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On "fetch" and other forms of exercise


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Reading the recent thread that started with "tennis balls" was ... interesting. I did find some very useful suggestions, along with some opinions that will surely remain divided.

 

One thing that is evident is that no one wants to hurt their dogs. I, for one, am still wracked with guilt that I might have contributed to Duncan's shoulder OCD problems through allowing him to play "fetch" as a pup (though I was always careful to "clear" all the activities he did with the vet, and I never allowed him to do anything for more than five or ten minutes at a time).

 

Another thing that's obvious is that there's a lot of collective expertise on these Boards. Although I read a lot of books during the six months before we got our pup, I never found the warnings about certain types of exercise, or excessive exercise. (Yes, I had lurked in the BC boards and had learned a lot there, which was mostly why I quizzed our vet so extensively).

 

According to Duncan's ortho vet, the incidence of OCD in Border collies is rising rapidly. She told me at our last visit that she never used to see it in Border collies, but now they see it all the time. I'd like to suggest that one contributing factor may be that there are lots of people out there who aren't sufficiently aware of the dangers of certain types of physical activities in growing pups. They "buy into" what they hear: "oh, you've got a Border collie! I hope you're prepared to give it lots of exercise!"

 

So here's my question: is there anyone out there who would be willing to craft some constructive guidelines for owners of pups (in particular, as they're more prone to damage?) on the topic of "exercise" and "play"? Maybe concoct something good enough to merit its getting "pinned"? Perhaps several individuals could work together to build a solid consensus containing some useful guidelines.

 

If no one else wants to take the lead, I'm willing to do so, but only after I get my grading done for this semester (and finish helping DS proofread his college essays, and get DH through his knee surgery next week).

 

What I'd envision would include some general warnings about the physical dangers of overexertion and the benefits of teaching a pup to settle when asked. Warn people that agility shouldn't be started until a pup's growth plates have closed. (There are classes offered to six-month-old pups near me; I have recently met a very nice Border collie who was rescued after the first owner wanted to put her down when she broke a leg trying agility at that age). Note that opinions are divided about "fetch" and offer some alternative activities that are less likely to stress pups' joints while stimulating their minds more. Alert people to the notion that some objects (regular tennis balls, sticks, rocks (!)) are worse targets for "fetch" than others as they can damage teeth or are more easily ingested.

 

Thoughts? volunteers?

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Reading the recent thread that started with "tennis balls" was ... interesting. I did find some very useful suggestions, along with some opinions that will surely remain divided.

 

One thing that is evident is that no one wants to hurt their dogs. I, for one, am still wracked with guilt that I might have contributed to Duncan's shoulder OCD problems through allowing him to play "fetch" as a pup (though I was always careful to "clear" all the activities he did with the vet, and I never allowed him to do anything for more than five or ten minutes at a time).

 

Another thing that's obvious is that there's a lot of collective expertise on these Boards. Although I read a lot of books during the six months before we got our pup, I never found the warnings about certain types of exercise, or excessive exercise. (Yes, I had lurked in the BC boards and had learned a lot there, which was mostly why I quizzed our vet so extensively).

 

According to Duncan's ortho vet, the incidence of OCD in Border collies is rising rapidly. She told me at our last visit that she never used to see it in Border collies, but now they see it all the time. I'd like to suggest that one contributing factor may be that there are lots of people out there who aren't sufficiently aware of the dangers of certain types of physical activities in growing pups. They "buy into" what they hear: "oh, you've got a Border collie! I hope you're prepared to give it lots of exercise!"

 

So here's my question: is there anyone out there who would be willing to craft some constructive guidelines for owners of pups (in particular, as they're more prone to damage?) on the topic of "exercise" and "play"? Maybe concoct something good enough to merit its getting "pinned"? Perhaps several individuals could work together to build a solid consensus containing some useful guidelines.

 

If no one else wants to take the lead, I'm willing to do so, but only after I get my grading done for this semester (and finish helping DS proofread his college essays, and get DH through his knee surgery next week).

 

What I'd envision would include some general warnings about the physical dangers of overexertion and the benefits of teaching a pup to settle when asked. Warn people that agility shouldn't be started until a pup's growth plates have closed. (There are classes offered to six-month-old pups near me; I have recently met a very nice Border collie who was rescued after the first owner wanted to put her down when she broke a leg trying agility at that age). Note that opinions are divided about "fetch" and offer some alternative activities that are less likely to stress pups' joints while stimulating their minds more. Alert people to the notion that some objects (regular tennis balls, sticks, rocks (!)) are worse targets for "fetch" than others as they can damage teeth or are more easily ingested.

 

Thoughts? volunteers?

While I have zero expertise in this area (I'm just a country aquatic ecologist, Jim!) I will give a hearty round of applause to this suggestion. I too was operating under the notion that LOTS of strenuous exercise was the ticket for my new pup. Thank you to the poster who gently but firmly informed me otherwise. I'd be more than willing to edit if needed.

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I am not an expert at all- however I agree with you 100%. When Shiloh hurt his leg at 5 months I was so upset ( left hind with possible growth plate injury). The more research I did- I understood that we gave him way too much exercise. I am so so so lucky that his leg healed quickly. Ever since the leg incident we have followed the following diet changes:

 

-raw meat diet ( and some veggies/berries) whenever possible

-egg shells 1 or 2 times a week with raw egg

-Recovery Formula by Purica every morning

-tsp of pharmaceutical grade fish oil every day

 

And just so you don't feel badly- in my total ignorance this is what we did with Shiloh.

 

-10 weeks old running up and down 2 flights of stairs playing chase games (daily)

-12 weeks old balancing on curbs jumping up and over logs

-12 weeks and on- running/walking for 1-3 miles (cringe)

-12 weeks + playing fetch and rough play with big dogs.

 

And of course- he did it all with a big smile!

 

Now at 7 months ( and we started at 5 1/2 months) we are much more careful. Since we thought he (we!) damaged his growth plate we are limiting everything until they close and we can be sure that no damage was done. Now it is 1 off leash run/play for an hour( and fetch but no jumping or frisbee) and a few 20 minute walks. At 9 months we will x-ray again to see where we are at.

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See here for the effect of exercise on the skeletal development in prepubertal dogs.

 

http://www.silvia.trkman.net/

 

Exercise itself is not a problem.

 

Exercise where the pup can't quit when it wants is.

Constant repetition is - and that includes ball or frisbee throwing as well as formal training such as agility.

Going for 10 mile hike at a very early age is.

Exercise that involves a lot of torque on the joints is.

 

Doing too little can be as bad as doing too much. Underdeveloped muscles do not hold the joints in poistion properly.

 

Just being a puppy and figuring things out for himself has worked for countless generations of dogs without human intervention and there is no reason why now should be any different.

 

Throw into the pot a bit of extra training for a few minutes at a time that is no different in essence from what the pup is doing of its own volition and it isn't going to fall apart.

 

As for OCD of the shoulder - look to the breed lines. The only BCs I have know with it come from lines where it wasn't entirely unexpected, especially in dogs. Easily fixable with no long term effects in most dogs IME.

 

Pam

 

Edited to add - It doesn't matter how careful an owner may be - accidents can happen at any time.

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According to Duncan's ortho vet, the incidence of OCD in Border collies is rising rapidly. She told me at our last visit that she never used to see it in Border collies, but now they see it all the time.

 

I wonder if the incidence isn't actually "rising" in border collies because there are a lot more border collies out there, and in the hands of people who aren't well educated about the risks of overexercising a youngster, as opposed to the implication that genetically border collies are becoming more at risk (that is, that breeding is causing an increase in incidene of OCD across the board). I'm not saying there's not a risk and that there's not a genetic component, but I hear of relatively few dogs with that problem among working dog folks, which makes me wonder if it's not more of a volume thing and pups with owners who think they must exercise the hell out of their dogs.

 

In my normal broken record way, I generally tell folks that whatever the pup *chooses* to do on its own (with no external encouragement) is okay. If the pups chooses to go racing through the house or around the yard, that's fine. That's different from the repetitive, high-impact activity associated with fetch, jogging, and so on. Jumping should be discouraged or at least limited to something the pup would do in the normal course of the day (for example if I take the dogs for a walk and the pup chooses to jump a downed limb, that's okay, but I wouldn't encourage the pup to do so). Any obsessive behaviors should be nipped in the bud. I know of one owner who allowed her youngster to repeatedly jump up at and try to snatch tree limbs. She then looked for someone else to blame when the pup was diagnosed with OCD. Similarly, if you live in a house with stairs, absolutely discourage racing up and down the stairs, and especially jumping to the bottom from several steps up. The same applies to outside stairs and decks. Use common sense. If it will jar the joints, it's not something that should be done on any sort of regular basis. When playing tug, don't swing the pup around in the air--that's hard on the neck and on the rest of the body on landing.

 

A long time ago in one of the discussions on hip dysplasia someone mentioned the theory that excessive exercise for young dogs could actually result in a flattening of the hip joint, which could then appear on radiographs as CHD. I don't know if anyone ever did an actual study to follow up on that theory. We know there's a genetic component to CHD, as with OCD, but I personally believe that how a pup is raised (environment/nurture) also plays a large role.

 

Think of your pups in terms of human babies/children. We don't expect them (human babies) to run marathons at 3 years of age or less, nor do we expect them to run hurdles or do high jumps, or be super athletes in any sense of the word. I know dogs are not children, but it amazes me how often we forget that puppies are indeed *babies* and as such are fragile.

 

Puppies, like human babies and any other baby, need lots of sleep. I took two different pups to work with me from the time I got them. In both cases, they slept while I worked, except for the two legally mandated 15 minute breaks I got, when we would go outside to potty and run around a bit, and at lunch. Those two are now both healthy adult working dogs, aged 8 and 4.

 

This isn't to say that pups should be swaddled and never allowed to do anything. We all know that good muscling and general fitness can help prevent all sorts of injuries, but long (and by long, I don't mean miles and miles) walks where the pup goes at is pace and does his own thing. Wrestling with you or other dogs; playing with interactive toys, learning tricks and other commands, some running around are the best choice for a young pup. Moderation is the key for most things. And for some things, just wait till they're older. And of course you can still do all the right things and have a dog with joint problems, but if that's the case, then at least you won't be kicking yourself for having possibly caused it.

 

J.

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I wonder if the incidence [of OCD] isn't actually "rising" in border collies because there are a lot more border collies out there, and in the hands of people who aren't well educated about the risks of overexercising a youngster, as opposed to the implication that genetically border collies are becoming more at risk (that is, that breeding is causing an increase in incidene of OCD across the board).

 

I suspect that Julie's explanation is correct. When I first started hearing a lot about OCD, it was almost exclusively in the context of flyball dogs. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that if you are training a young puppy to repetitively hit a flyball box, he may end up with shoulder problems. I'm not saying there's no genetic component involved, but that it seems that environmental concerns may be preeminent here.

 

I've only raised one puppy, who appears thus far (at two) to be healthy and to have sound joints. She hiked and went for long walks, ran and played with the big dogs as a pup but I did not start playing formal games with her until fairly recently, including fetch. Most of her exercise as she grew was made up of free running. In contrast, I adopted Solo at 16 months and played lots and lots of ball with him, took him running, etc. mostly on pavement since we lived in the city at the time and the only really fenced areas to play in were basketball and tennis courts (he is not a dog park candidate). He has one ruined hip and probably has arthritis in his back. I can't say that I definitely caused these problems, since he was full grown when I got him and the hip problems originate from an old injury he got before he came to me, but I don't think all the running on pavement helped any.

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I think OCD was always there to a degree, but it is increasing in incidence in particular in the *non-working* population of Border Collies. There is a consistancy in who's genetics present it - some actual genetics, and also because most of the pups in a litter go to the same type of homes.

 

The #1 reasons are the pups are overfed and inappropriately exercised. That particular combination is just downright awful...

 

What is appropriate exercise and feeding?

 

I think you need to look at how these pups were raised in past generations - generations when they had little value beyond a few hundred dollars (often less) until they proved they were workers.

 

They nursed on their dams primarily - no high powered puppy supplements or milk powders.

 

When they started eating they got (cheap) medium to low protein kibble, or raw milk and brown bread. Some meat, but not tons of it because meat was expensive. They got bones to chew on (full of natural minerals in the proper balance)

 

The pups stayed with the dam until weaned, and then they roamed the farmstead until they were annoying (turned on to stock LOL), then they were shut up in a pen - usually a quiet one in the barn because no one wanted to listen to a yapping pup every time something changed in the yard.

 

No ball, no crazy games, all natural exercise on the pup's schedule. Natural terrain - grass, mud, dirt - no hard trauma on bones or joints. The pup learned - quietly and as a course of his day - his manners and perhaps the kids taught him a parlor trick or two. The adult dogs taught him dog manners.

 

The pup was valued, but definately not the center of anyone's world. He had to earn that (the prevention of a ton of behavioral problems starts here), and that involved getting old enough to learn his skills and prove them on the hill.

 

His body got fit as he learned his craft.

 

~~~

The past was not perfect and I'm not implying it was. But there are some wonderful things to learn from what worked in producing generations of sound working dogs.

 

It is great to give a pup opportunities to learn that develop it's brain and it's body. But within *reason*. If the activity is so stimulating that the pup can't contain himself enough to hear the natural signals of his body that he's tired, then you must. If every activity you offer the pup encouraged frenetic repetitive motion, then that's all you will get as an adult.

 

I was training a pup once in front of a friend of mine who's old school shepherd/trainer. He said "what are you doing?" I said: "Training". He gave me a hard look and said "looks like cranking and silliness to me"

 

And so it was. In his opinion the end result isn't worth it if the method makes the dog/pup like that. And he's right (he'd loved to hear me say that, again LOL) *no matter what venue* you are training for.

 

Perhaps we should all, no matter what our goals with the puppy, be continually asking ourselves "is this the kind of activity that will create the calm and flexible shepherd's dog?".

 

Raising a puppy is an art as much as a science. Nobody can give you a blueprint to follow. On generals, a lot of "ooh, I tried that...",moment to moment evaluations, advice akin to parenting advice....you get the picture. You have to look at every activity for signficant for both present and future. Is this what you want for the next 15 years? is this activity about what is good for my puppy, or just what I like to see as a human? does this meet a need in the dog? or in me? what takes precendence (sometime you are the priority, but you need to be able to verbalize honestly why)

 

Specifics of exercise with my own pups:

No jumping except over natural obstacles at casual speeds (like during hiking) until they are year or older.

Learn the basics of fetching is ok, but only on good footing and without obstacles. And only to the point of having this as a skill, not an obsession

No agility other than contact training equipment occassionally - buja board, low a-frame - until a minimum of 1 year of age.

 

If the pups is a big fast growing male I'd wait up to 2 years for agility and formal jumping. Earlier is simply not worth the risk. These dogs learn tremendously fast - I find it hard to believe anyone is behind when they are start at that point with a healthy, sound, well raised pup.

 

What I do instead....

Lots of walking and running at their own pace over natural footing. Sheepwork in moderation as they show interest and their body can meet the demands. Swimming. Playing with other dogs who have good social skills and keep the play at a reasonable level (fun, not frightening or injurous). Tugging. Playing with toys on their own and with me. Training manners - in home and out. Target training. Tracking (best non-sheepdog activity for puppies out there imo - can be done anywhere, mentally challanging and physical non-demanding). When old enough, formal jump training over grid and natural footing to encourage safe and efficient body mechanics.

 

And most of all, they learn to just *be*. How to hang out and not bug anybody. How to entertain themselves in appropriate ways.

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I suspect that Julie's explanation is correct. When I first started hearing a lot about OCD, it was almost exclusively in the context of flyball dogs. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that if you are training a young puppy to repetitively hit a flyball box, he may end up with shoulder problems. I'm not saying there's no genetic component involved, but that it seems that environmental concerns may be preeminent here.

 

I agree, for both flyball and agility. I've known agility handlers in the top levels of the sport who have had 4 or more pups in a row with OCD. Unrelated pups, from different breeders. Those handlers say they aren't the problem, but I find that hard to believe. Especially when they talk about careful puppy training in the same breath that they show a perfect a-frame 2on2off on their 1 year old. A skill that in their own words takes 1000 or more rep to perfect.

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Hello,

I posted a similar question in September, which I thought generated useful guidelines for my situation with a 12-18mo old dog. I too was struggling to make sense of all the conflicting info about how much exercise is best for a young dog. Anyway as a result of those responses, we took a Control Unleashed type class with Nico where we learned settle commands, and we the humans learned to identify over-excitement and to make decisions about when he has had enough. Today was a good example; it's below 10F here, and we had already been out long enough in the snow for his toes to get full of ice when he found a frozen tennis ball and was very adamant that it be thrown for him. In the past I might have thought, "OMG this dog is full of energy. He must really need to chase the ball. If I don't throw this ball he'll be crazy when we get home," but I have learned that this is not the case, and as expected he's totally conked out now.

Not only were the responses and the class extremely helpful in that they gave us structured and mentally challenging activities to replace some of the primarily physical ones, but it also seemed to make Nico even more attentive and responsive to us and our expectations (or, I suppose we are also better at communicating them to him).

Here's the link to that thread: http://www.bordercollie.org/boards/index.p...=25642&st=0 and thanks again to those who responded to it with advice back in September.

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To all those who so far have contributed information worth including: I thank you, effusively!!! Lots of great food for thought here. I'm sure it will all prove very useful for new Border collie owners.

 

I wonder if the incidence isn't actually "rising" in border collies because there are a lot more border collies out there, and in the hands of people who aren't well educated about the risks of overexercising a youngster, as opposed to the implication that genetically border collies are becoming more at risk (that is, that breeding is causing an increase in incidene of OCD across the board). I'm not saying there's not a risk and that there's not a genetic component, but I hear of relatively few dogs with that problem among working dog folks, which makes me wonder if it's not more of a volume thing and pups with owners who think they must exercise the hell out of their dogs.

 

Julie, perhaps I wasn't sufficiently clear. In my original post, I said:

 

According to Duncan's ortho vet, the incidence of OCD in Border collies is rising rapidly. She told me at our last visit that she never used to see it in Border collies, but now they see it all the time. I'd like to suggest that one contributing factor may be that there are lots of people out there who aren't sufficiently aware of the dangers of certain types of physical activities in growing pups. They "buy into" what they hear: "oh, you've got a Border collie! I hope you're prepared to give it lots of exercise!"

 

I never meant to imply that there was a genetic component, either in "working" or in "nonworking" lines; rather, I was trying to suggest that one important cause of OCD was likely to be "overexercise". You're correct, though, other things being equal, more dogs of a particular breed being bred (with no change in the incidence of a problem) will lead to a rise in the number of cases of any random problem being reported.

 

To several others who have responded: really, my intent here is neither to ask for reassurance ("you didn't cause your pup's OCD!") nor castigation ("you let him play fetch, even if only on infrequent occasions, what were you THINKING!"). Personally I'm trying to move forward and, in the process, see whether there's anything that can be done that might provide some guidelines that might be useful to new owners of Border collies. (Duncan is my third Border collie, and I also have owned two "borderline" collies, all from working lines, so I don't consider myself exactly a "newbie").

 

I think we'd all agree that moderation is the key to everything. Neither keeping a pup in "bubble wrap", so that it's as fit as overcooked pasta, nor letting it ruin its joints by virtue of excessive repetitive exercise, is likely to produce a dog likely to be enjoying its life.

 

What I have found with Border collies is that you can't always allow them to be the judge of "what's enough". I left my last Border collie (aged 2 at the time) with some friends for an hour once when I went for a walk along a nature trail in the desert. When I finished, it was to discover that they'd been throwing a frisbee for her since I left and hadn't noticed that she'd worn all the pads off her feet in the parking lot and was leaving bloody footprints with every step she took. She just wasn't willing to stop. Yeah, that evening she was a hurting doggie and wanted everyone to feel sorry for her. But at the time, stopping was the last thing on her mind. I'm sure people who work Border collies could contribute stories of dogs working themselves to the point of hyperthermia. Likewise I think it's dangerous to assume that running around in the back yard by itself is necessarily safe for a puppy. Duncan had a blast doing that (it was his favorite thing in the world for a few brief weeks to be let out in the back yard for an hour or so), but now I'm wondering if our back yard (a third of an acre, wooded, on a hill, with steps leading down to the deck at the base) was really safe for his joints. But, as I said, my intent here is not to re-examine everything that maybe I coulda shoulda woulda done differently, but rather to see if we (as a community) can build consensus as to activities that we all agree are not good for pups. Help others avoid the mistakes that some of us have made, that others were wise enough to circumvent.

 

Nicocosmos1, thanks for the link. I read your post (and the responses) when it first came out. (But by that point Duncan had already undergone surgery for OCD).

 

As for OCD of the shoulder ...Easily fixable with no long term effects in most dogs IME.

 

Well, yes and no, in my experience. "Fixable" if you want to invest $3.5 K in surgery, with 12 weeks to follow of physical therapy (2 hours per day of in-home exercises, in addition to walks), at an average of $150 per week. I think we'd all rather avoid this, just as we'd like to help others avoid it as well!

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What I have found with Border collies is that you can't always allow them to be the judge of "what's enough". I left my last Border collie (aged 2 at the time) with some friends for an hour once when I went for a walk along a nature trail in the desert. When I finished, it was to discover that they'd been throwing a frisbee for her since I left

 

But that wasn't allowing the dog to decide for herself. Your friends were encouraging her her to continue. If they had stopped throwing the chances are that she wouldn't have carried on running around like a loon. Remove the stimulation, then the dog will make the choice.

 

"Fixable" if you want to invest $3.5 K in surgery, with 12 weeks to follow of physical therapy (2 hours per day of in-home exercises, in addition to walks), at an average of $150 per week.

 

Is pet insurance not common over there?

Some friends were given the last of a farm litter and they knew that OCD had cropped up in the line a couple of times.

They insured him, treated him exactly the same as all their other BCs and he developed it in both shoulders.

He was operated on and by the time they were ready to start serious agility training with him he was fine - now competing at top level with no suspicion of unsoundness.

They reckoned at the time (about 3 years ago) that the insurance saved them a bill of about £1200. Cage rest followed by hydro and gradual sensible building up was all the rehab he got.

 

Pam

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they talk about careful puppy training in the same breath that they show a perfect a-frame 2on2off on their 1 year old. A skill that in their own words takes 1000 or more rep to perfect.

 

Our BC had perfect contacts at that age with nothing like the number of reps you mention, and most of what he did do was designed to minimise front end impact.

It is possible to conduct careful puppy training and achieve the same result. However, training here (both inside and out) is done on soft surfaces which absorb a lot of the impact.

Can't comment on the repeated incidences of OCD with the same handlers though.

 

Pam

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QUOTE(Alchemist @ Dec 11 2009, 08:14 PM)

What I have found with Border collies is that you can't always allow them to be the judge of "what's enough". I left my last Border collie (aged 2 at the time) with some friends for an hour once when I went for a walk along a nature trail in the desert. When I finished, it was to discover that they'd been throwing a frisbee for her since I left

 

But that wasn't allowing the dog to decide for herself. Your friends were encouraging her her to continue. If they had stopped throwing the chances are that she wouldn't have carried on running around like a loon. Remove the stimulation, then the dog will make the choice.

 

I don't disagree with your statement one iota. But remember, I'm trying to come up with recommendations for "newbies" (to Border collies, at least). I know plenty of dogs - none of them Border collies - who will simply "flop" with their tongues lolling when they've had enough. What we need to convey to new owners of Border collies is that this is usually not the case with these dogs. So a blanket statement of "let the dog decide for itself" could easily be misinterpreted by people new to the breed.

 

Is pet insurance not common over there?

Some friends were given the last of a farm litter and they knew that OCD had cropped up in the line a couple of times.

They insured him, treated him exactly the same as all their other BCs and he developed it in both shoulders.

He was operated on and by the time they were ready to start serious agility training with him he was fine - now competing at top level with no suspicion of unsoundness.

They reckoned at the time (about 3 years ago) that the insurance saved them a bill of about £1200. Cage rest followed by hydro and gradual sensible building up was all the rehab he got.

 

Most dog owners I know do not have pet insurance (we did not at the time). Moreover, most pet insurance carriers do not cover "congenital" conditions (and they define OCD as such, irrespective of whether or not it is caused by genetics - a topic that's debatable in Border collies - or injury). There are a couple of insurance carriers that do cover such things - Embrace and TruPanion are two, from what I've read, but you either have to get the dog insured for orthopedic issues (and have a vet verify the absence of such) before any injuries occur, or else wait through a 6-month "hold period" (in the absence of a vet check) before the insurance kicks in. Anything diagnosed during said "hold period" is treated as a "pre-existing condition" and is not covered.

 

Incidentally: this seems an example of the "exception that proves the rule". Normally it seems things in the UK cost (in pounds) what it costs in the US (in dollars). Tell your friends the bill would have been a lot higher over here.

 

OK, this is the last I'll contribute to side discussions - remember, I'm trying to focus this on "what forms of exercise are NOT good for puppies" (to disseminate to newbies) and "what types of play ARE relatively safe". If someone else wants to start a separate thread on "what causes OCD or CHD" or "how is it treated" or "is it caused by overnutrition" or "is pet insurance worth it" (I've seen several of the latter), please feel free. Don't get me wrong, they're all great topics, but they're a bit distant from my original intent here.

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