she too seems to be enjoying her new adventures! Zara is our new puppy and so will be staying here with us :)

This is the last video of all the puppies together.

5 weeks already

The Little Bears are already 5 weeks old. Wow.

They are getting very busy now, love exploring the world, although just from the safety of our home for now ;) They have entered the stage where they bite a sibling, who then squeals (often loudly) but the biter doesn't realise it's because of them that said sibling is squealing. This is an important part of their education and why you should always keep puppies with their siblings until they are at least 7 weeks old (although we will keep our pups until 10 weeks). It will be nice once they are past this stage though!

We started weaning at four weeks old (and one day, to be exact ;). We had Amber on Millies Wolfheart up until the puppies were about two weeks old, but she wasn't eating it (she has the art of licking tasty toppers off and then spitting the kibble all over the floor down to the ground!). Along with some issues with the other dogs too, we decided to go back to raw. This means the puppies are fed raw too. We started with boneless, ground chicken mince and they tucked straight in;

They are now on four meals a day (50g cubed chicken breast, 30g chicken and beef pre-prepared chubs each meal). Amber still feeds them regularly too. They are all between 4.3 to 4.5 kg now, which means over eight times their birth weights!! Wow again!!!

They have started having little adventures outdoors (my 16th birthday being the first time ;). They scamper about in the grass and chew anything within their reach. They also have their first collars, they look adorable wearing them although are still scratching them a lot as they aren't used to having anything around their necks - we never even used ribbons when they were tiny as we could tell them apart from the start. 

Getting bigger by the day!

The puppies are 4 weeks old today! They are getting very active and playful now. Yesterday we moved them from the whelping box into a bigger puppy playpen, which has bed (including a crate), play and toilet areas. I think they are liking this new arrangement, and it gives them lots more space. They now have a shallow water dish; Dizzy went over to investigate and gave himself a sunrise when he went to sniff it and got covered in water! Sunshine & Chatterbox just go for a paddle ;)

It's amazing how much they've changed since they were born. They are now walking around and hardly toppling over at all. They have (sharp) teeth, which they like to chew everything with! They are barking and have great fun with their toys. They are interacting more with us and come over for cuddles.

They have now entered the Critical Socialization Period, a time which shapes the puppies futures. Therefore we are introducing them to all sorts of different people, dogs, animals, sights, sounds, surfaces, experiences...and making it all really positive.

A few of my favourite cute pictures from the last few days (we will try to do individual four week old pictures tomorrow)

Amber & Gandhi's puppies are here!

We have two girls and one boy <3

Mr Dizzy, Little Miss Sunshine and Little Miss Chatterbox

25.03.15

Wow, what a maniac two weeks! So it all started off on Monday 23rd at 5 am when Amber began nesting, we knew it wouldn't be long. As well as digging/scratching/ripping her bed and the nesting box she had several massive holes in the garden. Then on Wednesday it all moved up a gear. Her waters went at twelve thirty so we knew the puppies were on their way. After having spent a few hours not doing much we we're trying to make a decision about what to do and then we noticed green discharge..bad sign. So we went to the vets for an emergency c-section. There had indeed been a puppy in distress who wouldn't have made it had we waited much longer. We were there when they were born, the first boy squeaked almost straight away; the girls took a little longer - it's always so wonderful to hear! There were two vets and three nurses there, I'm really glad we got there before they went home as it is safer with more staff. We then brought them home almost straight after, so Amber was quite sleepy and was lifted into the whelping box. All puppies took a few minutes to start feeding but once they did they were flying it. Birth weights, in birth order; Mr Dizzy 560g, Little Miss Sunshine 540g and Little Miss Chatterbox, 560g. We stayed up the first night watching them, by the next morning we were very tired, but of course it was more than worth it!

Since then puppies have been busy feeding, sleeping, growing and being cute :D The vet called out at day three to do dewclaws and give everyone a quick check over. For the first few days Amber didn't leave them at all, as you would expect, so trips outside for toilet breaks entailed putting the pups into a box (with a pre-warmed heat pad and a cosy blanket). Now she goes in to spend time with them but it happy to spend short periods away as long as she is around the house. I will likely start taking her for quick walks in the field tomorrow, once her stitches are out.

Weights this morning are 1780, 1800 & 1960g so they have tripled their birth weights, plus some more! Eyes are nearly totally open, they are starting to try and walk (even if they often end up toppling over) and they are beginning to interact more.

Love them <3

Preparing for Puppies

Amber is now at day 58..so puppies could be born anytime! Most likely they will make their arrival sometime between today and Wednesday. She is getting very big now and I can feel the pups kicking often when petting her belly; it's amazing.

So, as you might expect, we've had lots of things to get ready and I think we've now got almost everything sorted! Whelping kit is together, bedding washed, puppy room organised....this evening we're going to put the lino we bought yesterday into the whelping box, for now she's got old (but still very clean!) vet bed, towels and brown paper in there so she can dig/rip/mess with that for nesting and then once the puppies are here we'll change it to all new vet bed (in some fantastic colours :D )

Her belly is clipped, she had her herpes vaccine last week, she's being wormed with Panacur every day. I'm trying to get as much 'usual' stuff done as possible so I can totally focus on the puppies the whole time. It will mean the other three will miss out on what we normally do - so I've made some stuffed kongs to keep them occupied, they'll get kibble trails and my sisters will walk / play / train with them.

Not long now!

Beyond Excited

Last Friday we took Amber to the Vets for an ultrasound to see if she was pregnant, after breeding her to Ghandi at the end of January, using progesterone testing to determine the most suitable day of her season. I explained more in this post about our plans, although I know I haven't been good about keeping the blog updated on our journey!

The most AMAZING news is she is pregnant! :D
We saw four puppies. I am so happy and can hardly believe it!!
The litter is due March 25th, so about three weeks time.

She is now day 38 (scan was day 28) and is starting to look big. She is up to three meals a day and has had a 25% increase on her normal maintenance diet. I am keeping her fit by walking for around twenty minutes a day in the field, plus in the afternoons we go out in the garden for a while.

It's going to be busy here now; we've got the whelping box out but it needs a new coat of paint plus new pig rails. The puppy room (right by our kitchen so in the heart of the home, so to speak) is in the process of being cleared out and cleaned. I have lots of supplies to order too.

Some snowtime pictures of Amber from earlier this week <3

 

Results are back...

...from Cody's hip & elbow scoring. They actually came back way quicker than usual, I wasn't expecting them until the end of the month! His hips are graded 6/4 = 10 and elbows 1/0=1.

My thoughts are number one we will now not be breeding from him and that is definite. Whilst some might consider it, I am not happy to use a dog with an elbow score anything other than a total of zero. I had hoped he would have excellent elbows but on the positive side, one elbow is and the other is only a one. So he shouldn't be affected by it; or if he is it will be later in his life. The hips are bang on the median score, so average for the breed.

As we won't be breeding from him, I will also not bother trying to get him into showing, as he honestly doesn't enjoy the experience. Instead, we will do the things Cody loves; like Obedience. I will continue to do things the way we do - I'm not going to change his lifestyle because of the results as they still aren't particularly bad, just not perfect :)

Recent pic of the gorgeous boy <3

Hip & Elbow Scoring

One of the health testing requirements for Bernese is hip and elbow scoring. Cody is now 18 months old, which is actually commonly agreed to be the upper 'ideal' age range to complete these; although I will add they can indeed be carried out at any time once the dog is over a year old. So we took Cody in today at the vets for both his hip and elbow x-rays, which will be sent to the BVA (British Veterinary Association) for scoring, this is done based on the degree of dysplasia of the joint - the top possible score is 53:53 so 106 - the lower the score, the better.

Every breed has an 'mean' score (whereby you mix all the results of all the dogs together), which gives you an 'average' score which isn't actually the score of the 'average' dog, if that makes any sense?! Let me explain a bit more - to create that number, you are going to have some dogs with very high scores, which is going to skew the picture, and make you think the hip status in the breed is worse than it really is. For example, the mean score for Bernese is 15. Therefore, someone might think that breeding from a dog with a score of anything under that would be perfectly acceptable - and until recently, the BVA's recommendation actually followed this. However, it has now been adjusted to 'well under' the BMS instead.

They are now also publishing the 'median' scores, which means there are an equal number of both lower and higher scores, so what the dog in the middle of the populations hip score is. Instead of using the BMS, you are actually better to use the median scores to determine your 'cut off' point for breeding dogs - they need to be under the median score (for Bernese, 10) - unless in the case of an otherwise exceptional dog (and even then it should be very carefully considered). 

Elbows are quite different in that you only have four possible results, 0-4 (or a mix of those, such as 1/0 which would make a total score of 1). Again, you are hoping for the lower score the better and advice is to only breed from dogs which score 0/0 (occasionally, like with the hips, you could consider a score of 1 but it is an exception to the rule).

Anyhow, Cody got on just fine today, I had planned carefully how I wanted things to go - we arrived, took him in for his pre-med and then waited back in the car until he was literally ready to go straight in; we left him after they had injected anaesthetic and he was totally zonked. Then afterwards when he had sorta woken up (basically only opened his eyes, although when we walked in he tried to get up to see us, bless him!) we put him in our car until he was okay to go home. He's been sleeping for the afternoon and ate his dinner with great enthusiasm! 

Naturally, I am hoping Cody will come back with amazing scores...We looked at his x-rays with the vet; the elbows look fine and the hips look okay too, although one seems to be noticeably better than the other so I would expect the scores to reflect that. Now we've just got to wait 4-6 weeks to find out!