Here is part of my story- just want to warn others of what this lady has done and is capable of. Also, stay away from her vet- William Briskey.
When we bought Gixxer the breeder we got him from, Judy Mueller said that she would let us use her vet, William Briskey to crop his ears. She explained to us that she is a vet tech and is able to assist on the surgeries so she could get us a good deal. She also said she takes many of the doberman puppies she sells to this vet for ear croppings and that they go very well. Since we are new to Dobes and ear cropping, we decided to go that route instead of choosing a vet at random that we knew nothing about, and since it seemed past surgeries had gone very well.
He is 18 weeks old today, and got his ears cropped 10 days ago. The vet we took him to was 2 hours away. Judy assured us she would help with all the after care.
The day I took him to get the surgery, the Judy had apparently hurt her shoulder so she could not assist with the cropping.
The moment I picked him up I knew something did not seem right. It appeared that the posts in the ears were sticks about a quarter inch round and about 5 inches long. The tape used to wrap the sticks was already coming off. At first I wasn't sure if they were actual sticks, or if they were some sort of surgical sticks specifically designed for ear crops. On the drive home I noticed his ears were being pulled down by the weight of the sticks. About a half hour before we made it home he had managed to scratch one of his ears very badly and was bleeding everywhere. As you can imagine he was in considerable pain at this point.
When I got home, I took him out of the car and he immediately shook his head. As soon as he did that he started wailing out in pain like I have never heard a dog cry before. Right away we put him back in the car and started rushing to our local vet who does not do ear cropping, but was eager to help get him out of pain.
When I had originally set up the crop with the breeder I had asked her about getting some pain meds for us to take home for him, but she said that there would be very mild pain and he wouldn't need any. The breeder told me that he was a spoiled puppy and that was the reason he was acting like he was in pain, and that she didn't think he really was in pain. She proceeded to say if it had been one of her farm dogs, that they would have taken to the crop better because they weren't so spoiled.
Once we got him to our local vet, they noticed that the sticks in his ears were in fact not surgical sticks, but sticks from a tree branch. At that point I called the vet that had done the surgery to see why there were tree branch sticks stuck in my dogs ears, as this seemed to be the main reason for the pain. He said that he usually uses tampons to post the ears, but he was out of them so he went into his back yard and found some sticks to use. Finding this very odd I then called the breeder to explain to her what was happening. She said she was the one who usually posted and wrapped the ears after surgery, and since she wasn't there that the vet may have not done it very well.
The local vet we were now at gave him pain medicine right away and had to sedate him again to unwrap his ears and get the sticks out. Upon doing so they noticed the sticks were shoved way down in his ear canal without any sort of padding for comfort. They also were very shocked that I was not sent home with any pain medicine or antibiotics for him. They said they had never seen anything quite like it and that it looked very poorly done. Since he was in so much pain, they decided to take the posts out and put his ears on top of his head and then wrap his head with an ace bandage.
Three days later, after him being in what seemed to be very severe pain, I took him back down to the breeder to re-bandage his ears. The breeder sedated him because his ears were still far to tender to be touched.
That evening he woke up, shook his head and one of his ears popped out. He started crying out in pain again and it was obvious he was hurting very badly.
The next morning I rushed him back to our local vet who had to sedate him again to re-bandage the ears. At that point they noticed one of the ears was infected and puss was running down his neck causing an infection on his neck. They also noticed the gauze that was used by the breeder the previous night to wrap the ear was the wrong kind of gauze and was sticking to his healing ears. They ended up having to pull the gauze off of his ears and upon doing so some of the scabbing came with it.
For the next two days he seemed to be doing a little bit better, but it was noticeable he was still not feeling well because he was not eating or drinking normally nor would he move very much. He also was constantly whining in pain.
I took him again to our local vet, because at this point I did not trust Judy to properly bandage the ears without causing more problems. They were able to take the bandages off and then let his ears breath.
It has now been three days since the last vet visit and I am taking him down to the breeder tomorrow who is going to help take the stitches out and post his ears.
The worst part of this whole ordeal is the pain that he was in this entire time. I feel that this crop was done very poorly, and if his ears had been properly wrapped and propped it would have alleviated much of the pain he experienced. I'm also concerned with the fact that we weren't sent home with any sort of pain medicine when the crop first happened.
To say the least this has been a horrendous experience and I haven't even gotten into everything that has happened. So be warned- don't go to her or her vet!
-Britt
When we bought Gixxer the breeder we got him from, Judy Mueller said that she would let us use her vet, William Briskey to crop his ears. She explained to us that she is a vet tech and is able to assist on the surgeries so she could get us a good deal. She also said she takes many of the doberman puppies she sells to this vet for ear croppings and that they go very well. Since we are new to Dobes and ear cropping, we decided to go that route instead of choosing a vet at random that we knew nothing about, and since it seemed past surgeries had gone very well.
He is 18 weeks old today, and got his ears cropped 10 days ago. The vet we took him to was 2 hours away. Judy assured us she would help with all the after care.
The day I took him to get the surgery, the Judy had apparently hurt her shoulder so she could not assist with the cropping.
The moment I picked him up I knew something did not seem right. It appeared that the posts in the ears were sticks about a quarter inch round and about 5 inches long. The tape used to wrap the sticks was already coming off. At first I wasn't sure if they were actual sticks, or if they were some sort of surgical sticks specifically designed for ear crops. On the drive home I noticed his ears were being pulled down by the weight of the sticks. About a half hour before we made it home he had managed to scratch one of his ears very badly and was bleeding everywhere. As you can imagine he was in considerable pain at this point.
When I got home, I took him out of the car and he immediately shook his head. As soon as he did that he started wailing out in pain like I have never heard a dog cry before. Right away we put him back in the car and started rushing to our local vet who does not do ear cropping, but was eager to help get him out of pain.
When I had originally set up the crop with the breeder I had asked her about getting some pain meds for us to take home for him, but she said that there would be very mild pain and he wouldn't need any. The breeder told me that he was a spoiled puppy and that was the reason he was acting like he was in pain, and that she didn't think he really was in pain. She proceeded to say if it had been one of her farm dogs, that they would have taken to the crop better because they weren't so spoiled.
Once we got him to our local vet, they noticed that the sticks in his ears were in fact not surgical sticks, but sticks from a tree branch. At that point I called the vet that had done the surgery to see why there were tree branch sticks stuck in my dogs ears, as this seemed to be the main reason for the pain. He said that he usually uses tampons to post the ears, but he was out of them so he went into his back yard and found some sticks to use. Finding this very odd I then called the breeder to explain to her what was happening. She said she was the one who usually posted and wrapped the ears after surgery, and since she wasn't there that the vet may have not done it very well.
The local vet we were now at gave him pain medicine right away and had to sedate him again to unwrap his ears and get the sticks out. Upon doing so they noticed the sticks were shoved way down in his ear canal without any sort of padding for comfort. They also were very shocked that I was not sent home with any pain medicine or antibiotics for him. They said they had never seen anything quite like it and that it looked very poorly done. Since he was in so much pain, they decided to take the posts out and put his ears on top of his head and then wrap his head with an ace bandage.
Three days later, after him being in what seemed to be very severe pain, I took him back down to the breeder to re-bandage his ears. The breeder sedated him because his ears were still far to tender to be touched.
That evening he woke up, shook his head and one of his ears popped out. He started crying out in pain again and it was obvious he was hurting very badly.
The next morning I rushed him back to our local vet who had to sedate him again to re-bandage the ears. At that point they noticed one of the ears was infected and puss was running down his neck causing an infection on his neck. They also noticed the gauze that was used by the breeder the previous night to wrap the ear was the wrong kind of gauze and was sticking to his healing ears. They ended up having to pull the gauze off of his ears and upon doing so some of the scabbing came with it.
For the next two days he seemed to be doing a little bit better, but it was noticeable he was still not feeling well because he was not eating or drinking normally nor would he move very much. He also was constantly whining in pain.
I took him again to our local vet, because at this point I did not trust Judy to properly bandage the ears without causing more problems. They were able to take the bandages off and then let his ears breath.
It has now been three days since the last vet visit and I am taking him down to the breeder tomorrow who is going to help take the stitches out and post his ears.
The worst part of this whole ordeal is the pain that he was in this entire time. I feel that this crop was done very poorly, and if his ears had been properly wrapped and propped it would have alleviated much of the pain he experienced. I'm also concerned with the fact that we weren't sent home with any sort of pain medicine when the crop first happened.
To say the least this has been a horrendous experience and I haven't even gotten into everything that has happened. So be warned- don't go to her or her vet!
-Britt