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Greetings from Redondo Beach!

3K views 36 replies 15 participants last post by  eegreen 
#1 ·
Hi All,

Happy to meet everyone, I'm excited to get involved in the forums and contribute as best I can. I'm rather sorry to have to meet under somber circumstances.

We lost our beautiful 8 year old Kady girl on Sunday last week. She passed away suddenly and unexpectedly napping midday, next to me. She went very quickly and painlessly, (presumably from a congenital condition leading to sudden/unpredictable heart failure). She was very happy and healthy up until the very last second, for which I am extremely grateful. She has been my best friend for the last 8 years and we almost never spent a day apart, and she will be missed very much.

We've had dobermans in my family going back before I was born. In the last 10 years we've had 4 active dobies in my immediate family and they were all the best of friends, from a couple generations of the same line. They were all stunning, driven, and active dogs. There was my Kady girl, her brother, her uncle, and her auntie. Only her auntie remains at this point, with the exception of a new pup (7months) who's my uncle's new boy. He's almost done with his ears, and I'm happy he got to meet and play with Kady for a few months before she passed last week.

I happened to get a new camera a couple months ago, so I am really grateful to have had my favorite four-legged model around while I did, so I could get all kinds of great pics even up until (what I never would have guessed would be) our very last day together. She was always so tolerant and patient of my sticking a huge camera in her face 0:)

One of these days sooner rather than later we will be ready to honor Kady's memory by sharing our love with a new pup. In the meantime, here are some of my favorite pics of the late Arkady Darell:

Here's Kady at around 4 months, getting close to finishing her ears:


Here are a couple from the last few months:







And here's one last photo of the late dynamic trio - Kady, her uncle, and her brother - all 3 passed in the last year or so, but theyr're never forgotten and always loved:




Ok ok last one I promise - this is the first photo of mine I've ever tried to have printed. It'll arrive on Monday morning and I'm hoping it turns out great:
 
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#2 ·
Welcome to DT. I'm sorry for your loss. Unfortunately it sounds like she died of sudden death dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). It plagues our breed and only a small percentage of breeders really care about the health of our breed and are trying to learn more about how it is passed from generation to generation/eliminate if from our breed.

When the time is right and you feel like welcoming another doberman in your life we would love to help you find a reputable breeder who does extensive health testing, including the most important testing for cardiac health!
 
#4 ·
What a beautiful lady she was! So sorry to hear of your loss. Sharing it here is a thoughtful way to honor Kady. We all understand your grief. So many here have lost a beloved Doberman to DCM sudden death.

You might want to join the Facebook group “Doberman Pinscher Breeder Listings”. It is strictly regulated to allow only announcements from breeders who do the gamut of testing and titling dam/sire that is the hallmark of a reputable breeder. Lots of great threads on here about choosing a reputable breeder.
 
#8 ·
Thanks so much, she was definitely my partner through my entire (questionably) adult life. We learned a lot from one another. I'm glad to have known her and I'm happy to carry her memory and all the things we experienced together with me forever. <3

Welcome to DT. I'm sorry for your loss. Unfortunately it sounds like she died of sudden death dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). It plagues our breed and only a small percentage of breeders really care about the health of our breed and are trying to learn more about how it is passed from generation to generation/eliminate if from our breed.

When the time is right and you feel like welcoming another doberman in your life we would love to help you find a reputable breeder who does extensive health testing, including the most important testing for cardiac health!
I really appreciate that. I've learned a little bit about this condition and sadly I'm not a stranger to it either. Sorry to say that we lost Kady's brother the same way almost exactly 6 months ago, so I had a sneaking suspicion that we were living on borrowed time with her. As rough as that is to say, I am grateful that I got to spend our last 6 months appreciating every last moment we had together. I hoped of course that it wouldn't affect her, but the possibility was very real since we lost her brother. She and her brother and her uncle were all from the same line, so I think we were just unlucky with the siblings, since auntie and uncle were not affected. Their lines were well documented and they were from a great breeder, but sadly it seems that can't always give us perfect security. That said, if there are lines that people are "relatively sure" that DCM symptoms aren't present, that would be something I would have a big interest in checking out.

Is DCM something where people can have relative security against, in any particular breed line? I can do my due diligence here too, just interested to hear what others might have to say on the topic. Thanks so much for your kind words :)

Very sorry to read this post on your Dobie

Btw , welcome from Indiana :grin2:

Like Greenie said , look forward to welcoming your new pup on hear .

Your pictures are great , the last one ? Outstanding shoot !
Thanks for the welcome and for your compliments on the shots!

The last photo was using 2 strobes with color gels (orange and blue) and high-speed-sync to my Sony a7iii via Godox. I was lucky to grab this one out of a series of 6 or 7 where I got her to put up with flashing lights in near darkness and my camera in her face. I'm soooo happy I got it. I was shooting some other artsy stuff with friends and we just grabbed these of her in the last 5 minutes of our hours-long shoot. Gosh I'm happy I did. I always thought "I'll have plenty of time to recreate this down the road and get an even better one." Sadly that's not always the case. But it's a good reminder to enjoy and appreciate the time we have with all our loved ones, dobies or humans alike.

I'm really excited to see how this 10x20 print turns out. I think i could have printed it as big as 20x40 with good photo quality, thanks to the equipment used. I'll be sure to report back and let everyone know how it looks when it arrives (hopefully tomorrow) :)

What a beautiful lady she was! So sorry to hear of your loss. Sharing it here is a thoughtful way to honor Kady. We all understand your grief. So many here have lost a beloved Doberman to DCM sudden death.

You might want to join the Facebook group “Doberman Pinscher Breeder Listings”. It is strictly regulated to allow only announcements from breeders who do the gamut of testing and titling dam/sire that is the hallmark of a reputable breeder. Lots of great threads on here about choosing a reputable breeder.
She really was a beauty queen :). So many beauties shared on these forums. I thank you much for the understanding and commiseration, it means a lot.

Thanks too for the suggestion on the fb group. I'll check it out. For what it's worth, she and her brother (and uncle and auntie) did come from a reputable breeder, which makes it all extra tough. I'm considering all options though for my next pack member. I've even got my passport ready just in case we need to make a travel adventure :) This will be a great resource though, it's awfully tough to find good information all in one place. Thanks again!

I'm so sorry. Run free, Kady girl.
I might not be big on the idea of heaven or hell, but I know with 100% certainty that doggie heaven exists and all our pups live there happily ever after <3

Well AD. First... Welcome from the Pacific NW!

I am very sorry about the loss of your pretty girl. We had a boy pass under a similar situation. We knew he had DCM and he survived his first episode of Ventricular Tachycardia. We knew that it would kill him someday. And it finally did.

Thanks for the pictures...

John
Portland OR
Hey John thanks very much for the kind words and I'm sorry that any of us have had to go through this with our beloved pups. Thanks also for the suggestion to come over here and post our intro! Your thoughts and thanks are much appreciated. I am lucky to have a billion pictures including some really high-quality shots of the last couple years since I started getting more seriously into photography. I hope to take and share many more in the future! <3
 
#9 ·
Really sad to hear of your losses.
Yep...my first Doberman Mafia passed under the oak tree 5 years ago....was here ...then gone.
Yeah...tough........still tough......but then after things settled and I swore dedication to this breed ....we picked another pup......his name is Hoss and is 3.5 years now.
So.......really love your photos.....and would like to welcome you to our forum .....from Florida !!!
Looking forward to more communications with you soon.
 
#10 ·
Hi Sam.

Thanks for your response.

There are quite a few folks here who are currently Dobe-less. Stick around. This is a wonderful and friendly community.

Come visit us on the "Chicken Thread" officially known as The Girls Outside.

It's just for fun. A small close knit group who simply gets a little crazy sometimes. We chat about anything just for the heck of it.

In less than 2 1/2 years, we just passed 20,000 posts!

Hey! I have a chicken named after me....

John AKA STJ! (Stop That Johnny!) Or sometimes BJ (Bad John) LOL
 
#12 · (Edited)
Welcome from Canada. I'm so sorry to hear about the loss of your beautiful girl. They really take a big piece of our heart when they go.

Im still grieving the loss of my old gal although I've got a new young boy who is keeping me busy and helping heal my heart. You can see them in my signature.
 
#19 ·
A.J . ! Where have you been ??? Get back on here and give up a update , was it Mina that was having some problems ? How everybody your way is doing fine !



Ken


Hi Ken! Everyone is doing great! We have been busy renovating the house. Just finished the landscaping so the dogs are really excited. Yes, Mina got really sick from ecoli and then aspiration pneumonia. It was so scary and she was in the hospital April 2018 but happy to report she is doing great and is still the boss of Moose! We think moose suffers from battered man syndrome. She takes his ball, takes his spot next to us, takes his bone but yet he always goes back to her for more abuse. Lol . I just love these dobermans and cannot imagine my life without this breed in it. Hope y’all are doing well and miss coming on here!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
#15 · (Edited)
Welcome from Ontario, Canada...ArkadyDarell.
- your Love for the Doberman, is clearly obvious
- so sorry for your recent Losses
- the photos, are gorgeous

We lost our former Amy and sharing stories & pics. on DT ...did really comfort me.
- its never easy
- here is her old/senior video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgnM067oZKc
- while it takes a long time usually, tears will one day...turn into lucky smiles
- the good heart dog, just own their masters
 
#17 ·
Oh man that poem, someone's cutting onions in here. That got me. In a good way though <3

Thank you for your kind words. Your sweet girl Amy looked to be a wonderful dog and everything a human could hope for in a dobe :)


Welcome to DobermanTalk from another Portland, Oregon resident. I finally escaped SoCal after years down there and came home to the Pacific Northwest after 30 years in and around the beach area (Marina Del Rey, Venice, Santa Mondica and Westchester) I'd had enough of SoCal.

Sorry to hear about the loss of your girl--I've had Dobes since 1959 and got a very early lesson in cardio and the Doberman because I was lucky enough to have regular vets who knew about it far in advance of most vets and because a friend (another vet--who stopped by my parents on his way home from a show to see what they'd heard from me--my dog who was living out his old age where he'd grown up evidently coughed and the vet asked how long he'd been doing that--they didn't know--he went out to his van and got his stethoscope and told them to got talk to his vet--that he had CHF. That was in 1988 and the dog lasted another 5 months or so on Lasix--and then he was euthanized. At that time practically the only drug around for DCM/CHF was Lasix and there was almost nothing for treating any of the electrical problems that often lead to sudden death--today cardio diagnosis and treatment has come a long long way.

Presently I'm probably on my last Doberman and he's a very old lovely fawn dog who is 13 years and 7 months old. All of my dogs start having echo's and holters done when they are 2 for a baseline. And are rechecked yearly until they are 6 or 7 and then they are cardio checked twice a year--early diagnosis and early treatment of cardio is very effective in giving most Dobes a reasonable life span.

dobebug
Thanks for the followup information on this, I really appreciate you sharing your experience with the condition. We lost Kady's littermate brother earlier this year (in february) the same way, so we had an inkling we might be living on borrowed time. He was 7.5 and she made it to just past her 8th birthday. I'm glad we got to enjoy every single last second of her life and appreciate it to the fullest. I believe I read on another post somewhere that you mentioned getting a Holter of your own - I'd consider this too if only to simplify the process of staying regular on monitoring. Are the results from the Holter something you can interpret yourself, or do those need to be run by a vet for interpretation?

Interestingly, I suffered a heart condition as a kid that involved arrhythmia, and I wore a Holter several times before they eventually performed a radio-catheter ablation on me to correct the issue. I wish DCM was something we could fix in that fashion, too. I'd get that done in a heartbeat ;) for any future afflicted dogs. In the meantime I've read some very interesting stuff this year on DCM diagnosis and testing, especially involving the titin mutation they're interested in as a marker for DCM. This article has probably already made its rounds around these forums, but I found it pretty neat: https://news.ncsu.edu/2019/02/doberman-heart/
 
#16 ·
Welcome to DobermanTalk from another Portland, Oregon resident. I finally escaped SoCal after years down there and came home to the Pacific Northwest after 30 years in and around the beach area (Marina Del Rey, Venice, Santa Mondica and Westchester) I'd had enough of SoCal.

Sorry to hear about the loss of your girl--I've had Dobes since 1959 and got a very early lesson in cardio and the Doberman because I was lucky enough to have regular vets who knew about it far in advance of most vets and because a friend (another vet--who stopped by my parents on his way home from a show to see what they'd heard from me--my dog who was living out his old age where he'd grown up evidently coughed and the vet asked how long he'd been doing that--they didn't know--he went out to his van and got his stethoscope and told them to got talk to his vet--that he had CHF. That was in 1988 and the dog lasted another 5 months or so on Lasix--and then he was euthanized. At that time practically the only drug around for DCM/CHF was Lasix and there was almost nothing for treating any of the electrical problems that often lead to sudden death--today cardio diagnosis and treatment has come a long long way.

Presently I'm probably on my last Doberman and he's a very old lovely fawn dog who is 13 years and 7 months old. All of my dogs start having echo's and holters done when they are 2 for a baseline. And are rechecked yearly until they are 6 or 7 and then they are cardio checked twice a year--early diagnosis and early treatment of cardio is very effective in giving most Dobes a reasonable life span.

dobebug
 
#18 · (Edited)
Oh yeah, one more thing!

I'm happy to report that my 12x24" print of Kady arrived from adoramapix today. They did a great job.

Until I get around to finding a good place to hang it, here's how it turned out:


With her collars:


Detail of the print:



For the record her ears show up just fine in the print in person - really hard to get a good pic of a print of a pic :)

.
 
#21 ·
It's a print on canvas, stretched over a wooden frame! I think the texture you see is the paint/ink on the canvas surface. It actually has quite a bit more sheen to it than I expected.

If you want to check it out, you can see exactly how I did it here. Basically you can upload whatever picture you want and it will help you decide how big you can print it and what your options are for print. I take all kinds of photos in mostly hobbyist capacity, so I plan on using it this year for Christmas gifts, etc. This was my first time printing any photo of mine, and I figured it was as good a test as any.

More pixels don't necessarily mean better camera, but more pixels almost always mean bigger possible prints. There is an indicator when you upload a pic - it will tell you the best size to print for optimum quality, or the biggest possible for print. It's pretty neat. The latest iPhone cameras are 12MP which is actually quite large. You can print really big pics with that many pixels! My new Sony a7iii mirrorless camera with a full frame sensor is still "only" double that at 24MP.

One of these I'll get around to printing more of my favorites and putting them up around the house. Maybe a solid wall section for beloved dogs present and past :)

For reference, the picture of Kady I posted first (of her as a pup) was taken with my iPhone approximately 8 years ago (what iPhone was even out then??), and it's still pretty darned sharp!

OK, photo nerd rant over :)


Pre-Edit: the iPhone out in 2009 was the iPhone 3GS, with a whopping 3MP camera. Still, HD resolution on a TV is only 2MP, so lots of possibilities there!
 
#23 ·
Via M&D: "Some knowledgeable owners do the same in order to start early treatment if a problem is detected.

Yup^^^

So... Let's talk about DCM. I have never seen totally reliable stats, but the general consensus is the 50%-60% of Dobermans will be affected by Dilated Cardio Myopathy at some point.

We had a boy who went down with SDS (Sudden Death Syndrome) due to Ventricular Tachycardia due to DCM at almost 6yo. He survived (barely) due to a quick diagnosis and triage. Fortunately, with meds, he lived a good life to an average age.

I said: "Never again".

Our youngest had a full cardio workup by a well respected canine cardiologist, including a 24 hour Holter, an Echocardiogram, a full blood panel and a complete physical at 3.

He passed with flying colors.

The cardio vet said that I should bring him back a 5yo. It would be a better indicator of potential heart problems.

He will revisit them in a couple of months.

McCoy has very good canine health insurance and should a problem be detected early on, the chance of him living a normal life is pretty good. Although, it is certainly not a given.

Dogs with heart disease are pretty much treated just like humans. No guarantee, but an early diagnosis and treatment seriously increases the chance of longevity. It can be expensive.

We were lucky with our other boy. With Many Dobe owners, their first experience with DCM/SDS/V-Tach ends in a dead dog. Quickly.

So... I am committed to regular testing and maintaining a quality insurance policy on my baby.

JMO
John
Portland OR
 
#25 ·
Great history together !
Nice story to hear at the beginning of my work day........
Universe is working in your favor...........you will meet your next love real soon........looking forward to it!
Check out the Axel thread........Louise just got her new pup recently.......they live in the UK.................she has one PIC of Axel jumping up on the dinner table...........so funny............and one of him trying to catch an irritating fly...........great thread.......we all watched her pick out the perfect pup........then as we all sat on the edge of out seats awaiting delivery.........oh you will just have to read the Axel's thread ..........good heart medicine !! :grin2:
 
#33 ·
I will absolutely check out that thread! Thanks for your kind words. I didn't intend to write a biography but hey, guess that's kind of what it turned into :nerd:

AD - I apologize for jumping of topic with Alison j. , Had not heard from her in a long time and was wondering about her girl .

Now —— Where to start ? :grin2:

Ok , the print you had made , outstanding ! Love it ! I need to have some of them done for our crew and have a perfect wall to hang them on

Second — Very cool Jeep !

Third - Your guns could use some beefing up ! Looks like you need to head to Indiana for some some farm work , Think We will start you out baling hay first off the advance you to shoveling corn ! That will be a good start :wink2:>:)>:)>:)

Fourth — Glad you joined on here , wish it would have been under better circumstances, hope you stick around with your stories from the Left side coast :grin2:

Doc
Haha this totally made me laugh! I won't even pretend that I think I'd survive Indiana farm work. There were plenty of hard labor days for me in TX when I was younger. Nowadays I have something of a bad back. Just the thought of bailing hay hurts my L4-5 disc :grin2: The most lifting with my back that I do is picking up a dober-butt into the Jeep, haha.


Oh my... Another Jeeper!

I have had Jeeps forever. The current one is a 2013 JKUR10A. (A 2013 JK 4 door Rubicon 10th Anniversary LOL). It's the rig my wife drives, so with minor exceptions is pretty much stock with only 30,000 mies. It still does quite well off road. Obviously, no bouldering or serious rock crawling, but pretty much every thing else

McCoy loves riding in it. He's really good about it. Even rolling naked he stays in unless I call him out. He never barks when in the Jeep or my trucks. Still, it's pretty funny. I will park in a lot, like a grocery store and when I return, nobody has parked within 3 spaces of me. LOL

BTW. Tennis balls: Dobermans are prone to bowel obstructions which are life threatening. I rushed our senior to his vets several years ago because he seemed so sick (it happened very quickly). They immediately determined he was obstructed and had him on the operating table within minutes.

The culprit? Half of a tennis ball lodged midway through his intestines. He recovered quickly, but the vet said had I not brought him in when I did, he would have died. His intestines were close to bursting in which case, he would have gotten peritonitis from which he would not have survived. He ended up with a long incision from his sternum all the way down to his lower belly. Because it was stapled, my son referred to him as "Frankenpuppy"

The weird thing was that although he chased tennis balls, he was never allowed to chew them, because they are abrasive and very hard on teeth.

John
Portland OR

Edit to say... The Jeep, McCoy and I are spending 2 weeks in August at our cabin in Montana, just outside of Yellowstone Park. It is on a beautiful lake at 6800 feet. He loves it there. However, unlike his senior brother, I've never been able to teach him to swim. He likes the water, he just will not swim!
+1 for Jeeps! The stock Jeeps are extremely capable vehicles. On the other side of that, 9/10 of the modifications I see on the road in LA are impractical and on a vehicle that's never seen a dirt road in it's life! Kady was very good about guarding the naked Jeep too. I think because we spent so much time on the road together, she was always more comfortable curling up on the back seat or watching passers-by than she would have been left at home. The shade/cage was a godsend. Best mod I have on the jeep. Keeps the wind down and the dog fully enclosed and the sun off my bald head :2smile:. It was definitely her second home. It was a little tough in the more populated areas because she did like to defend her Jeep though. I typically kept the doors on if I was gonna let her out of my sight! I trusted her, I didn't so much trust other people not to bother her. 0:)

Your story together with Kady is lovely, and she certainly had a wonderful life with you. There is no sense in beating yourself up for not knowing what you didn't know. That said, a responsible breeder would have enlightened you. I'm not the only breeder who puts together information packets for their owners giving materials on the various health issues in our breed, and many of us have private newsgroups or pages or platforms for our owners to spread any new info that comes along. I encourage my owners to test (and pass on the results to me so that I have the information to help me form future breeding decisions and also so that we can pass the info on to the owners of the relatives because what they find out may affect the siblings, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, etc.) I have my own Holter, and I gladly Holter any of my puppies in my area, and I ship it off to wherever it is needed if the owner wants (just got it back from New Brunswick). A couple of times you mentioned that your dogs were from "great lines" and a "reputable breeder" and maybe that's so but you haven't mentioned any breeder support or breeder education being passed your way. So I'm only mentioning this for future possible purchases. Reputable isn't the same as responsible. I just feel strongly that your breeder should have made you aware. I don't think you're to blame for not knowing, but they sure are for not talking to you about it.
Thanks very much for the kind words. I agree with you completely that a more responsible breeder could have provided more information and created/maintained a better support network. In the future that is something that I'll value a lot more than I did in my ignorance. I think a part of that responsibility falls on me too - now that I'm more aware - I can be more proactive about that in the future. I think I was ever-so-slightly misquoted, but I wholeheartedly agree with your points. I understand (now) that well-documented lines do not equal responsible breeder, and that reputable and responsible are not one in the same. I think that language is important so I'm glad you addressed the phrasing I used.

I really do appreciate the clarification on terms and the Holter info. The kind of involvement in the community and dedication to the breed that you and other responsible breeders demonstrate is beyond admirable! I am going to continue doing my best to be as informed as possible and do my part to better the breed.

At the time we bought the Holter (and it was purchased from Alba Medical) I had three Dobes and my friend had four Dobes and one of hers had a whole array of stuff that showed up best on a Holter and that dog was getting holtered about every two months so when a first generation Holter monitor came up for sale (a refurbished one) at around $1,000 + another couple of hundred in add ons we bought it) You should be able to find Alba on Google and they are easy folk to deal with.

The Holter gives you the most information on electrical function--and most (but not all) sudden death cases show up on Holter results. But realistically you want information via both an echo--an ultra sound of the living working heart plus a Holter done within a couple of months of the echo. And it is the information these two tests give over time that is most useful because you can see beginning failure in function over a series of tests.

Generally along with the software to go with a digital Holter monitor you get the additional software to download the information collected in 24 hours from the digital unit and then if you aren't a total Luddite (like me) your computer will transport it to Alba. They will send you a report--and if you see enough of them you can pretty well see the results and eventually you learn what they mean. But I do Holters--and the Mt Hood Doberman Pinscher Club (Oregon Chapter Club) has two cardio clinics a year and requires that dogs signed up for the clinics must also have a Holter done within two months of the echo.(the club owns Holter equipment and will rent it out for very moderate fees and do the information transmitting to Alba and the vet doing the echo will read it and explain it to you.)

I don't know which club is doing this sort of thing around your area--the two closest to you are Los Angeles DPC, Inc and San Fernando Valley DPC--check Google for websites. And Mt Hood was one of the early clubs to offer clinics (because this kind of testing is expensive) to get the price down to something reasonable--there are other clubs who also do things like these clinics

***

I don't think there is a comparable treatment for dogs--some stuff in dog medicine translates directly from human to dog and vice versa but not all of it. And they really frown on experimentation on people--a lot of the stuff looking for solutions in humans is done on pigs--the pig heart and cardiac system is evidently fairly similar.

I work for a vet clinic and read all the vet journals as they come in and I believe I've read some about the titin mutation--but in humans--and there is a human variety of DCM which is almost identical to the canine one but this is such a complex problems that (just as a for instance, they have isolated somewhere around 23 or 24 genetic components that may or probably are part of the problem) while maybe they have three possible genetic components for dog DCM.

Somewhere else you asked about ProBNP--forgive me if I don't have that quite right--I have it done on my dogs when I do their annual blood panel--as an add on it's cheap--as a stand alone it's about three times as much. But there are definitely more than one school of thought when it comes to this test and how reliable it is in canines.

I really started this to pass the word along that some days I obviously can't type and when I said that on my first dog who was diagnosed with CHF and treated with Lasix and ultimately euthanized about 5 months after the diagnosis in 1988--that was a big FAT DUH!. That date should have be 1968 when he was 9 years old.

Mostly just more information on DCM in Dobermans and tests available and most economical way of having them done.

dobebug
This is fascinating stuff. There's so much to learn, but of course I think it's worth it. I am glad to know that the information over time is what's most valuable. I am an engineer by trade and if there's one thing I've learned it's that two dots makes a line! A few more dots and we've got a trend! I'm all for more information and analysis. I also like gadgets with bells and whistles, so it'll be engaging to keep learning and apply what I've learned with my next dog.

I'm also very grateful for the speed at which the veterinary community (and medical community) are learning about these conditions nowadays. I'm sure we all cross our fingers that there will be miracle cures out someday, but in the meantime there are a lot of very dedicated and passionate people putting in some serious hard work. That's the human race at its best in my opinion!


You had an honest to gawd water dog--I loved all the pictures but the one of Kady swimming reminded me of my one and only real water Doberman--a red male (my only red dog now that I think of it--I was in Sacramento when I had him and he grew up in the swimming pools and rivers around there. He swam like a fish and on summer some college kids taught him how to balance on a surf board--they did it in a pool in an apartment complex in Stockton and when they were playing with him in the pool (which, in theory he wasn't allowed to be in at all) it definitely raised eyebrows when people saw a big red dog on a surfboard.

Wonderful pictures.

Don't feel bad that you didn't know, what you didn't know. I learned a lot of what I know about medical issue with the Doberman because I hung out at dog shows and with veterinarians--and just plain luck.

And sudden death is a hard one to predict. One of my more recent dogs went that way (for the record I've had a lot of dogs between 1959 and today and while most of them had DCM only two of them actually died from cardio directly) The very first dog who was euthanized so he wouldn't drown because his lungs were filling with liquid because of DCM caused CHF. The dog I lost just a few years ago went via sudden death. He was a couple of months shy of 10 years. And we'd watched his Holter results become slowly more iffy--more VPC's--he was still running agility when the electrical issues really became noticible--I asked the cardiologist if I should stop running him in aglity. And I thought how much that dog would hate being a sit a home dog, doing nothing--the dog who loved agility--the cardiologist looked at me and pointed out that I knew the pospects for a dog like mine. Sudden death can occur no matter what you do or don't do--he was on appropriate medication for DCM itself but the electrical irregularities were as likely to kill him in his sleep, or while he was trotting around the back yard or riding in the truck as in an agility ring. So he went on going to agility trials with my friend who ran all my agility dogs--she came back from a trial one Saturday late morning and my dog came in to see what I was cutting up (tomatoes--he got a piece) and I let him out to get a drink and check the yard. After awhile my friend let him back in and I heard him sit behind me--that got my attention--that was not a dog who ever wasted time sitting. I grabbed his leash and hollered at my friend to call the clinic--the dogs sides were heaving--you could see the heart beat. I got him in the truck --he was standing in the back (inside the canopy) and about half way to the clinic (about 15 minutes away) he dropped like he'd been shot. I didn't even stop--I knew my dog was gone--five minutes later we were at the clinic--his vet was there with a stethoscope--she listened and shook her head.

I miss him to this day--it still makes me cry to tell the story but I wouldn't have traded his joy in the agility ring to keep him longer. He'd never have made a good patient he needed to go as he'd lived--balls out and having a great time doing something he wanted to do.

I'm not long on the concept of heaven and hell either--I figure my dog went where the good dogs go--where your Kady went--to feel well, run fast and be happy.

dobebug

There are just some things you can't predict no matter what you know--so I settle for doing the best I can and keeping up on medical progress in the vet field.
Thanks so much for sharing your experiences. Not only do they help me and others appreciate that we are not alone in this stuff, but that there are some things that remain out of our control. I think it's a super valuable message. Your agility boy sounds like he was happy and fulfilled. That's one gift we get to give back for all the love they bring into our lives!


Chasing Butterflies!

Here is a song for my new friend Sam................this reminds me of your story !!!
Thinking of you and your girl today!!
This is adorable! Thanks so much LadyDi! I love it <3
 
#26 ·
AD - I apologize for jumping of topic with Alison j. , Had not heard from her in a long time and was wondering about her girl .

Now —— Where to start ? :grin2:

Ok , the print you had made , outstanding ! Love it ! I need to have some of them done for our crew and have a perfect wall to hang them on

Second — Very cool Jeep !

Third - Your guns could use some beefing up ! Looks like you need to head to Indiana for some some farm work , Think We will start you out baling hay first off the advance you to shoveling corn ! That will be a good start :wink2:>:)>:)>:)

Fourth — Glad you joined on here , wish it would have been under better circumstances, hope you stick around with your stories from the Left side coast :grin2:

Doc
 
#27 · (Edited)
Oh my... Another Jeeper!

I have had Jeeps forever. The current one is a 2013 JKUR10A. (A 2013 JK 4 door Rubicon 10th Anniversary LOL). It's the rig my wife drives, so with minor exceptions is pretty much stock with only 30,000 mies. It still does quite well off road. Obviously, no bouldering or serious rock crawling, but pretty much every thing else

McCoy loves riding in it. He's really good about it. Even rolling naked he stays in unless I call him out. He never barks when in the Jeep or my trucks. Still, it's pretty funny. I will park in a lot, like a grocery store and when I return, nobody has parked within 3 spaces of me. LOL

BTW. Tennis balls: Dobermans are prone to bowel obstructions which are life threatening. I rushed our senior to his vets several years ago because he seemed so sick (it happened very quickly). They immediately determined he was obstructed and had him on the operating table within minutes.

The culprit? Half of a tennis ball lodged midway through his intestines. He recovered quickly, but the vet said had I not brought him in when I did, he would have died. His intestines were close to bursting in which case, he would have gotten peritonitis from which he would not have survived. He ended up with a long incision from his sternum all the way down to his lower belly. Because it was stapled, my son referred to him as "Frankenpuppy"

The weird thing was that although he chased tennis balls, he was never allowed to chew them, because they are abrasive and very hard on teeth.

John
Portland OR

Edit to say... The Jeep, McCoy and I are spending 2 weeks in August at our cabin in Montana, just outside of Yellowstone Park. It is on a beautiful lake at 6800 feet. He loves it there. However, unlike his senior brother, I've never been able to teach him to swim. He likes the water, he just will not swim!
 
#30 ·
You had an honest to gawd water dog--I loved all the pictures but the one of Kady swimming reminded me of my one and only real water Doberman--a red male (my only red dog now that I think of it--I was in Sacramento when I had him and he grew up in the swimming pools and rivers around there. He swam like a fish and on summer some college kids taught him how to balance on a surf board--they did it in a pool in an apartment complex in Stockton and when they were playing with him in the pool (which, in theory he wasn't allowed to be in at all) it definitely raised eyebrows when people saw a big red dog on a surfboard.

Wonderful pictures.

Don't feel bad that you didn't know, what you didn't know. I learned a lot of what I know about medical issue with the Doberman because I hung out at dog shows and with veterinarians--and just plain luck.

And sudden death is a hard one to predict. One of my more recent dogs went that way (for the record I've had a lot of dogs between 1959 and today and while most of them had DCM only two of them actually died from cardio directly) The very first dog who was euthanized so he wouldn't drown because his lungs were filling with liquid because of DCM caused CHF. The dog I lost just a few years ago went via sudden death. He was a couple of months shy of 10 years. And we'd watched his Holter results become slowly more iffy--more VPC's--he was still running agility when the electrical issues really became noticible--I asked the cardiologist if I should stop running him in aglity. And I thought how much that dog would hate being a sit a home dog, doing nothing--the dog who loved agility--the cardiologist looked at me and pointed out that I knew the pospects for a dog like mine. Sudden death can occur no matter what you do or don't do--he was on appropriate medication for DCM itself but the electrical irregularities were as likely to kill him in his sleep, or while he was trotting around the back yard or riding in the truck as in an agility ring. So he went on going to agility trials with my friend who ran all my agility dogs--she came back from a trial one Saturday late morning and my dog came in to see what I was cutting up (tomatoes--he got a piece) and I let him out to get a drink and check the yard. After awhile my friend let him back in and I heard him sit behind me--that got my attention--that was not a dog who ever wasted time sitting. I grabbed his leash and hollered at my friend to call the clinic--the dogs sides were heaving--you could see the heart beat. I got him in the truck --he was standing in the back (inside the canopy) and about half way to the clinic (about 15 minutes away) he dropped like he'd been shot. I didn't even stop--I knew my dog was gone--five minutes later we were at the clinic--his vet was there with a stethoscope--she listened and shook her head.

I miss him to this day--it still makes me cry to tell the story but I wouldn't have traded his joy in the agility ring to keep him longer. He'd never have made a good patient he needed to go as he'd lived--balls out and having a great time doing something he wanted to do.

I'm not long on the concept of heaven and hell either--I figure my dog went where the good dogs go--where your Kady went--to feel well, run fast and be happy.

dobebug

There are just some things you can't predict no matter what you know--so I settle for doing the best I can and keeping up on medical progress in the vet field.
 
#32 ·
So... With respect to bug's last post:

When Butcher was diagnosed with DCM. The question was other than meds... Should we alter his life style. Our vet, who is also a friend and in-law posed the question "If you were a dog, what would you prefer?"

Butcher was a big dog, always pushing a buck or so. His passion was running and hiking. Oh, and cuddling with his little brother.

We said: The He** with it and allowed him to continue his activities.

My main concern was if he died suddenly 6-8 miles up a trail, out in the middle of nowhere, how would I get his body back to the truck. This was a big and heavy dog. I figured that I would just bury him up there.

Ironically, he passed after a short walk with his brother in the living room. Quick and seeming painless. Just dropped dead.

He lived a full and happy life.

John
Portland OR
 
#34 ·
There are lots of great threads on here that will help lift your spirits. A few of us got male pups around the same time and they are all very close in age.

My boy, Sugar, is 3 days younger than Axel. Sugar has his own thread which I havent updated in a long time. Must do that soon. My little boy is already 65 pounds but still loves to cuddle and sit in my lap!!
 
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