Will this dog be worth the effort?
 

I just bought a GSP a few days ago and everything was going well. Then yesterday (Sunday, June 26) we were doing some farm work and we ran the dog over. His pelvic bone was cracked(little damage) and his femar(main leg bone) was broke and had a piece broken out of it. He is going into surgery tommorow to have his leg pinned. He is only 8 months old, so he should recover, but I am not sure if he will be able to preform well. An amputation is an option right now, so if the surgery doesn't go well I will have a 3-legged dog. Do you think he will still preform well in the field?

RE: Will this dog be worth the effort?
 

It all depends on the dog. Many hunting dogs have hunted well after worse injuries, but this coming season you probably will have to write off with that dog. Some light/short sessions late season may be allowable but please check with your vet first.

It's a shame you ran over your dog, I hope he heals well. I'd say since you ran him over, you owe him all the effort necessary to get him back to good health.

RE: Will this dog be worth the effort?
 

Pinning a femur is a pretty simple surgery and generally the dogs do really well. as long as the fracture is not involving a growth plate, the dog should be fine. Just give lots of rest over the next 8 weeks to let him heal- might be tough with an 8 month old pup, but it is necessary. After 8 weeks just take it slow. good luck

RE: Will this dog be worth the effort?
 

You got to make sure you work with the dog. Make sure he has plenty of nutrition and it would be a good idea if you ran him with other trained beagles just so he would get the main idea of what he needs to do rather than you taking the time and he might not catch on as fast. But if the dog feels that he likes the sport you should have no problem in making him into a decent hunting dog.

RE: Will this dog be worth the effort?
 

Do you think I will be able to do any sort of training during the first 2-3 months on the healing process? Right now he has had very little training, so he doesn't even know the basic whoa or sit commands, do you think I would be able to work on this, and maybe introduce the gun extremely slowly to get that obsticle over with? Any other things that you think I could introduce between now and middle/end of October, By the way, do you think I will be able to get him up to hunting by then, assuming he is healed?

RE: Will this dog be worth the effort?
 

I'm not a vet but make surebefore you hunt him take him to one. Depending upon your terrain, tempreature, etc. it could beharsh on a healthy dog. I'm talking hunting all day inhot or coldweather. Your vetknows more than we do about your dog, so post these questions to him.

'Come'when called would be the first command. It's pretty easy. My pup already knows it at three months. 'Fetch' is another one that's easy to teach. 'Whoa/Hold' and 'Heel' can be taughttogether but I like to teach those later.

A professional trainer I talked to told me when he gun trains the dog, healways let the dog look for birds while he fires the gun. It's an association he's building: gun + finding birds. If your dog can't hunt then you can build associations with other things like gun + treats. But always graduate the noise, ie. cap gun, .22blank pistol,.410ga shotgun, .28 or .20ga shotgun. It's a big jump from a .22 blank to 12ga shotgun. Remember this 4th of July, keep your dog close and hopefully fireworks free. Nothing makes a gunshy dog faster than fireworks.