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I have a 9 month old Weimaraner who was diagnosed with Hypertrophic Osteodystrophy (HOD) at around 4 months. I am looking for other people on this board who have had dogs that was diagnosed with this illness. My poor baby girl is going through her third flare up at the moment and I am feeling so frustrated and desperate for her. The vet had prescribed her Metacam for the last 2 episodes (one of which she was in hospital with for almost a week) but this time around it has done nothing for her. She cries when we touch her - we have had to pick her up for wees. She hasn't eaten anything for 2 days, and her temperature has been sitting around 40.1, with runny poos as well. We've now just started Previcox, which from what I understand is used primarily for dogs with osteoarthritis. I also have heard from another forum that dogs with HOD have a shortened lifespan to around 6years.. I'm hoping someone will have a pupple out there older than 6 that had HOD... Any responses welcome.

I kept Ruby quiet until the stitches came out when she was desexed - but she had a larger incision site than regular with hers as she had exploratory surgery done at the same time. It's very hard keeping a puppy quiet though.. hehe

I take Ruby in the shower once a month (or once a fortnight depending on whatever she's rolled in..) She gets all sooky in the shower and tends to just stand there while I scrub her down. I just love how they get the zoomies after the shower - it's like SNAP! I'm happy now ma, I'm freeeeee! We've got a big shower which makes it easier.. we're moving in another couple of months so I must keep showering her in mind!!!!

Thanks for the the replies.. I feel like this is the rebellious stage we're going through as well. Where she's testing her independence. I was just so worried that I was going to lose her seeing as it was going on dusk (damn grey ghosts so hard to see.. ) The walk was definately over once she came back to me as I was too cross to keep going. She would definately associate walk over with recall now huh.. I was very mindful of that point, recalling her and treating then releasing so she DOESN'T associate recall with walk over. But I guess when your mad sometimes you expect the dog to know what your mad about. Erny: I practice focused heeling at home. Like you said, I'm only specifically trying to teach her to walk loosely on a lead. The halti was great because it meant my arm wasn't being ripped off when we walked. She's a bad puller (my fault I know) and this is what I'm trying to break her away from. She pulls, I turn in the opposite direction! I will try turning before the ten paces when she surges ahead to make her stay with me. Also how do I check my leadership.. We never have problems with her at home re: food (I give permission to eat, can take it away without growling etc), bedding and furniture (she sleeps on floor on her bed). I would have confidently said I was definately pack leader. I will look for some postings on this. It just seems that once we're outside with distractions, there are alot of other things more exciting than me, as you said! Some days you get so frustrated.. :p

Could I get some advice PLEASE!!! I have a 7.5 month old Weimaraner who I had walking perfectly on the halti. I have decided that I don't want to use this training tool anymore because I don't want to rely on it forever. I have been taking her to a big field and putting her on a flat collar where I will put her in the heel position. She knows where this position is. The next bit I'm not sure if I'm doing the right thing. I will start walking and she will calmly walk beside me for approx 10 paces then nose to the ground and she surges ahead. I will turn and walk in the opposite direction. She catches up and I praise her for walking next to me and treat. Then gets ahead of me again, I repeat turn in the opposite direction and she catches up. Praise. I just can't seem to get more than the 10 paces from her. We've been doing this daily for almost 2 weeks. What am I doing wrong??? Worst part of today was that I trusted her recall (which has been EXCELLENT, I've called her off numerous birds, people etc) let her off lead and released her with an OK and she took off out of sight. Never done that before EVER, wouldn't come back. I was so cross. Seems like we've taken HUGE steps back in our training. I won't trust her to let her off the check cord ever again..

Thankyou very much.. very much appreciated. She will love it.

My MIL's lab Abby was finally put to rest on Saturday. She was diagnosed with Jaw cancer 12 months ago, and had half of her jaw removed. She adapted to life happily after surgery, but the cancer returned 4 months ago. Finally enough was enough on Saturday. I just wanted to say a special prayer for her. We will miss you boof. :rolleyes: These photos were taken at Sussex Inlet, just a few days before she was diagnosed.

Hi Harminee, my mother in law's labrador Abby was put to sleep over the weekend. She suffered 12 months with Jaw cancer where half of her jaw was removed. She will be missed terribly by everyone. I have been looking through this thread and you do a wonderful thing to taking time out of your day to do this for other people. If you are able, would you be able to do something for our girl Abby. I'm not sure of her birth date... these photos were taken just a few days before she was diagnosed with cancer.

Here's some videos of Ruby.. She's 7 months now Playing in the snow.. Steadiness at the line (hunting technique?) Sit/Stay Recall 4 months Ruby's Tricks at 12 weeks

No, we aren't. We are pretty rural and don't have the facilities unless we travelled 4 hours +. We're also a little strapped financially because of the vet debt we're already in and aren't really willing to spend more thousands at the risk of getting a shrug of the shoudlers and the same diagnosis of "idiopathic juvenile renal haemorrhaging" (unknown cause of renal bleeding).

thankyou for all the replies.. I was, like many of you said, hoping the breeder would refund on goodwill. I am not going to push it or pursue it as many of you have made me realise that it may be fruitless and possibly end up in a bad relationship and cause more problems. Thankyou for all of the info on HOD.. I have spent many hours reading up on it since she was diagnosed. It didn't occur after her vaccination as she was well past her last vacc (at 12 weeks) when things started happening (usually 7 days according to information). Also someone who suggested googling kidney problems in Weimaraners... could you provide me with some information? I am at a loss to find any information on kidney problems in Wei's that cause bleeding in urination. There are high rates of kidney problems in Weimaraners - but usually in older dogs. Not at 5 months old!!!! Sorry - I tried finding it but I couldn't find anything! There are the other things like kidney stones, infection, poison (initial diagnosis), and trauma - at no point has there been any accidents/falls etc. They have checked for tumours, cycts etc. They have done exploratory surgery to find what the problem is and found that one of her kidney's in slightly larger than the other which they seem to think that is the problem there - not 100%. There is no way of knowing what's wrong with this kidney unless it is removed. As I said in my first post about the ticks and coccidia - all they did was scare me. I didn't care at all after she had been treated I was SO happy to finally have her - it had been almost a 6 month wait to get a pup. The umbilical hernia I wasn't aware of until I was checking her over after she arrived - the vet said that it would need to be operated on. Now at 7 months it has almost disappeared - I'm lucky I didn't jump the gun and go ahead with surgery. It was more that I wasn't told she had one that was the problem.. Alot of people have suggested to me - just put her down and start again. I am not someone who views their dog as 'just a dog'. She has become part of our family. No way would I put her down OR give her back. However long doggy god decides to put her on this earth for, she will stay with me. Thanks for all the input!! Much appreciated. This is her urine..

I had not even heard of health contract/guarantees until I started looking into if breeders DO refund money. So no. The thing is they are a very reputable breeder, I know several other people with dogs from previous litters and they have had no problems. I think my girl is just a one off.

Hmm.. ok. There is now way that I would send my girl back. In the very short time I have had her she has become my best friend - we do everything together. It would break my heart to see her go only to be replaced by another puppy. I hope you can understand that direction? thankyou for clarifying the law, your obviously a breeder and know your stuff. I would have just thought that the right thing to do would be at least help a small portion of the costs. Even if it is not a full refund.

I have a VERY touchy question which I would like to remain anonymous about (ie where the pup came from, what breeder, what litter, parents etc). I have been very supported by the breeder, she has been wonderful. We recieved our baby girl back in March we have had a fair few health problems since then: She arrived with 2 ticks on her (scared the crap outta me!!) The breeder told me that the rest of the litter had contracted coccidia and to get her treated promptly (as above) She also came with a hernia (not too worried about this) all of these things I wasn't worried about as I was just over the moon to have my baby At 4.5 months she got quite sick with joint pain, and was diagnosed with hypertrophic osteodystrophy (HOD) which this time cost us a bit. The vet told us to let the breeder know as it was genetic. We did. She has had 2 more episodes of this since, which has progressively got worse each episode. A 5 months we noticed that she started bleeding frank blood (very very red) when she urinates. This problem is ongoing and has cost us almost $2000 to date. The likely cause (not 100%) is one of her kidney's has something wrong with it and will most likely to be removed at a later time if it has not cleared up. She is 7 months now and nothing has cleared it up. She was so sick, I was frightened she was going to have to be pts. About a fortnight ago, I did ask the breeder for a refund through email and I have not had a response since (which I took for a no?) We are still up to our necks in vet debt.. we never thought that we would be paying this much for our puppy in the first few months of owning her. The breeder did offer us a new pup from another litter, and that our girl should come back to her (but I fear they would just put her down). We said no to this offer, but instead asked for the money. What do you think?

BUMP! I have a 7 month old Weimaraner puppy who I am REALLY struggling with heeling (it's me struggling not the Wei.. LOL) I have enormous trouble in getting her attention on me!! that is, head up focusing at me. She knows "look" and she knows where the heel position is. What I struggle with is keeping her attention on me. She seems food driven, but she is even more distraction driven (say a piece of fluff on the carpet :D ) same with toys. We have been doing heeling work inside in the loungeroom - the 2 attempts in the backyard have been useless - too much dirt/grass to get her nose into. She's just more interested in her nose being on the floor (which is naturally what she's been bred for) We have been to a few obedience lessons - our last one she pulled me over and made my hands bleed after taking the halti off her and then we got sent home for being 'off with the fairies' so I have been trying to get her attention on me ALOT better before returning. Any advice would be really appreciated!! ;)