South African Boerboel

[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]

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? 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.