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Basic Health Care

Veterinary Care
Develop a good working relationship with your veterinarian. He or she will be a valuable source of information on current dog care practices as well as providing other services as the need arises. As the dog's owner, you can often perform routine procedures yourself but will also have to obtain professional care when necessary.

Adult Dogs

Daily care: Monitor each dog's appetite and water intake as well as its fecal and urine output. Often small changes in a dog's normal behavior are the first signs of a health problem.

Monthly care: Trim nails and groom each dog. If a dog is shedding, grooming keeps its skin and coat healthy. Also use heartworm preventives and administer external parasite control (for fleas, lice, ticks, and so on) if needed.

Six-month care: Work out a worming program for your dogs with your veterinarian. The type of wormer will depend on the incidence of intestinal parasites in your area.

Yearly: Administer vaccinations for distemper, parvovirus, corona, hepatitis, leptospirosis, Para influenza, bordatella, and rabies (which is sometimes good for three years). A good time to vaccinate is in the early fall before training begins. If you are racing, it is recommended that boosters for parvo, corona, and kennel cough be given in December.

Also perform a thorough physical exam on each dog in the yard in late summer so that if you find any problems, you have time to take care of them before fall. See Yearly and Prepurchase Exam section below for guidelines.

Yearly and Pre-purchase Exam

When you look over your dog yard and decide that it is time to expand or improve the team, one way to accomplish this is to purchase a dog. There are many elements to consider when you buy a dog, but one of the most important is that the dog is healthy and will not introduce diseases into your dog yard. The following guidelines are intended to help you do a basic exam to reduce the chances of purchasing an unhealthy dog. These guidelines can also be used for doing a yearly exam of the dogs you already have.

General attitude: A dog should be alert and interested in its surroundings.

Weight and coat. A dog should be lean but not thin. It should have a healthy, shiny coat and skin that is a light pink with no raw areas or excessive flaking. Run your hand over the dog's whole body, checking for lumps, bumps, and sores. A dog in poor condition or with an unhealthy coat may be showing signs of conditions such as hypothyroidism, parasitism (internal parasites such as worms or coccidia, or external parasites such as lice, fleas, or mange mites), malabsorption syndrome (an inability to absorb nutrients), or numerous other diseases. However, keep in mind that all dogs do not always look their best. Even a beautiful coat looks rough during shedding, and a female will shed after she has had pups.

Eyes: The eyes should be clear without excessive tearing, redness, or a gray or blue haziness on the cornea. The pupils should be symmetrical.

Ears: The ears should be clean inside without a waxy or pussy discharge and without a foul odor.

Nose: There should be no nasal discharge, raw areas, or dry, crusty buildup around the nostrils.

Mouth: The mouth and teeth should be clean without any strong odors or excessive tartar buildup. The gums should be pink without infection along the teeth-gum border. Check for broken teeth or an uneven bite. Dental disorders may contribute to poor appetite, poor attitude, or chronic infection.

Respiration: A dog's normal heart rate is 100 to 130 beats per minute, and its respiratory rate should be about 22 breaths per minute. These may both be elevated in an excited dog, and both will be hard to evaluate in the panting dog, but check for abnormal respiratory sounds. When you try a dog out, run it near the back of the team for at least part of the time, even if it is a lead dog, because it is difficult to hear abnormal respiratory sounds if the dog is too far ahead of you. Respiratory conditions are most easily detected when the dog is run fast or in warm temperatures, but any dog will show distress if it is run too hot.

Muscles and bones: Check the dog for symmetry. Compare the muscles and joints of the two hind legs and of the two front legs. Swelling on the foot may be an indication of an old metacarpal fracture; swollen wrists may be a sign of arthritis. Asymmetrical muscle masses may indicate lameness or an unequal use of limbs.

Feet: Check the feet for signs of scars or excessive licking between the pads (mahogany, discolored hair). Examine the nails, and note if the dog has dewclaws. The importance of dewclaw removal on an adult depends on your plans for the dog.

Rectum: Check the rectum for open sores, growths, or excessive swelling.

Older dogs: An older dog is more likely to have disabling conditions than a young dog. Any valuable dog over 7 or 8 years of age deserves a complete exam by a veterinarian. This exam should include blood chemistries to evaluate liver and kidney function. X rays of the carpus (wrist) are also recommended because the wrist is one of the earliest joints to show signs of arthritis. Not all problems show up on X rays or blood work, but these tests may warn you of a developing condition. Don't be discouraged from purchasing an older dog; they can be valuable assets. Just be sure to pay some extra attention to their health as they age.

Females to be used for breeding: Dogs intended for breeding also deserve special consideration. Before purchasing a female, ask if she has had regular heat cycles. Has she been on medications to delay or postpone heat cycles (this may affect fertility), or has she been treated for mismating? Has she ever had pups? What kind of mother is she? (Some dogs try to eat their pups.) Examine the mammary glands for swelling; mammary tumors are not uncommon in older intact females. Examine her nipples for signs of frostbite. Severely frozen nipples are not functional. Examine the vulva for growths, swelling, or discharge.

Males to be used for breeding: Make sure that a male that might be used for breeding has two normal size testicles. Check for excessive prepucial discharge. Also ask the seller if the dog has ever been bred. Has he ever had any medications? Anabolic steroids, for example, will reduce fertility. Low thyroid levels will decrease fertility in males as well as females. Also brucellosis is a sexually transmitted disease that should be tested for if it is a problem in your area. (Some countries make a brucellosis test an entrance requirement.)

Other considerations: Before introducing a new dog into your yard, make sure that it is current on vaccinations and has recently been wormed. Check the dog closely for lice, mange, and fleas. If you are buying a dog with parasites, isolate it from the others until it has been treated.

A good physical exam will not guarantee how well a dog is going to run, but it will help to uncover some conditions that would prevent it from performing to its potential. Every dog is going to have some faults, but a new dog should be healthy and should not infect your other dogs with any diseases.

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