How to Raise a Healthy Dog – Part 1

Why is it so hard to raise a healthy dog these days?  There was a time when raising a healthy dog was as easy as feeding them raw meat on a regular basis and letting them come in out of bad weather. Otherwise, our dogs ran the neighborhood, played with other neighbor dogs, ate small prey they managed to catch…and sometimes road kill they managed to find on the street, and they lived long, healthy lives.

It used to be common to know a number of people who had had their dogs 14-21 years. Now, 12 years is thought of as old and long-lived. At least for the bigger breeds. We also didn’t have, or know anyone who had, dogs with cancers, tumors, skin diseases, allergies, breathing problems, hip displacement, and seizures. Now these are a common occurrence in dogs.

A year ago I decided I wanted a Standard poodle. We had had collies for many years, and our last one was about to die, and I didn’t really want to be without a dog. At the same time, we were about to become empty-nesters, as our last child in the home was about to move away.  I thought a new dog would be a good distraction for me. I’ve always been a stay-at-home mom, and loved having little ones around, but this would have to suffice.

My daughter found a poodle breeder in the Dallas area for me who had some Standard poodle puppies for sale, and she had a black female left that I could purchase. Perfect! That was simple, I would get this puppy and life would be good. Or so I thought.

I called and spoke with the breeder who would be selling us this new puppy. The breeder seemed nice enough. Someone had warned me though, that most breeders do “puppy vaccines” now, so I asked her if she had done these. This would be a deal-breaker for me, and I was going to have to decline the puppy if it had had these vaccines.

Instead of confirming that the vaccines had been given, she apologized for not having done them yet. The vaccines had come in late she said, but assured me they would be done that evening. Then she would be deworming the puppy with a chemical dewormer. At that point I almost told her I wasn’t interested in the puppy anymore. After all, who wants a sick, vaccine damaged puppy that also has chemical damage to its intestines from a chemical dewormer? What a way to start out with a new pet. No wonder some of the “breeders” have a bad reputation for selling sick puppies. Whats worse, most don’t even know its the vaccines and harsh chemical dewormer that is making their puppies sick, so they keep doing them litter after litter.

Before I could tell this sweet lady I didn’t want one of her puppies, guilt got the better of me. Not guilt for the puppy, although there was that too, but guilt for not sharing information with a nice lady who I felt was just misled. I quickly asked God for guidance with what I was about to say, then asked her if she would mind NOT doing the vaccines on the puppy, and just leave that up to me after I get her back home. I also asked that she please not do chemical deworming on the puppy. Now I’m not saying that puppies don’t have worms, or need some support to help their body get rid of worms, I’m all for that, but would prefer to do it with holistic supplements or homeopathics so they are more effective, and there aren’t any side-effects.

It was this experience with this particular breeder that led me to do more research into being a dog owner. It had never been so complicated before, and I had owned a number of pets, from dogs, to horses, ducks, geese, guinea pigs, rabbits, even a raccoon.

I was taken off guard by this new thought on dog raising that has become so common now.  So much of what they do is because they think it is responsible, and a good practice. Shame on the pharmaceutical industry for pushing these practices on our veterinarians, who then pass them on to the breeders and pet owners. Thinking about all that I had learned from the various breeders I spoke with, things I felt defied common sense, it sickened me.
I work in the natural health care field with people and see so much deception every day when it comes to health care, along with an overall lack of common sense about health and disease. Twenty five years ago, when I was teaching natural childbirth education, the dietary information passed on to expectant mothers was so bad (not dissimilar to what it is today), that we would joke with our classes that it was safer and more accurate to get dietary advice from a veterinarian. After all, they were in the business of helping animals be healthy, rather than selling pharmaceuticals and pushing dangerous vaccines and medical tests. To say I was disappointed to learn this is no longer true, would be putting it mildly.

Here are just a few of the changes I found in my research on the new, albeit dangerous, way of raising dogs today:

The majority of breeders are encouraged to give their dogs a series of puppy vaccines early in life. This is done with the idea that it will prevent a variety of diseases that puppies rarely get. Sickly puppies, who are poorly fed, and come from sick parents, get these diseases. In addition, they are given at a young period in their life when they couldn’t possibly build antibodies even if the vaccines did work.

Many of them spay or neuter their puppies even before they are sold. Others have you sign a contract stating you will have this operation, removing your new puppy’s reproductive system before they are a set number of months old. It has nothing to do with the health of the dogs of course, this isn’t an issue for them. It is typically done to reduce the competition between dog breeders. How and when did removal of the reproductive system become “responsible.” Who’s idea was that, I have to wonder.

Newly bred female dogs are often scanned with ultrasound machines to confirm pregnancies and count of the number of puppies in the womb. Then again later on, closer to delivery time, to check for problems. Then the mother is sometimes exposed to it again after the puppies are born to check her uterus for dead puppies, or remains of afterbirth that weren’t expelled. Wait, what about the side effects of the ultrasound on the puppies and the womb of the mother dog? Did someone forget ultrasound machines use radiation?  That they can cause abnormalities in the babies (human and animal) and cause sterility in the mother because of radiation damage to her reproductive system?! I am guessing that, like human doctors, the veterinarians aren’t aware of the side-effects either. So, who’s job is it to let us know there may be side-effects, and please, please stop telling us there aren’t any. www.midwiferytoday.com/articles/ultrasound.htm , www.healthybirthchoices.com/.../pregnancy/ultrasound/102-fetaleffects-…, www.chosenbirths.com/ultrasoundsafety.htm

Purebred dogs are often bred back with their own brother, sister, mother or father for a particular look that is desired by the breeder. Especially those dogs who are groomed for AKC shows. The health and genetic problems that inbreeding can cause aren’t a consideration, and I am told that doing this often produces a look preferred by judges at these shows.

Adult dogs are given vaccines on a regular basis, sometimes yearly, regardless of the fact that they aren’t necessary, proven safe or effective, and aren’t even state mandated.  Shame on the veterinarians who do these to animals.  Is this called “responsible veterinary medicine?”

In my research on dogs, I have come across a number of people who have shared stories with me of their dogs who suddenly develop tumors after vaccines are given, then die when the “tumor exploded.” Two of these stories were of Standard poodles. There have been eye disorders, cancers, leukemia, skin diseases, and seizures. One girl bought an English bulldog that suddenly died shortly after it turned a year. A year! She called her friend who bought a puppy from the same litter to find out how their dog was doing, only to find it had died a couple months before hers. Both had all of the puppy vaccines and were given the dangerous chemical dewormer. Another person had a boxer that had seizures and was encouraged to put it on an expensive anti-seizure medication. She couldn’t afford the drugs, so had it put down. It was under 2 years old. I know of many, many more who currently have dogs that are still living with diagnosed tumors, and their vets are telling them its common among dogs their age, or their breed.

This all reminds me of pediatric medicine in the U.S.  All of the diseases that are common in our vaccinated children, diseases like eye disorders, cancers, leukemia, skin diseases, learning disabilities, personality disorders, and seizures. Makes one wonder about autism in dogs as well.

Then there is the issue of life-threatening chemicals we apply to our pets in the name of protecting them from bugs. They come in the form of poisonous pet collars, sprays, and shampoos. One woman I know breaks out when she holds her dog because of all of the chemicals applied to its coat by its groomer. And its not safe for small children to be within 10-12 feet of a dog with one of these products on its body. When this particular lady asked her dog’s groomer to use a “natural” shampoo instead of the one with the chemical pesticides in it, the groomer stated that she “couldn’t be responsible for something that might hurt or endanger the dog.” What?! When did something natural become dangerous, and something dangerous become the safe thing? Where is the common sense in that statement?

Back to my story – after asking the breeder of my puppy not to use the vaccines or chemical dewormer on her, I went a little further and asked that she not keep my unvaccinated puppy with the other vaccinated (now contagious), puppies. She was surprised, thinking that my puppy was the one to be concerned with carrying an illness, and she was the one who was going to develop a life-threatening illness if I didn’t let her shoot these toxins (vaccines) into her.

I assured her that not only would this puppy not get sick, but she will be very healthy and well taken care of. In as few words as possible I explained my concern about the vaccines and their relationship to the diseases that are so common in dogs now. Diseases that didn’t exist in dogs 40-50 years ago. She followed with, “I wondered if the vaccines caused these diseases, I’ve had more than one (adult) dog suddenly become sick and a couple even die within 6 months after having been given a vaccine.” She said she thought it was the vaccine, and instinctively didn’t like doing them. Although, when she voiced her concerns to her veterinarian, like any well trained pharmaceutical salesmen, he assured her it had nothing to do with the vaccines.