Six months ago I lost my wonderful 9 1/2 year old GSD boy to haemangiosarcoma. I miss him still so much and I know my young greyhound misses having a big pal to play chase with - our vallhunds just don't have the leg length required! When we decided to buy a GSD we did all the right things ie. found a breeder who tested hips and for haemophillia and was signed up to the gsd breeders charter. I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that the breeder was/is truly conscientious. My dogs' temperament was fantastic, the vet who put him to sleep described him as "a gentleman". His hips and elbows gave him no problems throughout his life BUT over the years we spent a lot of time at the vets, mostly due to year round allergic skin disease and also furunculosis. Because of this I always said I would never have another GSD ( maybe I'm spoiled but our vallhunds and greyhounds over the years have been very robust), however I somehow feel life is somehow incomplete without a Shepherd. Please can any GSD owners/breeders here please share their experiences with regard to their dogs health in order to help me get a sense of perspective. I'd be enormously grateful.
from the age of about 18 (now 33) I have always had shepherds. As regards to their health, Merlin my first never had any health problems the odd upset tummy but nothing else. he went to sleep one night curled up and just never woke he had just turned 9. The vet did say this wasn't uncommon, he never suffered and had not been previously ill. Then I got Zak who is still with us, he has never been ill although he does have hip dysplacia, due to breeding (I didn't check the breeder out). I am just waiting for my new pup GSD who I have thoroughly checked her breeding . My mum has 2 she[herds Samson who suffers from allergies but not breed specific and Finty who is also healthy. IMO I would not have any other breed (other than a northern Inuit ) as they are fab dogs. The characters and temperament are brilliant. May be you were just unlucky with your last shepherd with his illness, but 9 1/2 is a good age still. Hope that helps, mel x
Well we have a shepherd and previously a shepherd cross. Unfortunately the shepherd cross had hip problems from quite a young age but she was a rescue so not sure of the history there. Kahn generally has been ok (touch wood), he does have sensitive stomach which caused a nasty skin allergy, but our vet suggested trying some different food, and since then we have had no problems with his skin. He is only 3 but so far, he seems a good'un, and hopefully he will stay that way. I agree with mel, maybe you were unlucky, and I certainly wouldn't give up on this lovely breed yet. If you get another that has skin allergy, try changing his food to a hypoallergenic one, as this has worked for us, and saves a fortune on vet fees and baths Take care xx
My previous dog Khan was pts when he was 8 and in those 8 years I never had to visit the vet except for boosters. In the last few weeks of his life he developed skin problems due to thyroid and in the end it was his heart that was giving out, but as I have said up until the last 8 weeks of his life he was really healthy with no problems. Zak the gsd I have now is 11 months old he did have an allergy to something and had itchy skin, so we changed his food to James Wellbeloved for sensitive skin and we have no problems now. When we went to collect Zak we saw his grandfather who was 12 and he was running and jumping like a 2 year old and looked very healthy even at that age. I just love the gsd's such loyal dogs. I suppose no matter what breed you get you may be lucky and they go through life with little problems and then you may get one with lots of problems it really is hard to tell.
thanks everyone for your replies so far. It's true I guess that I've been trying to figure out whether or not I was just unlucky with regard to health with my boy. His skin allergy was partly related to food -it did improve somewhat with a hypoallergenic diet- but skin tests also showed allergies to the inevitable house dust mites and storage mites. Getting rid of carpets and having laminate floors helped as did wipe down waterproof beds where the dreaded mites couldn't live, but still he itched,and at times was quite depressed.He also developed exocrine pancreatic insufficiency in his last couple of years. I'm glad you all seem to have had more positive experiences- it would be nice to think another lovely shepherd could be out there for us. As you all say, they are lovely dogs. So incredibly loyal,intelligent and intuitive. They really know how to leave a massive hole when they leave.
they certainly are a wonderful breed and yes there are several huge holes in my heart but I have millions have very happy memmories of all my shpherds, living and passed away. they are amazingly intelligent and I just love them I think once a GSD lover always a GSD lover!!!
I have also lost a GSD at nine years old to haemangiosarcoma so I know what you have been through, after the operation failed to save our girl and she died in a heartbreaking way. The vet failed to tell us how low the success rate is for this operation so we paid £1000 thinking we would have our girl for another few years, but she died the day after the op. We have had 4 GSDs. 2 were rescues who had been starved and neglected cruelly and they only lived for a year and a 18 months after we took them on at around 7 years old. I think in both cases the way they had been neglected and starved had taken its toll and I think if they had been fed and looked after through their lives they would have lived longer. One died of heart failure and the other became paralysed and had to be pts. Our other 2 rescues we got at 6 months and 18 months old, one of whom had bad hips but managed ok and didn't need treatment, and the other was the one who died from haemangiosarcoma. Do I regret it? Never. We lost them young, but they were all loyal, loving dogs and the good times made losing them early worth it. With any animal or human we never know what is around the corner and even good breeding can't prevent everything. GSDs are prone to lumps, cancers etc, but so are a lot of other large breeds and you can never tell. I would rather have had our time with our GSDs, as we gave them a good life and they loved us. I'm sure your boy loved you dearly and that he appreciated his time with you, and I'm sure you would never have been without him, even though you lost him in such a sad way.
I have also lost one GSD to Heamangiocarsonoma at the age of 9, but apart from that he never had a days illness in his life. I have owned the breed for 26yrs having at least 2 or 3 at once. 1 had chronic liver disease but that was vaccine related, and even though he was given 12-18mths to live when he was 4 he wasnt pts untill 9. I had another pts sleep at 10 due to having DM. Another had heridtary cataracts and also had OCD of the shoulder and a non cancerous bone tumor. The highest hip score as been a total of 6, I have only ever had 1 with ED with a score of 3 (severe) but his hips are 0:0 and the ED does not stop him having an active life. 1 of my current ones as Atopic Dermatitis and is allergic to meat protiens, this is an auto-immune condition and he is on immune suppressants. His pedigree looks absolutely brilliant untill you go back to his 7th and 8th generations where he is inbred on Palme having the Arminius 'Q' litter bred to dogs from the Wildstieger Land 'U' litter. Before you decide on purchasing another apart from parents, grandparents scores also look at what the sire and dams littermates and progeny have scored. Also make sure you have a look at least to 8th generation to make sure there are no bottle necks.
melsgems, you are so right, once a gsd lover always a gsd lover. This is of course my dilemma because despite Walters' health problems I would not have missed a single day with him- he was so rewarding and was one of those shepherds that changed the perception some people had of gsd's. By the way, the photos of your new pup on another thread are lovely- it's definitely not advisable for me to spend too much time looking at them,they'll have me way too broody! Heidi, I'm so sorry that your vet was less than honest with regards to operating for haemangiosarcoma. It's bad enough dealing with the loss of a much loved dog without also having to deal with the knowledge that you may have inadvertantly prolonged suffering. It really wasn't your fault (as I'm sure you're aware). As you said at the end of your post, you gave her a good life and she loved you. Wildmoor, thanks for your advice re. checking pedigrees further back ( I wouldn't have thought to have looked as far back as 8 generations), and to check out parents littermates and their progeny also. Certainly, hip and elbow scores and haemophillia status for males is officially recorded so can be readily checked out,but out of interest are there now similar schemes for other conditions?Or does one still have to rely on the honesty of and knowledge made available to the breeder from their puppy buyers (assuming they stay in touch)? For instance I've read that there are a number of problems prevalent within the breed that MAY have an autoimmune basis. I understand that EPI is now thought to be one such condition. Given that my dog suffered from this and (like yours) atopic dermatitis it doesn't seem that unlikely. And both conditions are strongly believed to have an hereditary basis. It certainly is a minefield out there! Cheers everyone for your thoughtful replies.
well I hope we have helped, and good luck when you decide it is time to look for another GSD puppy! Take care
Hi Tova, Unfortunately there are not any databases in the UK that are open to public viewing on specific autoimmune conditions but the majority of these dogs go back to the same lineage. For Eplepsy lines in English dogs go back to Quadrille of Evely http://www.gsdhelpline.com/epilepsy3.htm In German lines for Autoimmune conditions go back to 7/8 gen and make no breeding of Arminius 'Q' litter progeny to Wildstieger Land 'U' litter progeny. Make sure Palme is way back beyond 8th gen if possible.
