|
This is not an easy post to write, but transparency is one of the cornerstones of my program. With the highs of raising dogs also come hard moments, and I believe it’s important to share both.
On August 9th, one of our younger puppies, Aelin, experienced several seizures, including three grand mal episodes, and was admitted to an ER veterinary hospital in Reno. Her initial bloodwork and distemper test came back normal, and at this time we do not have clear answers as to why this happened. Possible causes could include exposure to a toxin, head trauma, reactions to anesthesia or medications, infectious disease, or an underlying neurological or genetic condition. She was started on Keppra, an anti-seizure medication, which has kept her stable since. Between that first dose at the ER and her second dose (delayed by pharmacy timing), she went a full 24 hours with no medication and no seizure activity, and she has remained completely her normal self since then. As with many neurological conditions, one of the hardest parts is the uncertainty. We don’t yet know whether this will prove to be an isolated event or something ongoing. What we do know is that Aelin is safe, stable, and happy in the present moment. I believe strongly in transparency, so I want to share this update openly here. At this point, there have been no other seizures or neurological concerns in any related dogs from either side of Aelin’s pedigree. While it is of course frightening, there is not currently evidence of a broader pattern. For now, we will continue to monitor Aelin closely and work with her veterinary team. I’ll provide relevant updates as they happen. Because the cause is uncertain and we cannot say for sure whether it was environmental or genetic, I have made the decision to remove all of Aelin’s siblings who were being considered as future breeding prospects from those plans. Lapis, her dam, is already retired from breeding (for unrelated reasons), and Mushu, her sire, has no additional litters planned at this time and likely will not in his lifetime. For her half siblings, both the purebred Border Collies through Mushu and the purebred Whippets through Lapis, I won’t be making any final decisions on their breeding potential for quite some time. My plan is to carefully watch them and all related dogs over the course of several years before making that call, especially with the Border Collies seeing as they are still very young. It is not a decision I make lightly, but health and responsibility come first. I would rather be over cautious than take risks with something as serious as seizures. The one saving grace is that Aelin was here with me when this happened so I have been able to shoulder this responsibility myself and no puppy owner has had to endure it. The day the seizures happened was the day she was going to be picked up by her future home, and the day after returning to me after being with a trainer for a one month sport puppy start. She will still find a loving home and of course she always has a place here with me, as every puppy I bring into the world does. Update – 09/03/25: Aelin had her follow-up appointment and is looking great. The vet feels that the most likely cause of her seizures was toxin exposure rather than an ongoing neurological condition, though we can’t know for certain. We now have the option to start weaning her off Keppra in about a month, or to wait longer if her new family prefers. I’m also happy to share that Aelin has officially been placed in her new home. Her owners will work closely with their veterinarian to decide when and if to taper her off medication. For now, she is thriving, loved, and getting to live the happy puppyhood she deserves. Depending on how things progress for Aelin, there is a chance her Border Whippet siblings who were breeding candidates may be considered again in the future but I am in no rush to make that call and will need to see Aelin seizure free for a long time before I feel comfortable making a decision like that.
0 Comments
Lapis’s labor began normally and there weren’t any major red flags but things slowed down and we weren’t making the progress I wanted to see. I tried all of my usual methods to help things along and assure everyone was okay, which they were, but it was going on too long for my liking. I checked the puppies regularly with my fetal doppler and they were never in distress, nor was Lapis panicking. She would push for a period of time and then rest for even longer, and while this can be considered normal, I was feeling unsure.
I brought Lapis to the vet (a different one than my usual, because they were closed) over an hour away and she was relaxed in the floorboard the whole time. They checked us in and did a progesterone test to make sure the pups were far enough along to be born - something I already was certain of, but they wanted to check anyway. Then did an x ray to count, showing just two puppies. Ultrasound confirmed they still weren’t in distress, just like I had confirmed several times at home. It was still stressing me out that Lapis wasn’t making progress and it was getting later, she was getting tired. So we opted to do a cesarean. It’s a good thing we did because once inside, the vet found a lot of scar tissue from her previous c section. I asked about this and they said it can be common for deep chested breeds to heal that way after a cesarean, and it wasn’t any fault of the previous vet or anything that could have been predicted or prevented. They agreed with me that this was the likely cause of there being only two pups and was why she wasn’t laboring like normal. Due to the scarring, the vet had to make a different incision, which is going to lead to even more scarring in the uterus later, so I decided right away that Lapis will be officially retired from breeding. I was already planning on retiring her after seeing such a drastically smaller litter, because to me that’s her way of telling me she’s done having pups! I want to see nice easy whelps and good litter sizes; this is part of how I judge a dog is a good candidate for breeding. Unfortunately, despite the fact that I usually like to keep my dogs intact even after retirement, with all of the scar tissue in her uterus, Lapis is at a heightened risk for pyometra so she will be spayed before her next heat cycle. I’m blessed and thankful to have so many lovely offspring from her to continue her line in the future. It's bittersweet to be raising her last litter but I'm sure the pups will make us proud. Relic's sire, Midderry Frank is a very popular stud who’s been bred a lot and produced many awesome puppies which means issues are almost certainly going to pop up. But recently there has been an alarming number of his offspring testing with hip dysplasia, out of several different females. Of 31 hip tested offspring, there has been 13 with hip problems (41.9%) which is simply too much and too close for comfort for a breeding prospect. So despite Relic’s awesome temperament and all of her amazing traits, I am washing her from my breeding program and placing her into a permanent home.
Relic's pedigree is stacked with very impressive herding dogs and she has definitely turned on to livestock. She is absolutely a delightful little thing. Relic is immensely friendly, sweet, outgoing and social. She loves every single person and dog she's met and has a calm polite demeanor in her interactions with people. With dogs, she's very playful and silly. She has high toy drive and loves to play, equally enjoying tugging, fetch, balls, discs, soft toys, any toys she can get her paws on. She's just as happy to entertain herself as she is to play with a person or dog. Relic also has great food drive and loves to learn. She picks up on behaviors quickly and is wicked smart. She enjoys training and is a pleasure to work with, very focused and cool headed. In general, she has a cool and calm demeanor about her around the house. She is a high drive young Border Collie and can certainly be rowdy but she's showing a lot of signs for great clarity and an easy dog to live with, with a natural off switch. Another thing to love about her is how affectionate she is! She has a lot of time for love and cuddles, she’s super sweet and not a big licker. Relic has already been BAER and CAER tested clear and is DNA panel clear by parentage. I’m also willing to have her hips x rayed before placing her, especially if she’ll be going on to do sports, to make sure she’s sound for the work but even if she herself tests perfectly, with so many half siblings failing hips I’m just not comfortable moving forward with this line. It’s very sad but I’m sure she’s going to make someone super happy. It seems as if we are reaching a milestone in her recovery process, as she’s been using her leg more! She’s becoming more stable on it and it feels like it’s finally gaining some noticeable muscle. The atrophy from the crate rest phase was intense and it’s been so slow to gain muscle mass but we’re finally seeing some changes for the better.
Unfortunately, her mental state still isn’t right where she had left off before the incident and I’m wondering if we will get back to it. As she’s grown up, she’s shown some temperament aspects that I don’t prefer to produce/pass on, which is why I was leaning towards washing her from the breeding program before the health things showed up. I am big on letting dogs mature before making final calls on them, unless it’s something that’s been very apparent from an early age and has remained consistent, and Daci does have so many traits I do like. Oh well! Some things aren’t meant to be. A couple of her siblings have what I view as unfavorable temperaments as well, mostly lack of drive and high arousal. While these are fairly “minor” issues and many don’t mind them, it’s not what I am striving to produce. Arousal does not equal drive! Many people can’t tell the difference between those two things but as a behaviorist, I’ve seen both and gotten to know both well. It doesn’t make Audacity or her siblings bad dogs whatsoever! They’re lovely dogs and only a couple of them have these “problems.” Mostly their owners are all super happy with them and I am so glad for that! But it’s certainly made me rethink the types of pairings I want to do and the type of Border Collies I want to be working with in my breeding program. After experiencing many full and half show lines through my own and also those I’ve done behavioral modification on, they aren’t my preferred representation of the breed. I prefer the genetics and temperament of working and some sporting lines and moving forward I will not be using show lines in my program. It’s cool to be in a breed with so much variety, as you can really choose what fits you best! Happy 4th birthday to Lapis! The first Whippet of the family, she really turned us on to this breed. She’s such a wonderful dog. She is the picture of stability in all ways and is the easiest dog to be around! She gladly works for anyone, never has met a stranger dog or human, has so much enthusiasm and energy for things like training, play and of course hunting but she’s also the biggest couch potato and is more than happy to sleep in all day. She loves puppies and is a great nanny dog. She is so sweet and light hearted. She gets excited to meet people and say hi then settles right down into her usual lovely home body ways. She’s great in public, unshakable by the environment, and only ever reactive to small and furry - as any Whippet should be! And boy when she’s on a hunt, she is a sight to behold. It’s like she turns into a different dog, she becomes like a machine with only one goal in mind. And even in the heat of those hunts, she’s never not came back to us when called or after the chase is done! Lapis is a fabulous dog and everyone could use one of her. I could use 10 more myself! Happy birthday little Whippet. 09/13/22 Lapis is always such a consistent energy in the house. You can always bank on her to be resting on the couch, running roughshod on the other dogs or hopping around them as they wrestle, rummaging in the pantry for dropped kibbles, or if you have food she's never far away. She always gets excited when people come over & she zooms around briefly, jumps up once or twice, then is pretty much over it. She likes to sniff your nose & mouth but rarely gives kisses. She loves to sleep under the covers at night with her head out on the pillow like a human. She loves to play & race around the house with a toy in her mouth, jumping to the couch from halfway across the living room. Lapis is my first Whippet & without her I probably never would have fallen for the breed so hard. Aside from Border Collies, I had a few breeds on my list to potentially own but there's a good chance I never would have branched out & actually got a non-BC. My partner Daniel is the one who took the leap! She was a very challenging puppy, she was hard to crate train, she would jump onto counters, she screamed whenever I would get another dog out to play or train with & she was always running Calypso down & making her cry. They were the closest in age for a long time! Calypso was about 10 months old when we got Lapis. They both spent a big portion of their adolescence growing up during vanlife which may sound hard but it was actually a great time & such a cool way to socialize our young dogs. It's very interesting to see the differences in drive within different breeds. Lapis is very high drive for things like hunting, food, & sometimes play but not for everything like my Border Collies are. She has great focus & she knows a lot but some things do have to be on her terms! Lucid is already proving to be quite different in a lot of ways but so very similar in others. I can't wait to have more Whippets & to see puppies out of Lapis! I couldn't even tell you how many inquiries for Border Collies I get & think to myself... you actually want a Whippet. 😂😅  |
AuthorThe human behind the dogs. Archives
August 2025
Categories |
RSS Feed