South African Boerboel

[spedkiddos]

Later this week I will be receiving a Boreboel that has been donated to me, so I can get her trained and hopefully use as a therapy dog. I'm a SPED teacher and I also volunteer at a couple of different places with sick or special needs children. The lady that I'm getting her from said that she may have an umbilical cord hernia. Is something I need to worry about, or will it heal with time? The puppy is 8 weeks old. I've done quite a bit of research on the breed and from what I've read and what the breeder has told me they make a good therapy dog. I would love any information on having a dog trained, and if anyone has any first hand info on Boerboels that would be great. I've looked online and Petco's has the training classes which include good citizen classes, which will help prepare you for the therapy dog training. If you know of any other places I can go to get all of the training, please let me know.

[xzochye]

Call Parks and Rec. They have a really awesome dog and puppy training class. It is cheaper than Pets Mart and the class size is also smaller.

[spedkiddos]

Thanks a lot... Killeen or Heights?

[xzochye]

Killeen. If I remember tomorrow I will look through the papers/ certificates that I have and find the lady's name that does it. She worked wonders with my crazy hyper dog.

[Brad Buckley, D.V.M.]

Have this pup examined as soon as possible and make sure that you have a proper vaccine protocol in place. Spring time in Central Texas is prime parvo and distemper season so pups must be protected. Also make sure that the umbilical hernia is checked out as well. These hernias are usually no big deal unless they are of sufficient size where a piece of intestine can become entrapped within. Umbilical hernias can be repaired easily when she is spayed.

Congratulations on your new addition and I wish you well with the training and I commend you for your therapy dog work. Therapy dogs make such a difference in the lives of so many people. Good luck.

[spedkiddos]

well it looks like I won't be getting her this weekend, maybe next weekend. She is coming from Ohio and the weather is not cooperating (from what the breeder says)! I plan on having her checked out when I get her. I hope the reason she was not able to come this week is because of the weather and not the hernia. I don't know if that would keep the vet up there from clearing her to fly or not. I know she is going to be a big dog, but she is 25 pounds at 8 weeks, that seems like a little chunk!

[Brad Buckley, D.V.M.]

I wouldn't worry too much about that hernia. It is very seldom that I see an umbilical hernia that threatens the health of a puppy. As for the weather, I do know that some airlines will not fly an animal if certain extremes of temperature are expected or if weather delays are expected. 25 POUNDS AT 8 WEEKS!!!! Wow, I bet her feet are the size of saucers. That is too cool. Congrats again.

[SamBrown]

Can we see a picture of her once you get her? Please! I would love to see what she looks like; I did not know there was such a breed. See, even we teachers NEVER stop learning;)

[Spartan]

Later this week I will be receiving a Boreboel that has been donated to me....

Are you sure you want to do this? Kind of reminds me of the time I thought I wanted a horse. When I got her, reality set in.

[spedkiddos]

Spartan I don't think she will be that big, I've seen pics of parents, mom is only 135 and dad is 175. I have an "old girl" now that is about 85 pounds, so at least I'm not going from having a small dog to a large dog. I'm excited, but the way it's going she's going to be over 30 pounds before she gets here! :-) Sam, here's a couple of pics of my girl, but these were taken when she was about 5 weeks old and between 15 & 18 pounds.

[Night Owl]

Five weeks old and 15 to 18 pounds! Thats not a dog, thats a horse.:) Better get her saddle broke quick!!!

Cute puppy. Reminds me of a bull mastic.

[THEMEANOGRE]

I thought the dog in the picture was a variety of bull dog.
And that would be "mastiff". Mastic is used to hold tile in place.

[Night Owl]

How rude. Correcting spelling mistakes.

[spedkiddos]

They are in the Mastiff family, they just don't drool as much!

[Night Owl]

Mastiffs (spelled correctly TMO) are great puppies.

[Deb]

Cute puppy. i know of several puppies that have had hernias, and the vet fixed the hernias and went ahead and fixed them while they were in the area.

[spedkiddos]

Well I guess it's a good thing that we won't be getting her tomorrow since I found out today that our neighbor's puppy had parvo and was in the hospital for a few days... I know Cane will come UTD on all her shots at the time. We will be going to the vet right after we get her home anyways. My question is what can I do to protect her and my other dogs? All of my dogs are UTD on their shots, but I have a dog that is outside for the most part that is almost 14, and I have another one that is 6. The neighbor said they sprayed the yard with bleach water. Is that something that that will help with the yard?

On another note since we live outside of the city limits and on a one way in one way out area we're prime dumping ground for dogs. We've been feeding a dog that was dropped off for about a month. She's a german shepherd / chow mix, very under weight. She has gained weight since we've been feeding/watering her. She's very scared and will come across the road to us long enough to eat, then she goes back to the woods. She will let us pet her, but it took a while. We want to get her fixed (if she's not already), but not sure how she would handle being loaded up and then taken to the vet. What shots does she need before she can be fixed? Do y'all know of a low price place to take her? With us getting the XXL puppy soon and then since my husband and I both work for the district, we're a little unsure about what may be ahead of us.

Thanks everyone!

[SamBrown]

Just beautiful. She will be a BIG girl:) I love big dogs. Have our two labs and Gunner, a Great Dane/Rottie mix who looks like a small horse when he struts through the house!

[SamBrown]

? The neighbor said they sprayed the yard with bleach water. Is that something that that will help with the yard?


That is what we used years ago to treat our yard. We had adopted a puppy that came down with parvo three days later. The vet told us to use a 10% bleach solution to thoroughly spray our yard.

[Brad Buckley, D.V.M.]

Diluted bleach solutions will kill parvovirus but it is difficult to saturate every area when you are addressing the outdoors. Certainly using this solution on hard surfaces such as concrete can help but I have found it largely ineffective when dealing with grassy areas. It also kills all the grass and you can be left with a mud pit for a backyard.

The best way to protect pets from parvovirus is through appropriate and timely vaccination. Puppies should receive an initial vaccination at 6 weeks of age and a booster at 8, 12, and 16 weeks of age. If a pup is fully vaccinated and receives its first adult booster it is highly unlikely that it will be susceptible to parvovirus as parvo is uncommon in any dog older than 12 months. I have seen a handful of cases in dogs greater than 12 months of age but often their vaccine status was questionable or they had concurrent disease that impacted their immune system. Also please note that some pure breed dogs do not respond as well to vaccination as others. Historically rottweilers, dobermans and some lines of labradors have failed to make adequate immunity even with proper vaccination.

Here's my plan for bringing home a young puppy to an environment where there has been a parvo outbreak:

1. Make sure vaccine status is current

2. Make sure that pup is free of parasites and other disease that can stress the immune system

3. Clean hard surfaces with a 50% bleach solution

4. Do not allow pup direct access to area where parvo infected dog had lived, defecated, etc

5. Clean bottom of shoes with 50% bleach solution upon entering pup's environment - this will decrease the tracking in of virus

6. Avoid taking pup to public areas (parks, etc) where it is more likely to encounter exposure to virus

I hope this helps.