Heminway Terriers/Airedale Terriers - BEWARE

I know I haven't updated this Blog in a long time but recently we have learned new things about the breeder that we got Zoe from - Hemingway Terriers. Back in June last year we thought Zoe had Lymes Disease and when we took her to the vet we learned it was Hip Dysplasia - she was barely a year old when we discovered it. She was in so much pain that she didn't want to go for walks anymore and would lay in our kitchen howling. 

When I emailed the breeder regarding this her advice was not to do the surgery and had given me the impression she was recommending us putting the dog down. At first she stated she had never had problems with Hip Dysplasia even though she has been breeding Airedales and Scotties for 20 years. Although I thought this was hard to believe I started to think it was something that I had done, she was around 50 pounds and extremely active before we discovered the Dysplasia. 

We moved forward and sought out professional advice from a Vet, since they did go to school and were trained on how to fix dogs, not breed them! We had an amazing experience with Dr. Glennon and learned about our options and decided to move forward with an FHO surgery. Zoe had her right leg done and we were amazed at how well she recovered. We had a little problem when we cut her pain meds but eventually she was back to her normal self. We have had a few follow up appointments to keep an eye on her other leg which also has Hip Dysplasia. We ended up finding out we don’t need to get surgery done on her other leg because she was doing so well.

Although it was great news to hear about her not needing surgery again we ended up finding out that we weren’t the only ones out there who were having the same problem with Hemingway Terriers. Because of this Blog I was contacted by an individual who also had an Airedale from Hemingway Terriers and they too got a similar response. NOW THERE IS A THIRD PERSON. All of our dogs are about 6 months apart and have the same father “Master of Disguise”. In an email I received from Sandy she stated:

holy crap!  I am so sorry.  I have not had any problems or issues with hip and I am very surprised that there is one now.

I know dad to be fine.  Mom never had any pups with any issues either.  I retired mom and placed her in a pet home in January of this year.

I never breed them long but want them to have a good life after breeding too.  She went to a retired doctor in Lake George and is doing great, so I am rather surprised to hear this.

I also agree to change food and do gloclosomine (sp) I do take that myself and it does help.  It is important that the dog is not heavy from what I have read.  So do keep her weight in check.

Please update me as to her progress.  Siblings from that litter have had no issues either.

Sandy

I only heard back from her once after this but now because of Blogs three of us have been able to connect and share similar stories. It is also ironic because her website was not renewed and I am sure she is now selling dogs under a new name but I beware anyone who is looking to purchase an Airedale Terrier from a breeder named Sandy and lives in Westerlo, NY. We thought we had done our research on breeders but apparently we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. I hope with her website down maybe, just maybe she is not breeding anymore but I highly doubt it!

At this point I just hope our Zoe, Erica’s Keegan and Lauren’s Zoey turn out ok and have long enjoyable lives!

Were Back!!!

Well now that I am working full time again I feel as if I have no free time! Since getting back from Texas I have not been blogging as much but will do my best!

While away in Texas, Josh said Zoe was miserable and wasn't using her leg as much as she had been. I think that it was just Zoe missing me! When I got back she was still miserable and never wanted to go for a walk, barely would walk to use the bathroom. Since Zoe stopped taking the medication she wasn’t using her leg as much as she should have. We should be taking her for at least 3 walks a day but she would get to the end of the road and refuse to walk back!

Because my husband is not a fan of calling anyone I had to call the vet when I got back and ask for suggestions. They recommended we give her the rimadyl that was given to us when she was first diagnosed with hip dysplasia. It is an anti-inflammatory. Since starting with the medicine Zoe has been acting a little more energetic and has some life back in her! She is going for a couple walks a day, when it is not raining and is back to using the stairs.

My dad came up to visit this past weekend and Zoe was excited to have a visitor. We also had a friend come over and do a Reiki treatment on Zoe. It is suppose to assist with healing. I had it done on me first and it was interesting. I felt a sense of calmness and warmth, and if you know me at all I don’t think I am ever calm! Afterwards I was really tired and took about a 2 hour nap! Zoe went next and I guess Dogs are more difficult but more open to it than humans. Afterwards she almost looked as though she was on some sort of drug and she too took a two hour nap. I am not sure if it worked but we have now decreased Zoe’s anti-inflammatory drug to a half a pill and she is still doing ok. I took her for a walk yesterday and she was doing great until it was time to come home. I use to think it was her hips but no she doesn’t want to go home! It is a pain in the butt to get her to start walking back but eventually I con her into going home.

Zoe is due for her shots tomorrow so she is going in to see the vet and we have been having problems with her getting sores on her back, not sure if it is the food or what but she has about 5-6 sores on her back. Next week we will take her off the anti-inflammatory and hope she doesn’t regress again. She goes back to Dr. Glennon on the 16^th of September and we will decide what to do about her other leg. 

Tired Dog

So Zoe survived her first night without us (since the surgery) at the trainer’s house. She was very tired when we brought her home and didn’t want to eat or go to the bathroom. We let her rest as we were exhausted from the traveling and then decided to take her out to the property to try and walk her around. She was so excited once we got out there that we were able to walk her around the woods and our field. She didn’t show any signs of being in pain until we got home. She was not a happy camper – she whined and whined and refused to eat. Josh gave her one of the pain pills we are trying to avoid but she was so uncomfortable we had to give her something. We even tried to rub arnica lotion on her leg to try an heal it, but she just wanted to lick it off. Yesterday she seemed back to her normal self but she is being a brat about eating now, she wants us to hand feed it to her. This morning we put it in one of those balls that releases food as she plays with it and she ate most of her food. Right now she is sleeping and her howling and barking seems to be so much better. Not sure if she is just in pain or if the “Bark Off” really does work!?

I will not be posting anything this week as I will be on vacation away from the dog – which will be nice to sleep in a little, but I will miss her and my husband a tons! 

Haircut & Pain Meds

Today is Zoe’s first day without her pain medication and you can tell. She didn’t want to go down or up the stairs and she wasn’t moving around as much. This morning I dropped her off before going to work to get her hair cut so she wouldn't look so funny with a shaved leg. When I picked her up she was her normal "I am excited to be here" self but when we got home it was a different story. I had taken her into my work to see some people and she was excited to see them and didn’t act like anything was wrong but when we got home she was not a happy camper.

She didn’t want to go up the stairs and I practically had to carry her. When she laid down she started to do her whine “no one loves me, I am sad”. I would pet her and lay with her but she was exhausted, not sure if it is from all the excitement or her leg truly hurting. I now wonder if she really was progressing or if it was just the pain medicine. I couldn’t even get her to go to the bathroom; she ended up peeing in the middle of the yard, which Josh yelled at me for killing the grass. What am I suppose to do carry her? She weighs 50 pounds and is not the easiest thing to carry!

On another note I bought her a life vest today – it is pink, the only girly thing she has! She was not a fan of it but if we want to take her to a pond, canoeing with us or go to a lake we now have it. It is nice because it has a handle on the top to pick her up if she is struggling. When we first got Zoe we had a scare when we took her canoeing, she jumped out into the cold October water and was struggling to get up luckily she was small and didn’t weigh much so it was easy to get her out of the water.

My Brother-in-law (Jay) made a statement recently on my Facebook page that I should name Zoe - Marley from the Movie/Book Marley & Me. This week she destroyed yet again another rug we had in the kitchen. We had laid a bunch of rugs out so that Zoe could walk around and not slip, and she decided to ruin them so NO MORE RUGS! That statement got me thinking that I should write down all the things that have happened since the beginning of getting her. I am not a writer as you can tell by reading this blog – I can’t spell (thanks to spell check) so I am not doing this to write a book or anything but it would be interesting to write everything down and re-read it later! I am sure I could get a few chapters out of her 1^st year. August 16^th will be the 1 year anniversary of us bringing her home! I can’t believe we have survived a year already! As crazy as she is we still love her! 

2 weeks later . . .

So we are now at two weeks later and she has her stitches out- YEAH! This past weekend we traveled to visit Zoe’s grandparents and attend a surprise party! She hates car rides – the whole two hours she sat maybe a few times and finally laid down when we were on the back roads! The first night she howled starting at 3:30, 5:30, 5:45, 6:00 and so on! Needless to say Josh and I didn’t sleep well! Her grandparents set up their back deck with gates so she could run around outside and she loved it! Although at times it was a headache for us to make sure she didn’t eat the poisonous flowers or wasps! Yes I said wasp as Zoe at one on Saturday and then Sunday morning tried to eat a bumble bee but I think it stung her on the tongue because it flew out of her mouth!

Saturday Zoe’s grandma and I took a trip to Bed Bath and Beyond to purchase and item called Bark Off for 10 dollars. As I said before it was not a fun night of sleep so I wanted to try something to keep her quiet at night. This is a small device that emits a loud noise that only dogs can hear and it is suppose to get them to stop barking. It didn’t really work outside but that night I left it on in the kitchen and she didn’t start to make noise until 6:30 and at that point she just made a whining cry and stopped right away! Not sure if she was exhausted from the night before or if the item worked – will have to test it out some more!

Sunday we had a surprise party for grandpa so we had to fake leave and come back – Zoe was not a fan of this because she had to get in and out of the car multiple times. Then when the party started we had to put her in room. She cried for a while but then I put the bark off in and she stopped – again not sure if she was tired of barking but she was behaving herself for the most part (until she spilled her water bowl all over when we were getting ready to leave). The two hour ride back home she again never laid down – and with her collar on it drove both Josh and I nuts! Her collar would get stuck on the barrier and make awful noises and she rubbed it against any surface she could trying to get it off! When we got home we all were exhausted and thankfully she let us sleep in until 8 this morning (I of course got up and took her out, fed her and put the bark off on at 6:30).

Then the exciting part – we went to the vet and got her stitches out! I think most dogs when they go back to the vet’s office they are scared or don’t want to go in – NOT ZOE! Her tail was wagging and she was so happy to see everybody. They said she was a great patient but I think they say that to everyone. They were all impressed with how well she was doing. Dr. Glennon was extremely impressed stating that most dogs that have this procedure are only using their legs 20% barely toe touching and she is able to run around and weight bear. He said we can now leash walk her unlimitedly and get her muscles to build up in her leg or take her swimming in a pond. Unfortunately I don’t think she knows how to swim so I am nervous about taking her to a pond but willing to try! The doctor said he didn’t need to see her for another two months and that he was very happy with her progress! YEAH ZOE!

Josh and I were a little hesitant to wait two months for the next appointment so we scheduled it for 6 weeks sometime in September. At that appointment we will decide whether to do her left leg or wait until after winter – it is very important to do the procedure during the spring, summer or fall so she has enough time to rehab it before winter. Dr. Glennon said there is no rush and that it would be up to us if we wanted to do it this year or next. We don’t want to rush anything and since she healed so well on this leg we might just wait till the spring!

Since getting home this morning Zoe has been busy licking away and walking around the house without the cone – she is very happy! We took her for a short walk and she seemed tired half way through - but finally made it home and then crashed! Thanks everyone for your support! 

Survived the Weekend

Well we made it through the weekend alive! On Friday Zoe was going down the back stairs without us having to carry her! She weights around 50 pounds so I have a hard time carrying her up and down the stairs. She was back to her old personality, a little miserable here and there but she was excited to see us when we came home and would whine and bark when we weren’t paying enough attention to her.

I am a little worried about what will happen next – she is now use to us babying her that once she is all healed is she going to continue on with her whine – knowing she will get pity? I think it was wearing on both Josh and I this weekend.  Zoe is so use to cleaning herself and having the freedom to lick where ever she wants that this collar she has on is driving her nuts – as I am sure the stitches on her leg itch!

 Saturday she laid around the house and wasn’t very active. Josh and I went out to get a car barrier for the back of my car so when we travel we don’t have to bring her crate anymore! On Sunday Zoe was starting to act as her normal self – barking at the gates – trying to pounce around and even trying to get on the couch while we were relaxing! She is walking really well on her bad leg – I am surprised how much she weight she is already putting on it. We walked her around the back yard a couple times because as I am sure we all get cabin fever every now and then and she is going nuts in the house. Zoe even tried to play with some of her toys yesterday but with her collar they tend to fall out of her mouth and get stuck in her collar or under her collar and she can’t get it. It is funny to watch though!

One more week and we get to take this stupid collar off! WOOHOO! This morning when Josh took her out to the bathroom she actually walked up the stairs on her own. I guess she was so shocked that she made it up on her own that she started to jump around! Josh was a proud dad and came in to tell me while I was still sleeping! (I guess that’s what I get for going to the bathroom and waking everyone including the dog up at 4:30!). So we will see what this week brings.

PS - I added pictures of her Xrays down at the bottom of the page

1st day home

Surprisingly Josh and I slept through most of the night. She woke us up around 12:45 when a skunk had sprayed nearby. Josh and I both got up to check on her and she was just lying in the kitchen resting her head. This morning I got up early (even though I could have slept in a little later) to help Josh take her out to the bathroom - she went pee YEA! We still had to carry her up and down the stairs it is just too much right now to ask her to try them. 

I had class today (my last one ever - or at least for a little bit) so Zoe spent the afternoon locked in the kitchen. We have all sorts of rugs lying in the kitchen to help her walk so she doesn't slip. When I got home I could tell she needed to go potty but she was very excited to see me and I was not excited about taking her out alone! I knew I had to do it for my baby so I picked her up (as best as I could - she weighs 50 pounds) and took her out our front door. I was amazed at how well she walked to her potty area - even using her lame leg. She eventually went pee again but wanted to stay out and walk a little so we checked the mail and I had to pretty much carry her to get her to go inside. I think the most painful part is not seeing her all happy and running around (no more games of run away from mommy for a while). 

She seems to be having a good day today - a little whine here and there but that is to be expected. She doesn't move much from the kitchen but it is kind of nice, she did try to cuddle with me on the couch but the doctor said no (and so did josh) :( Tonight after Josh went to bed she started to whine again and since she hasn’t had a bowel movement (yes I will tell you everything on this blog) I figured I would take her out. She has been eating her normal one cup at night and one cup in the morning with no problems. So again I carried her down the front steps and took her out back to go potty! She even made it to her area this time and she pooped! This was probably the most excited I was today (other than finishing my class).

So I have tomorrow and next week off completely so I will be babying her as much as I can! She doesn’t get the stitches out until August 2^nd which means she has to wear the collar and be uncomfortable until then. So my week with her should be fun!