This is a page that is near and dear to my heart. Having the knowledge to help my dogs in the time of need. I am a former veterinarian technician of many years and even though I feel I can properly take care of my dogs... there is no substitute for consulting your vet.

While I could write pages and pages on this subject, I am not going to. The reason ... there are many articles and reference materials on the net to inform you that are written by actual vets. I feel you need to put your faith in them. A good dog breeder should not attempt to diagnose a problem for you. They should do no more than alert you to possibilities. Even though I have been trained (as any vet technician has) to give vaccinations, all of our puppies go to the vet to have them done twice before they leave our house. This gives them two full checkups before leaving. The third is done by your vet.

What I am going to attempt to do on this page is put a bug in the ear of any of you who are potentially new Dane owners about issues that can occur, and to plead with you to familiarize yourselves with these issues. This way you can be ready, educated and able to save your friend from pain and possible death.

While everyone has to make up their own mind about how they are going to ensure the health and well being of their pets, there are truly some protocols to follow in the fight.

The first issue I Would like to tackle is CDV. Commonly called bloat. This is a VERY serious condition in which the stomach of the dog rapidly fills with air. It can then rotate, effectively twisting the esophagus on one end and the small intestine on the other. When this torsion happens a series of occurrences begin that will lead to the death of the dog. It is the #1 cause of death in the giant breeds. Some things that we have been told over the years to prevent CDV have recently been proven to be more of a culprit than a deterrent. The main one being told to elevate the food and water dish. You will still find a wealth of information resources telling you it is the thing to do. The fact is... We have been wrong all of these years and elevating the food dish actually increases air ingestion which increases the chances of occurrence.

Things you can do to try and avoid bloat are... NOT elevate the food bowl, feed small meals several times a day ( mine are free fed and will eat small amounts continuously throughout the day), do not encourage hard play or exercise after eating, slow their eating ( a large heavy chain in the food bowl forces them to slow down and pick at the food), try to socialize the dog to keep them from being nervous, fearful and stressed in new situations.  Research Perdue University's Bloat Study.

Remember these symptoms and act quickly! Discomfort- hard panting, getting up and laying down repeatedly,, pacing and groaning. Excessive salivation, unsuccessful attempts to vomit or have a bowel movement, or the development of a distended, tight abdomen. As the problem progresses shock will begin to set in, the extremities will become cold, gums and inner lips will become pale, pulse will be shallow and the dog will become increasingly weaker until it goes down and will not get back up. The last stages are a coma and ultimately death.

I cannot impress upon you how painful this is to your dog. Please do not let them suffer and die. Get help immediately and remember... with bloat MINUTES count!

The following three diseases HOD, OCD and PAN are thought to be related to rapid growth. Strive to let your puppy have a steady slow growth. The goal is to keep your large breed dog from growing so rapidly that his bones basically outgrow him. The first step in this battle is to not feed too much protein. Protein pushes faster, heavier growth that a Dane puppy's body cannot keep up with. Since protein is a major player in puppy food, most breeders of large breeds feed adult dog food throughout the life of the dog. Keep your protein levels below 24% and DO NOT feed supplements (especially anything containing phosphorous and calcium) , no dairy products at all and no vitamins. This can throw out the nutritional balance of your food.

HOD ( hypertrophic osteodystrophy )
This is another extremely painful condition. It affects the pastern joints and although the exact cause is not known it seems to be related to too rapid growth from too much protein in the food.

The symptoms are an elevated temperature, pastern joints hot to the touch, pastern joints painful to pressure and obvious discomfort with movement.

PANOSTEITIS
A growth related lameness. The cause is not known. The best preventative is the management of protein levels.

OCD ( osteochondritis dessicans )
The third of the growth related lameness to watch for. Again... keep protein levels in the food below 24%

CHD
This is one everyone has heard of. Hip Dysplasia. OFA hip certification is certainly something every breeder should do but I just want to touch on a couple of things. OFA certification of the puppy's parent should not be considered a guarantee against a puppy coming down with CHD. Dysplasia has four major causes: 1) genetics 2) diet 3) over feeding and weight 4) too much exercise at a young age. This makes it possible for a dog out of non dysplastic lines to be able to develop dysplasia. A dog or bitch is evaluated at the age of 2 years and typically never again. Although it unlikely that they will be dysplasia clear at 2 years of age and then develop it, they CAN develop CHD later in life with the owner never knowing the difference. Likewise you can have a certified dog or bitch whose offspring may come down with it due to the other causes listed. An evaluation is also at the mercy of the skill of the person reading the x-ray and the person who positions the dog for the x-ray. You can put more faith in the offspring of a certified dog but remember... It is not a 100% guarantee.

NUTRITION
All I can say here is especially in the giant breeds... feed a good quality food. You have a dog that is going to gain an average of 150 lbs in only one year! I takes humans almost 20 yrs to do that. Dane babies are born at about 2 lbs and by their first birthday weigh anywhere up to 180 lbs. Can you imagine the stress that puts on their system? Please don't feed them a generic or grocery store brand of dog food. You don't eat poor quality food, don't force them to. This ties back into CHD, and all the growth related issues listed above. Our food of choice right now is Eagle Pack Lamb and rice.

This brings us to my last issue.
VACCINATIONS
There is a mass grouping of folks who are no longer vaccinating their dogs due to adverse reactions and long term health issues associated with them. I personally have my puppies and dogs vaccinated. I do this in regard to the fact that the majority of immunologists agree that the chance of disease far outweighs the chance of vaccinosis. I know that this is a small comfort to the individuals who have had such a hard time with vaccine related health issues and in no way am I saying they are wrong. Again I say everyone must come to their own methods of care. Just keep your mind open to all aspects. There is an approximate 1 in 50,000 cases where a dog develops an adverse reaction. Also when a dog develops active immunization to viral antigens they may protect the dog for several years to life causing the animal to never need a booster. Variances in this can be caused by many factors however and cannot be counted on. This is why many breeders including myself have adopted the 3 year booster plan. This should be put in motion only after the dog's 1st booster as an adult. Check out Colorado States University's Vet Schools vaccine protocol.

Enough said from me. Do your homework - learn you symptoms - know where your emergency clinic is ( before a problem arises ) and make an informed judgment on your health practices. If you err... Please err on the over reactive side for the sake of your friend!! Better to laugh at yourself for being over reactive than to drive home without them.