Health of your dogs and where you got them?

[Liv]

I am not going to continue with this, its feel a little narky for no good reason, other than opinions differ slightly.
Both the above breeds you mention are breeds with low health problems within the breed - perhaps they would be a good choice.
I think basically Stonyboys you should probably just take away from this, whichever dog you choose, choose carefully if you are concerned about vet bills and get insurance.

[nightsrainfall]

Truthfully, if you do your research into the breeds and crosses/mixes to learn information about them, as well as learn how rescues, shelters, different breeders, as well as backyard breeders work, then you can figure out what to look for to get what you want and all the questions to ask. Also being picky helps too, lol. Some get a dog, no background info needed, which hopefully turns out to be really great for that dog! Others are looking for one who will fit with their home or lifestyle, maybe they care if the dog has bad heath, maybe they don't. And then there are those who are looking for a multitude of physical, mental, or heath traits/standards, so it may take them a much longer time to find that dog. It's all about what you want, what you are willing to give up or not be bothered by, and how far you will go for it.

The main reason I am saying this is you can adopt healthy dogs from shelters and rescues, it just takes a whole lot of research (not too much more than researching breeders though - you are just looking for different things), a lot of waiting, and double checking. My shelter back in Iowa had a list of potential adopters by breed and included what the adopter was looking for and the type of dogs/cases they would take. Sometimes purebred dogs came in with history and papers, but waiting for that dog can be a while. Also, some do medical checks, but they can only go so far with those. I wouldn't call all shelter or rescue dogs unhealthy, there is just probably more work, waiting, and some unknowns involved.

I am ok with waiting forever and a day, lol, but there are some shelters and rescues I won't adopt from because of their definition of a puppy or worse yet their spay and neuter practices...

[jakesmom]

As a matter of interest what are the health problems associated with GSD's apart from their hips, as I have never had any problems with any of mine (apart from Jake's problem which seems to have been caused by the laser lights), and they have all lived to be good age, apart from one, who we had to have pts at 7 years old.

[stonyboys]

As a matter of interest what are the health problems associated with GSD's apart from their hips, as I have never had any problems with any of mine (apart from Jake's problem which seems to have been caused by the laser lights), and they have all lived to be good age, apart from one, who we had to have pts at 7 years old.

From what I've read, they are predisposed to Von Willebrands disease and Degenerative Mylopathy. Also elbow dysplasia is something that breeders test for.

Where did you get your GSDs that lived a long and healthy life? What about the 7 year old one?

[jakesmom]

Good question, I'm going back over 40 years for my first one - my fiance bought him for me as a surprise birthday pressie - he lived to be 14. He bought him from a friend who had bred his b!tch.

The 2nd was the only one I actually saw for myself before we had him, and he was from a family who had a nice b!tch and had one litter from her before she was spayed. This is the one that we had pts at 7. A friend of mine had a dog from the same litter and he lived to be 12.

The third one belonged to my OH when I met him - she lived to be 14 - bought from a breeder. She started to develop weakness in her back legs at age 11 but never went completely off her legs, and if she was in pain she certainly never showed it.

The fourth we took over from my OH's daughter at 11 months, we were his fourth owners - he lived to be 11 - he died from internal bleeding caused by a huge cancer, that we didn't even know he had. From what the daughter was told he had been returned to the breeder once and then the daughter rehomed him at 5 months from a man who lived in a flat and worked all day.

Our current dog is a 5yr old we had from a rescue - he's a rehoming and is KC registered, and we do know some of his history. His previous owners used to breed GSD's, so I assume they knew what to look out for, when they bought him.

The 7 year old (Chad) had a strange problem. Basically he went into the garden when he was 5 and came back in, limping on his front leg. He spent the next two years having tests, x-rays and operations but the vets couldn't find out what the problem was - he had no feeling in his leg whatsoever. Following consultations and joint efforts from two seperate vet practices, they both said the only thing they could think it possibly was, was a type of muscular dystrophy, and it would spread to his other limbs. By that time he was in frequent severe pain - so we decided to have him pts - broke my heart.

Perhaps at the end of the day, it's just down to luck.

[Nettle]

GSDs are also prone to anal furunculosis (horrible and incurable) epilepsy, and pancreatic insufficiency.

[Sarah83]

My rescue mutt is so far physically healthy really. He has skin problems and ear infections if fed wheat but as long as we avoid wheat he's perfectly healthy. He has problems maintaining weight but tests have all come back normal. My border collie mix came to us as a 6 week old pup, he became ill at 7 years old (looking back I think he had a stroke) and was put to sleep at 9 years old. My rottie mix never ailed a thing until he was 14 years old. I think health with any crossbreed is a crapshoot really. At least in a pedigree from a good breeder they'll have done tests to try to minimise the risks of certain health problems. There are no guarantees with any animal though.

[stonyboys]

Nettle, are any of those problems hereditary?

[Nettle]

Nettle, are any of those problems hereditary?

It is believed that all of them are.

[stonyboys]

I asked the breeder about those things, and she said that in 17 years and over 200 puppies, she's only had 1 case of epilepsy and 1 case of pancreatic insufficiency. Those are pretty good odds, no?

[Nettle]

Excellent. A puppy from this person should be well worth the wait