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Messages - SadieA

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So Sammy and I just got back from the emergency vet (when I called, they said to take him in because of that whole explosive watery thing) and turns out he's got some kind of bacterial thing. So he's got an antibiotic, some probiotics to add to his food, and will be eating rice and pills for a couple days. Hope it makes him feel better soon! Thanks so much for the advice.

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General Board for Big Dogs with Big Paws / What to do about diarrhea
« on: June 04, 2009, 10:56:06 am »
So, this is a bit of a gross one- Sammy is sick. Last night he was up in the night pacing around and panting, and when I let him out, sure enough, he had diarrhea. I also was worried that he might have eaten something that was stuck in his stomach- this has happened before, he's actually eaten a sock and thrown it up whole. So I wondered if that was the problem, and I'm still nervous about it. Today I had to leave him in his crate when I left the house, and when I came back, it was a HUGE mess. So I have him a bath and cut the fur around his rear end to hopefully make future cleanup easier. Still tonight he has diarrhea literally the consistency of water, and it's somewhat explosive. But he seems energetic enough- mostly, he seems anxious, always moving.

So... does he need a trip to the vet, in your opinions? Or just a day or so of not eating anything to clean him out? Or some pumpkin? Or do you think the diarrhea could somehow be caused by an obstruction in his stomach? (I don't have any reason to think he ate a sock or anything, but it's happened in the past without my knowledge...)

I'm a little freaked out! Thanks!

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ok, one more post: I'd love to see some pictures of Tucker!!! and HAPPY BIRTHDAY little man!! I call Sammy "little man" or "small man" all the time, and boy does everyone think I'm crazy. But hey, he's still smaller than me, if only by a little!

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The first pic is Sam fairly recently, and the second shows off his curly coat- especially prominent right after a bath. He was about a year old in the curly pic. The other two are when he was a bit younger! So maybe this will give you an idea of what his coat is like.

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Well, since I've got my first berner now, I can't really say a good answer to this. Sammy is 1.5 now, and I'm not sure whether he's got his full adult coat, but I'd guess yes. However, looking at pictures of other berners he definitely is a little on the less-massive size, both in terms of his actual height and weight, and also I think his coat length. His fur is a bit more wavy/curly than some berners', and perhaps that makes it stick a bit closer to his body. I was watching the berner section of the westminster dog show online, and those dogs do look to be a bit fluffier-coated than sam, though I guess a whole lot of brushing might make that difference!

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Bernese Mountain Dog Discussions / Re: Running with a Berner
« on: January 10, 2009, 12:03:38 pm »
Thank you all so much for your advice! We're not jogging anymore, and are instead trying to work up to going on longer strolls. Once the weather gets a bit nicer, we'll try some short hikes! I'm not sure if Sammy is allowed off-leash at the parks with hiking trails, but I'll look into whether there are places where he can be. If not, at the very least I can put him on a longer leash and watch to make sure we're going his pace.

Speaking of running with dogs, the other day while I was out with Sammy I saw something that really upset me- a man was jogging with his 3 month old lab puppy on a leash! It was kind of dragging along behind him. I didn't immediately say anything, but then was kicking myself so when I caught them on a second loop, I asked how old his dog was, and then told him how cute it was and made up this completely untrue story about how Sammy got hurt jogging when he was little, and my vet told me that it's not at all safe for puppies to run like that, on a leash, and it was really expensive to treat his injury, etc etc. The guy honestly seemed to have had no idea! I hope that by making up my little "personal experience with this" story, I managed to avoid insulting him or just making him pissed off- I was so worried he'd think I was just an obnoxious jerk and ignore the message completely! That poor puppy. The guy walked away with the dog, at least, and I do hope he'll go online and look up appropriate activities for a puppy!!

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Bernese Mountain Dog Discussions / Re: Tucker is 10 months old today!
« on: January 06, 2009, 11:52:07 am »
Oh, the time does fly by! I'd love to see pictured of him, if you've got any!!

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Bernese Mountain Dog Discussions / Running with a Berner
« on: January 06, 2009, 11:47:04 am »
Hi All!

I'm wondering if anyone has experience running (jogging, really) with a Berner or similar-sized dog? Sammy is now 1.5, and really, he just wants to be with me everywhere I go, and I'm hoping to get back into running after some time away. He's got a lot of energy, and ideally I'd eventually be able to take him along with me on some of my outdoor adventures, particularly hiking. He doesn't have great endurance, though, and I'm sure that's partially due to his lack of training, but perhaps also just a characteristic of the breed. I'm wondering if it's safe for him to jog a bit- we've twice gone for very slow jogs of about 3/4 mile in length, and by the end he's definitely dragging, but I'd love to keep doing it if it isn't hurting him. I think he enjoys it, and he jogs along right next to me, and it gets him a lot of exercise. So I'm curious to know what you all think, and if it is ok to jog with him, and he begins to improve in his endurance, where is the point where you'd say a longer run is too long? Oh yeah, he weighs around 85 pounds, which seems to be as big as he's going to get. It's a healthy weight for his size. And when he was a little guy, we had some troubles with pano, but no orthopedic problems of any kind for at least the past six months.

Thanks!

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Bernese Mountain Dog Discussions / Re: Berner puppy size
« on: September 14, 2008, 01:25:24 am »
just realized I already had that pic up as my avatar pic... whoops. But I guess you can see it a little bigger in the attachment!

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Bernese Mountain Dog Discussions / Re: Berner puppy size
« on: September 14, 2008, 01:22:06 am »
SC Trojans, thanks for the input! I wouldn't actually say Sammy is lacking bone- he's quite solid, built MUCH more solidly than the goldens I grew up with. People see him, and they say "That's a BIG dog." I think the reason he's a bit lighter than many Berners is that he isn't particularly tall. His shoulder is a bit above my knee, but not much (I'm 5'10") and his head is just at the level that I can reach down and pet him with my arm fully extended without having to bend down. His frame is built heavily, but I keep him pretty slim and he's not particularly tall.

I've attached a picture of him that was taken way back in March- he is the same size now, only looks a little slimmer as he's shed out quite a bit!

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Bernese Mountain Dog Discussions / Re: Berner puppy size
« on: September 13, 2008, 03:12:09 pm »
Well, this may not be super helpful as Sammy is a male, but I can tell you that from my experience with him, size as a pup does not necessarily predict size at full-grown. Sammy is just a year and three months, so he may have a bit more growing to do, but all the same... he was 20 lbs when I got him at eight weeks, which I believe to be fairly large for a pup, and at 6 months he was around 65, but now he's only 85, and has been that size for a good five months. So he way still get bigger, but it seems unlikely he's really going to be a big berner- I'd be quite surprised if he ends up at more than 100 pounds. His dad was about 100, so I'd imagine he may be around the same, which is fairly small for a male, despite his large size as a pup. He was from a small litter, though, so maybe that accounts for the size as a pup...

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This is just one case, of course, and not to be taken as a general rule, but I live in an apartment with my 1-year-old berner, Sammy. I've lived in an apartment the whole time I've had him. I've found that it works out just fine- Sammy is not a dog to run around the house on his own for exercise- he tends to be pretty calm and lazy in the house, and though he follows me everywhere I go, I don't at all have the impression that if I lived in a large house, he would take the effort to "use up" that space, so to speak. He really is a dog that likes to be where his people are, and so I don't really see how it would benefit hi to have a  larger house- he's certainly not going to get exercise in the house by walking laps of the house on his own! I take him outside often, and he loves playing at the dog park, and going for walks, particularly in the winter. My experience with this breed is that the amount of attention you are able to give is more important to them than the amount of space you are able to give. He does certainly bump into things, but he  does that outside as well, and it doesn't seem to bother him at all!

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She is such a cutie!! If I recall right, Sammy had pretty much his full adult coat by about 6 months. His fur is very fluffy and curly, though, so he still looks kinda like a puppy to me!! With regard to the size she'll grow to be, I've been surprised with Sammy. He was a really big puppy- almost 20 pounds when I got him at eight weeks, but now at one year old, he only weighs 85. Presumably he's going to continue to grow slowly for another year or so, but his weight has been pretty constant for four months or so now. I definitely think he's going to be on the small side for a berner!

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Great Pyrenees Pictures / Re: Guess who is two? ~LILY~
« on: July 11, 2008, 06:37:51 pm »
Oh, Happy birthday, Lily!!!! You look just lovely, and happy.

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Newfoundland Pictures / Re: water bowls
« on: July 11, 2008, 06:36:11 pm »
Ok, I'll admit that picture is pretty funny. However, I think it kind of pales in comparison with your avatar picture, which is HILARIOUS!!! Oh my goodness. I just love the crazy faces big goofy furry dogs make. Sam is a pro, but I really think Clifford wins.

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