Hips not good

[RozandFly]

I took on a rescue border collie just before Christmas as I’d been looking to get a 2nd (agility) dog for some time. The woman I got him off fosters for Border Collie Rescue and is also in the agility scene.
On the second day of having him I realised that his hips/legs were a bit strange, some stiffness, hopping etc so I was concerned for some time.
I had his hips xrayed yesterday – and according to the vet there is indeed a problem. Apparently not the worst they’ve seen but also not good.  :boooo:
The lady who fostered him has very kindly emailed me to say that they will help with the cost of sending the xray to be scored as some vets can get it wrong. I also understand that as he is only 10months things may change when he is 12months.
He is such a wonderful dog that I am devastated. He and my current dog love each other, he is sooo friendly, good on the lead, affectionate etc. However, I do do agility and if there is a problem then I guess he won’t be able to do it. I’ve been told I am mean and cruel for saying that just because he can’t do agility I may rehome him. Am I? It’s not as if I’d dump him or leave him at a rescue centre!!!!
Any advice?!!
I can’t attach a pic from my computer at the moment but for those of you who may be interest you’ll find him under Olliethecollie’s post of ‘Meg – tho am wary of this as he has been described as a “terribly bred scrapling of a dodgy merle boy” – thanks for that.
Feeling quite delecate, so please be nice.
Roz and Fly (who is lame also at the moment double  :boooo:

[Anonymous]

hiya and welcome 😀 😀

that sounds like one of my gems … dont mind me – i have a knack of offending and upsetting people !

You are NOT mean or cruel !!  Which BC rescue is he from ?

Claire.

[Anonymous]

First I have to say if his hips are not good at ten months they will got be any better at twelve plus.
I can see no reason for you not rehoming him as he is not fit for purpose you want a dog that is fit for agility and that is what you went out to buy be it a pup or a rescue, the only problem I can foresee is that if he’s rehomed the new owner must be told about his hips and that could put some people off taking him
Val

[SuzAndTheDiva]

[quote author=piglet link=topic=13396.msg256948#msg256948 date=1231415065]
hiya and welcome 😀 😀

that sounds like one of my gems … dont mind me – i have a knack of offending and upsetting people !

You are NOT mean or cruel !!  Which BC rescue is he from ?

Claire.
[/quote]

lol it was claire  😀 – sorry to find that so funny, but knowing you as i do – well it is funny, i know you didnt mean it how it sounded  :-*
And no I dont think you are cruel to rehome him, I think it will be a hard decision for you, but you need what you need and unless you can have another dog, well you are commiting yourself to maybe 15 years of not having what you need/want. Am sorry you are having such problems  🙁

[Anonymous]

also worth bearing in mind if you did take a 3rd dog you’d have to be leaving a pup at home but taking your other two to competitions and training and that would also be difficult for him and you  :-*

[Anonymous]

I’m going to buck the trend here, I was given my Jessie & my plans for her were to do Obedience & also for her to carry on her bloodlines & have a litter. All her DNA tests came back normal, however her hips aren’t good enough to be bred from(27:29=56). Would I rehome her ??? certainly not, I do not believe in getting rid of a dog, just because he/she isn’t fit for purpose. She will be spayed in another year or so, although she hasn’t had a visible season whilst she’s been with me.

My dogs come & do not leave me unless there is a serious problem between the dogs

HD can be managed with quality exercise & good nutrition.Keeping the dog fit & well muscled greatly reduces the effects.

How many homes has this poor dog already had ?

[Anonymous]

Hi,

Dyane – I dont think anyone is doubting that HD can be managed and i agree that keeping weight down and muscle on is the way to go, i also know of a beautiful black labrador who lived to 13 a long happy life after having his back hips fixed somehow with surgery at only 1 year old. 

However, this isnt about the owner being able to cope with HD I am sure they can – in this case we are talking about a rescue dog who was rehomed with someone who specifically wanted to do agility when it was very obviously unlikely to do so.  Is it fair that the owner (who may not have room or finances as you do) should feel so obliged to keep the dog and give up their plans just because the rescue didnt take their requirements into account – i dont think so.

Everyone makes mistakes and I think this time the rescue involved should never have considered this pairing based on the homes requirements and it is hardly the new owners fault to have to cope with all this. 

Claire.

[Anonymous]

Nothing to do with my position or my finances, it’s to do with the dog, however if people think that they should only keep dogs that fit in with their plans this poor pup will be better off with someone else, as it will clearly not be wanted by it’s current owner-he will probably end up PTS sadly as I can’t see a “pet”owner wanting a dysplasic dog, either that or living in rescue for the rest of it’s life.

I put my plans for getting a GSD to do Schutzhund on hold for over 15 years, when I rescued a older X breed(she was around 8/9 when I got her & she lived with me for a further 11 1/2 years)& won’t be able to have my GSD for another 2 or more years, I didn’t get rid of her to make way for another dog

[Anonymous]

Hi,

I think that is reall unfair Dyane.

This person went to a BC rescue asking for an agility dog, now i know you take your chances with rescues but the rescue should have been able to tell that this dog simply was not suitable for the home. 

I cannot see how on earth the situation with your GSD is anything like this – you took the dog on having made a conscious decision not to persue Sch.  Just like I made a conscious decision not to go looking for my working border collie puppy and accepted that I would take a rescue lurcher.

You cannot possibly tell that it’ll not be wanted by anyone and i doubt very much it would be pts, the rescue he came from use foster homes and so what if he does turn out to be a “resident” dog in a rescue foster home, i know a few of these and they have super lives. 

Claire.

[Anonymous]

I hear what you are saying Dyane what comes through my door stays, but if you have gone to a rescue and asked for a dog capable of doing agility and have come home with this one (I have seen a picture) then the rescue needs a good kick up the backside.

I personally am really fed up with dogs being placed in the wrong homes not just this one thats got less bone on it’s body than one of pekes has in a front leg.
I see it all the time on the net and in my grooming parlour plus people on the phone like the springer with the old lady, she even took a picture of the dog she had lost which was a little terrier cross she came out with a full grow big lad of a springer, lucky for her I groomed her last dog and got the lad a good home with a local gamekeeper this is just one case, why should rescue centres send this dogs out with totally unsuitable people and then not even take them back.

This lady already has one dog she does agility with she wanted another one so they could go training walking and working together so she is now stuck with a boneless border with bad hips so this poor lad cannot train or do agility so he gets to stay home with luck his legs will carry him well enough to walk on the other hand they may not so he’s really stuffed sitting at home.

We are multi dog homes we can afford to have the stay at homes along with those that can and those that can’t our dogs are never on the own this pup would in the end find himself home alone.
At the end of the day I dare say this dog will stay where he is as he’s loved both by the owner and the other dog.  But I say why should rescue centres think they are exempt from finding the right owner for the right dog.
Lets face it if we buy a dog we want to know EVERYTHING about the breeding from the year dot and yes we can come unstuck and they still stay with us, all this poster wanted was a sound dog and I bet there was at least six other BC in the same rescue centre that were sound and fit for purpose.
If it was us we just start the hunt again and just add another to our home, lots of people can’t do that they only have room ,time, money, for one or two dogs
Val

[Anonymous]

[quote author=piglet link=topic=13396.msg257185#msg257185 date=1231531118]
Hi,

I think that is reall unfair Dyane.

This person went to a BC rescue asking for an agility dog, now i know you take your chances with rescues but the rescue should have been able to tell that this dog simply was not suitable for the home. 

I cannot see how on earth the situation with your GSD is anything like this – you took the dog on having made a conscious decision not to persue Sch.  Just like I made a conscious decision not to go looking for my working border collie puppy and accepted that I would take a rescue lurcher.

You cannot possibly tell that it’ll not be wanted by anyone and i doubt very much it would be pts, the rescue he came from use foster homes and so what if he does turn out to be a “resident” dog in a rescue foster home, i know a few of these and they have super lives. 

Claire.
[/quote]

No I rescued her with the intention of rehoming her, however she had so much wrong with her that no one woukld have her(a bit like this dog)so I could have simply handed her in to a rescue & got my Sch dogs or do what I did & keep her.

I got Jessie with a view to doing Obedience with her, however she has so many hangups apart from the hips that mean that is not to be either-logically I should rehome her & get a bitch that I will be able to breed from & work, but me being me a dog is for life & the breeding & obedience(along with the Sch)can wait

If the aim is solely to have a dog to use it for your own pleasure(ie doing agility)which it would appear to be the case then that is the wrong reason for having or even getting a rescue in the first place, unless it was a very very young puppy(like the 8 weeks old puppies that a farmer was going to have PTS in Cumbria)so that you have a good chance of having a healthy dog & whose physically fitness can be developed correctly & the dog will have less chance of having life affecting HD(as in the environs known affects on HD) unless of course the rescue X rays their dogs before placing them

[Anonymous]

[quote author=Val link=topic=13396.msg257186#msg257186 date=1231531214]
I hear what you are saying Dyane what comes through my door stays, but if you have gone to a rescue and asked for a dog capable of doing agility and have come home with this one (I have seen a picture) then the rescue needs a good kick up the backside…………….
Val
[/quote]

but if the OP is an experienced agility handler surely she would have had the dog straight to the vets for health screening before taking him home. I know I would have done, I would have paid the Rescue to have the dog screened by their vet before adopting the dog

[Anonymous]

dyane – nowt to do with xraying before placement, i dont consider myself an expert by any stretch but i could see in a second this dog was never competing in a million years 🙁  also i have done a little agility and i would say both my dogs – at their own levels – get a great deal of fun themselves out of it ?

i am not sure how “experienced” they are, i know they already run 1 dog which i think competes but as they chose a border collie rescue – someone they thought they could trust presumably – perhaps they thought the dog was suitable as it was being offered ??

claire.

[Anonymous]

Ok, first can I say thanks to Val and Claire for your sympathy and supportive comments. Roz is a very good friend of mine and is finding this time very difficult. This dog does not have everything wrong with him and has no hang ups. It is never going to be a case of PTS and he has never been in kennels as he went straight to a foster home. Agility is a sport that is enjoyed by dog and handler and not just a thing we do cos we enjoy it, the bond between dog and handler is very special. Nothing against breeders – but if you get a dog cos u want to breed and then it turns out that that dog cant have pups, BIG DEAL. That dog can still enjoy life as normal. When you have an active lifestyle like Roz and get a dog to fit into that and for health reasons it would be cruel to get it to join in then it wouldnt he be happier with a quiet life? Roz cares very much for this dog and had him x rayed as soon as she could so she can help the dog and find out what his future holds. She has booked him into a specialist clinic tomorrow and they specialise is agility and HD. At the end of the day she is doing her best to help him amd she is thinking about his quality of life before her own. For that i think she deserves our support and understanding. If his home isnt with roz then so be it but you can bet she will work damn hard to make sure the next home matches him forever.
H x 

[Anonymous]

[quote author=Olliethecollie link=topic=13396.msg257280#msg257280 date=1231543443]
Ok, first can I say thanks to Val and Claire for your sympathy and supportive comments. Roz is a very good friend of mine and is finding this time very difficult. This dog does not have everything wrong with him and has no hang ups. It is never going to be a case of PTS and he has never been in kennels as he went straight to a foster home. Agility is a sport that is enjoyed by dog and handler and not just a thing we do cos we enjoy it, the bond between dog and handler is very special. Nothing against breeders – but if you get a dog cos u want to breed and then it turns out that that dog cant have pups, BIG DEAL. That dog can still enjoy life as normal. When you have an active lifestyle like Roz and get a dog to fit into that and for health reasons it would be cruel to get it to join in then it wouldnt he be happier with a quiet life? Roz cares very much for this dog and had him x rayed as soon as she could so she can help the dog and find out what his future holds. She has booked him into a specialist clinic tomorrow and they specialise is agility and HD. At the end of the day she is doing her best to help him amd she is thinking about his quality of life before her own. For that i think she deserves our support and understanding. If his home isnt with roz then so be it but you can bet she will work damn hard to make sure the next home matches him forever.
H x 
[/quote]

My reason for getting Jessie wasn’t just to breed from her, but also to do obedience which she will never do so the scenario is very similar-I still have the opinion that if a dog with such severe HD that it is shows visible symptoms & will require specialist care/surgery possibly then it will not be as simple as you all believe to rehome this dog who must already be in his third home, unless he was obtained from his breeder

I too know a good few agility handlers & all of them have to train their dogs to do agility-the dog doesn’t do it instinctively-like mine do sheepwork-so owning the dog is largely for the handler to compete & win & I do know that some agility handlers seem to have a new dog on a regular basis(just as some Obedience handlers do)& that they also obtain them from rescues-what happens to them if they either don’t make the grade or cannot compete I can only guess.

Sorry , but if this was my dog he would be staying & going nowhere, I cannot see why he cannot do some form of activity, just because it isn’t the one he was obtained for it wouldn’t matter to me, I would find something we could do-PAT dog, fun obedience or just a loving companion.

Border Collies & a quiet life ??????? that is worse that a death sentence for a young dog You must know some very strange Border Collies, in my 38 years of owning the breed I have never had one who enjoyed a quiet life even into old age(17 +)

[Author]

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