corbettcharmer

Hi- I stumbled upon this thread by chance. And thought I would offer up my knowledge and experience with the breed. Take from it what you wish. We recently lost our 6 year old bernese mt. dog to cancer. My mother in law also recently lost her 1 year old bernese (that was already showing signs of hip displaysia) Bella suffered from kidney failure. We just got another puppy but chose not to get another Bernese Mt. Do due to some of the issues that have arisen in the breed here in the US. The Bernese Mountain Dog is a great breed but unfortunately the breed is facing some major challenges with health problems. Cancer has become a very very big problem in the breed and it is becoming more and more rare for a berner to live past 5 or 6 years old. I also notice, a lot of them already seem to be showing problems with their hips. Another problem, I think, is the appearance of the dogs. Many of the berners I see around have skinny legs, small heads, and way too much white. I guess my point is DO YOUR RESEARCH before purchasing a berner. Make sure you see their parents and that the parents exibit signs of being healthy and correct in appearance. Another point is that 6 years is not long enough to have with a wonderful dog so be aware that life span of these dogs rarely exceeds this. Be sure to ask what the past life spans of other dogs from the puppies line have been. Below is very good example of appropriate markings. Notice too, the wide head and muscular legs. [IMG]http://www.cyberpet.com/dogs/1dogimages/03759.jpg[/IMG]

1 Akita 3 Alaskan Malamute 2 [URL="http://www.dogomania.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8055&page=8#"][COLOR=#444444][COLOR=#444444! important][FONT=verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif][COLOR=#444444! important][FONT=verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif]American [/FONT][/COLOR][COLOR=#444444! important][FONT=verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Cocker [/FONT][/COLOR][COLOR=#444444! important][FONT=verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Spaniels[/FONT][/COLOR][/FONT][/COLOR][/COLOR][/URL] 1 American Eskimo 8 1/2 American Pit Bull Terriers 4 American Staffordshire Terriers 1 Anatolian Shepherd Dog 3 [URL="http://www.dogomania.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8055&page=8#"][COLOR=#444444][COLOR=#444444! important][FONT=verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif][COLOR=#444444! important][FONT=verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Australian [/FONT][/COLOR][COLOR=#444444! important][FONT=verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Shepherd[/FONT][/COLOR][/FONT][/COLOR][/COLOR][/URL] 2 Basset Hounds 1 Belgian Sheepdog 1 Bloodhound 5 Border Collie 3 British (England) Bulldogs 1 [URL="http://www.dogomania.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8055&page=8#"][COLOR=#444444][COLOR=#444444! important][FONT=verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif][COLOR=#444444! important][FONT=verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Boston [/FONT][/COLOR][COLOR=#444444! important][FONT=verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Terrier[/FONT][/COLOR][/FONT][/COLOR][/COLOR][/URL] 1 Bullmastiff 3 Bull Terriers 1 Boxer 2 Cairn Terrier 1 Cardigan [URL="http://www.dogomania.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8055&page=8#"][COLOR=#444444][COLOR=#444444! important][FONT=verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif][COLOR=#444444! important][FONT=verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Welsh [/FONT][/COLOR][COLOR=#444444! important][FONT=verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Corgi[/FONT][/COLOR][/FONT][/COLOR][/COLOR][/URL] 5 Chihuahuas 2 Chinese Cresteds 2 Doberman Pinscher 1 English [URL="http://www.dogomania.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8055&page=8#"][COLOR=#444444][COLOR=#444444! important][FONT=verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif][COLOR=#444444! important][FONT=verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Mastiff[/FONT][/COLOR][/FONT][/COLOR][/COLOR][/URL] 1 English Setter 3 English Springer Spaniels 1 Flatcoated Retriver 7 German Shepherd 1 [URL="http://www.dogomania.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8055&page=8#"][COLOR=#444444][COLOR=#444444! important][FONT=verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif][COLOR=#444444! important][FONT=verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Golden [/FONT][/COLOR][COLOR=#444444! important][FONT=verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Retriever[/FONT][/COLOR][/FONT][/COLOR][/COLOR][/URL] 2 Great Dane 2 Hungarian Vizslas 1 Irish Wolfhound 1 [URL="http://www.dogomania.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8055&page=8#"][COLOR=#444444][COLOR=#444444! important][FONT=verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif][COLOR=#444444! important][FONT=verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Irish [/FONT][/COLOR][COLOR=#444444! important][FONT=verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Setter[/FONT][/COLOR][/FONT][/COLOR][/COLOR][/URL] 2 Jack Russell Terriers 3 Labrador Retriever 3 Lhasa Apsos 1 Maltese 43 Mixed breed dogs 4 Newfoundlands 2 Pembroke Welsh Corgis 1 Pomeranian 1 [URL="http://www.dogomania.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8055&page=8#"][COLOR=#444444][COLOR=#444444! important][FONT=verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif][COLOR=#444444! important][FONT=verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Rat [/FONT][/COLOR][COLOR=#444444! important][FONT=verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Terrier[/FONT][/COLOR][/FONT][/COLOR][/COLOR][/URL] 1 Rough Collie 8 Rottweilers 5 Saint Bernards 1 Samoyed 3 Shar-pei 1 Sheltie 2 Shiba Inus 2 Smooth Collie 2 Staffordshire Bull Terriers 2 [URL="http://www.dogomania.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8055&page=8#"][COLOR=#444444][COLOR=#444444! important][FONT=verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif][COLOR=#444444! important][FONT=verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Standard [/FONT][/COLOR][COLOR=#444444! important][FONT=verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Poodles[/FONT][/COLOR][/FONT][/COLOR][/COLOR][/URL] 3 Toy Poodle 1 West Highland Terrier 1 Newfoundland-Landseer

Our Newfy is on NuVet Canine Plus. A lot of people seem to think these tablets are great. Here is a quote from their website. "[FONT=Arial][B][SIZE=5]O[/SIZE][/B]ur scientists, veterinarians and formulators began with the premise that most pet diets are lacking the proper amounts of vitamins, minerals and [/FONT][URL="http://www.nuvet.com/freerads.asp"][FONT=Arial][COLOR=#0000ff]antioxidants[/COLOR][/FONT][/URL][FONT=Arial]. There are important nutrients that animals once received when they were living in a more primitive environment that are not available in the modern diet. Commercial pet foods contain numerous by-products that can make them poisonous, toxic and incapable of reducing the devastating effects of unstable oxygen molecules, also known as "[/FONT][URL="http://www.nuvet.com/freerads.asp"][FONT=Arial][COLOR=#0000ff]free radicals[/COLOR][/FONT][/URL][FONT=Arial]." Free radicals have been implicated in more than fifty health problems in humans and animals including various forms of cancer, heart disease, arthritis, cataracts and premature aging." [URL="http://www.nuvet.com"]www.nuvet.com[/URL][/FONT]

Help! We have a 6 mo old spayed Newfoundland. We had her spayed at 5 mos. at our vets reccomendation. She has had (since we got her at 16 wks) recurrent vaginal discharge. She has been on 3 courses of antibiotics and it is yet to go away completely. (seemed to be the most clear after her spay and course of cephalaxin). Our breeder had said that this is common and will go away after the 1st heat cyle, but she will not and has not had one. I am concerned that we may have screwed ourselves by having her spayed prior to her first heat cyle. Has anyone had any experiences with this? She is in perfect health otherwise and it doesn't seem to bother her. Our breeder has suggested putting yogurt on her food and giving her a vaginal douche with a vinegar solution daily for a week. I am not sure how to administer this :lookaround: . But I am willing to try anything at this point before having to take her in for a vaginoscopy. Any information would be greatly appreciated. By chance does anyone know about how much a vaginoscopy costs?:oops: