My 6 year old just collapsed and died! - Page 5

Sel. Ch. Stuttgart's Sundance Kid (Bear)(ROM) lived to be 13, and was used widely to increase longevity.  He was NOT linked to Toxic Gut to the best of my knowledge.

  The dog who was widely known was  GV> Scorpio of Shiloh Gardens (ROM).  A LOT of his kids passed before their 3rd  or 4th year from toxic gut and other digestive issues.  (Scorpio's Sire was GV> Mannix of Franjo.. Mannix as far as I know was not an issue, but Scorpio and a number of his progeny were)  Scorpio had an EXTREMELY deep chest and long ribcage.. He was hailed as a breakthrough dog at that time, and folks were breeding widely to him to offset weak  backs... (the length he carried was in ribs rather than in the loin) but the great depth ended up creating other problems it seems.  Of course his death was considered a fluke then, until his kids started having the same kinds of deaths... Very tragic.  He was lovely, but faulted.




www.pedigreedatabase.com/gsd/pedigree/403356.html

I finally found this today:  turn up your speakers:

http://wandascountryhome.com/rainbowbridge/index.html



YR

Windwalker,

That helps ease my mind.  Thank you for that post regarding Sundance.   I have got to be the biggest worry wart mom out there.  I freaked out when I figured out he was in my girls pedigree.  It was like "YIKES!"  I feel better now.

Deb

Windwalker-   
"Sel. Ch. Stuttgart's Sundance Kid (Bear)(ROM) lived to be 13, and was used widely to increase longevity"
      
"Bear" was born Feb.22,1980, HE DIED AT THE AGE OF 11, on June 21,1991. His lines were linked VERY heavily to Bloat. I may be wrong, but I believe his cause of death was Bloat. Many of the lines he was bred to, Covy Tucker Hills, Fran-Jo, to name some big ones were all known to have produced offspring with EPI ,Bloat,  and Myelopathy.  If you search his name there is a high number of  offspring that had serious health issues.

Robin,

We also lost our last dog when he was 6 (German showline) to exactly the same thing - mesenteric torsion. He occasionally had digestive troubles and looking back now we think he may well have had the beginnings of EPI.

We were on holiday at the time, one minute having a ball running on the beach playing in the sea and the next minute we were driving home in an empty car.... It's never good to lose our best pals but sometimes the circumstances make it hurt a little more.

Care & thoughts,

AandA

Seems to me alot of blame is being cast on American types again, while people talk of how their own German-line dogs died of torsion, etc.

(Sorry this thread was hijacked)

So so sorry for your terrible loss.  We will keep you in our thoughts.  May the good one be with you in your sorrowful time. 

My mistake Re the age, mking... he was 11, not 13.  However he wasn't the dog who was involved in the Toxic Gut scare backing the 80's.  I know that he was WAY overused, and had a HUGE number of ROM qualifiers,  www.gsdca.org/GSDReviewed/sdogs/StuttgartSundanceKid.html and while some of his get may have had health problems he wasn't known for it particularly, and many lived well over 10 year average for the breed.  As I said, like so many great dogs he was overused, sometimes poorly matched, and widely inbred upon carelessly. That alone doesn't dimish the value of the dog himself.

My apology for hijacking the thread it wasn't my intent. I was trying to answer a question that was raised.

Regardless of the pedigree of our beloved dogs their death, especially at such a young age and so suddenly is heartbreaking and tears a piece of our hearts out.

The Power Of The Dog
by Rudyard Kipling

There is sorrow enough in the natural way
From men and women to fill our day;
And when we are certain of sorrow in store,
Why do we always arrange for more?
Brothers and Sisters, I bid you beware
Of giving your heart to a dog to tear.

Buy a pup and your money will buy
Love unflinching that cannot lie--
Perfect passion and worship fed
By a kick in the ribs or a pat on the head.
Nevertheless it is hardly fair
To risk your heart for a dog to tear.

When the fourteen years which Nature permits
Are closing in asthma, or tumour, or fits,
And the vet's unspoken prescription runs
To lethal chambers or loaded guns,
Then you will find--it's your own affair--
But...you've given your heart for a dog to tear.

When the body that lived at your single will,
With its whimper of welcome, is stilled (how still!);
When the spirit that answered your every mood
Is gone--wherever it goes--for good,
You will discover how much you care,
And will give your heart for the dog to tear.

We've sorrow enough in the natural way,
When it comes to burying Christian clay.
Our loves are not given, but only lent,
At compound interest of cent per cent.
Though it is not always the case, I believe,
That the longer we've kept 'em, the more do we grieve:
For, when debts are payable, right or wrong,
A short-time loan is as bad as a long--
So why in Heaven (before we are there)
Should we give our hearts to a dog to tear?

i know how you feel my german shepherd sammy died on the sunday 27th december 2009 . we took him to the vets  as he was a bit under the weather .

We called the emergency vet out at 3am by 3.30am we were at the vets getting him checked over .The vet asked us to leave him so that they could do blood tests and xrays .By 4.20am that morning the vet had rang us to say sammy as just died he was only 2 years old , sammy was my world and we miss him dearly like u miss annie.

my heart goes out to you

michelle