Chief is sick...Update, he has parvo. (Ratsicles)

People in this area (possibly universally, I don't know, I've only ever lived here) do not understand working dogs. When Emma is out with me, she is working. She has a job to do. It is her job to focus on me, walk politely on her leash, sit when I stop, and listen for any command I give. People give me crap about that. I had one person, who I'd never met, LAUGH at me when I told her that Emma is a working dog, and won't greet her unless I give the ok. I am in hopes of turning this dog into a service dog, so she *must* ignore whatever is going on. She's getting very, very good at that. But that's beside the point.

These people at the vet's office don't understand. I have no doubt at all that they just don't get it. They don't realize that Chief is a working dog. He has a job to do, and he lives for his goats. He *loves* his job (just as my dog loves her job). He was bred to work, and denying him that would be cruel. They think he's been tossed out in the yard to "be a dog" like the rest of the dogs in this state have been tossed.

It is a problem, though, and needs to be addressed. He is going to have to be retrained because of their mistreatment. Would they handle a service dog or police dog in the same manner? Chief's job is important, too, and they're interfering with that, ON TOP OF possibly destroying his weakened immune system.
 

Omg, I just spent an hour that I didn't have typing up a long, detailed response and just as I was getting ready to copy and paste it into the reply window Wordpad closed on its own for no reason. So, I lost my entire reply. I don't have time to type it all back up again so this is going to be short and not very detailed. If this seems choppy it's because I'm just throwing the main points back out in no particular order. Sigh.

We got our money back. When I showed them his Rabies certificate and his vaccination records they obviously knew they had screwed up and there was a lot of shuffling their feet and backpeddling. They refunded the cost of the extra vaccinations and grudgingly appologized.

IMO, I'm not as mad at them as I could be. They honestly thought they were doing the right thing. They saw two very non-mainstream looking people (I've got purple and black hair and to be honestly DH looks like a skinhead, plus we're both in our 20's) bring in a 6 month old puppy that was "filthy," lived outside with goats, was unneutered, "unsocialized" and was sick with Parvo. We then excused his "neglect" by claiming he was a "working dog." We said that he had been vaccinated, but were OBVIOUSLY lying, or he wouldn't have parvo. They probably thought they would vaccinate him and we'd never even bother to look at the bill. They probably thought they were "saving" this "poor dog" from getting sick again. The vet is in his 70's or maybe even early 80's and probably won't be in practice much longer. I'm not going to put him through hell, no matter how misguided he was- the appologized, they refunded my money. That's enough for me, I'm not out for blood. People make mistakes.

Callie is mostly right- the first vet we saw didn't do much and pretty much spent the whole time lecturing us about outside dogs. She was young and pretty clueless. She wasn't our regular vet though. Our regular vet can pretty much only be used for routine stuff- because everyone loves him, he has a ton of clients, and if you want to see him you have to make an appointment weeks in advance because he is booked solid. When a dog gets sick, you're not likely to be able to see him. In this case, we had to go to the first people that were able to fit him in. From now on, we will probably just go to Auburn with sick animals. They're worth the trip given our options.

But we actually AREN'T seeing country vets- because there are no country vets here. The people out here don't take their animals to the vet- they just shoot or dump them once they become a problem. Where we live, there is a gas station and that's it. There is one large animal vet that only treats horses and cattle, and will grudgingly look at our goats for us. Columbus, the city I grew up in, is 30 minutes away and that's where everything is. It's the 2nd or 3rd largest city in Georgia and it really, really likes to pretend that it isn't surrounded in every direction by farmland. It is upper-middle class yuppieville, and the vets there pretty much only cater to bored housewives and their designer purse dogs. There are actually vets there that only see toy breed dogs and even mroe that don't see dogs over 40 pounds.

So, they honestly didn't know what to make of us, had absolutely no clue what an LGD was, and just assumed we were idiot dog neglecters. That's just pretty much what we have to deal with here. It sucks, but there it is.

Again, sorry this is so choppy and crappy. I'm still mad Wordpad deleted my reply.

 I see your point Brit.  And I'm glad you're handling this so calmly.  Also glad you got your money back and an apology.  I'm still a bit irritated at their treatment of you, but well... if you're ok with it, I'll let it go.  Well....I'll try anyway.LOL

It's a good thing they refunded the money.  I've been reading this post from the beginning and I can honestly admit that you handled it 10 times better then I would have.   The major thing now is making sure Chief gets healthy and back to his goats. Lol. Good luck to you and your family and best wishes to Chief! 

I see your point Brit.  And I'm glad you're handling this so calmly.  Also glad you got your money back and an apology.  I'm still a bit irritated at their treatment of you, but well... if you're ok with it, I'll let it go.  Well....I'll try anyway.LOL

Lol, I'm not OKAY with it, I'm just not surprised and I can see their line of thinking. If I had no clue about working dogs I'd probably assume the worst too. They thought they were doing the right thing.

There's no point in being mad over things I can't change- I can't make them unvaccinate Chief. I got my money back and that's all I wanted, anything extra is just superfluous. Spiteful people suck, and I don't want to be one.

Thanks everyone for being mad for me though, lol.  

I just had a question and maybe anyone can answer if Britt can't.  Since Chief was vaccinated twice already is there anything that needs to be done for him as far as does he need to take anything now like he had an "overdose" or anything?  And, should he be vaccinated again on his normal schedule?

Ratsicles

IMO, I'm not as mad at them as I could be. They honestly thought they were doing the right thing.

Congratulations for taking the high road here!  Sometimes yelling is the best way to get folks to pay attention to you, but often people will listen better if you calmly show them that they are just wrong.  Teaching people not to jump to conclusions is hard and you gave the vet techs a good lesson that they are not likely to forget.

Did you get back anything besides the vaccine and heartworm costs?  Going over the estimate by so much in half the time made me think that they wanted you to refuse to pay.  That would have given them an excuse to just keep Chief and find him a new home.

I hope that you, your aunt, your mom, and Chief are all back to normal soon with good transportation available!!!  I am so sorry that all these problems spoiled your Thanksiving and that it looks like they may spoil your X-mas plans, too.

When things settle down, you might consider inviting one or two of those vet techs out to visit Chief.  Nothing would educate them better than actually seeing Chief happy with his goats.  It would also give you the opportunity to say something like "Please don't encourage him to jump on you or to mouth you.  I had to break him of that after his stay at the vet."

I think Brit will likely titer and he won't ever get Parvo again (he's going to have antibodies out the ying yang).  and if the Distemper they gave him was a modified live he will get boostered at a year and probably won't ever need another of those either. 

I haven't pm'd Brit but I'd probably give him the homeopathic thuja for maybe 3 days -- that will help detox him from the vaccines, but honestly right now he JUST needs to heal and come to grips with everything.  He's poor body is on OVERLOAD. 

It's a good thot Willow but you really can't negate a vaccine like that.  They are honestly just LUCKY he survived this.  Because they could cause trouble over that.

She is boosting his immune system pretty well and she'll continue that.  I'll probably tell her to later add some milk thistle to what she's doing because his poor liver can sure use it.  But right now his poor intestinal tract just needs to HEAL.  What his poor body has been thru... bless his heart.

One of the meds they typically give parvo victims is literally to help the intestinal tract heal because the virus attacks the intestinal tract so severely that the inside of it actually will slough off (which is where you get the bloody diarreha sometimes).  It's just so darned debilitating.

willowchow

Since Chief was vaccinated twice already is there anything that needs to be done for him as far as does he need to take anything now like he had an "overdose" or anything?  And, should he be vaccinated again on his normal schedule?

Milk thistle will help Chief's system handle the toxins from the vaccines and all of his treatments.

If I am remembering right, Chief is about six-months old.  Right, Ratsicles?  In that case, he will still need his 1-year shot for rabies (legal requirement if nothing else).  I would also want the 1-year distemper and adrenovirus vaccines given 3-4 apart from the rabies booster.

ETA:  I consider the adrenovirus vaccine very important for Chief because it cross protects against hepatitis.  Hepatitis is rare now in the domestic canine population, but not rare in the wild population.

Thank you very much Callie and Janet. 

Callie, what is the name of that drug to heal the intestines you mentioned they give??  I'm just curious having a dog with intestinal issues and all. 

Thanks.

Chief is adorable and I hope he's feeling better and back at it in no time!!

I am glad you kept your cool Brit, and were even able to show them why assumptions aren't correct.  Being that you were calm probably made the best impact that you possibly could given the situation.  You deffinately took the high road, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have been able to.

So now that your home Chief I hope you start feeling better, and quickly forget those not so good jumping/mouthing habbits.  *Continueing to send good thoughts and healing vibes for your whole crew*

One more comment from the peanut gallery... Who the heck would want a Great Pyrenese jumping and mouthing them anyway, even if he wasn't a working dog?  Chief is big now, and he's only 6 months old!  He's got a whole lot of growing left in him.  And how the heck is it a good idea to have a parvo stricken pup getting all excited and jumping anyway?

Sorry Brit, I tried to be not mad, but apparently its a lost cause. 

Ratsicles, how are things going?  I hope that you, your mother, your aunt, and Chief are all considerably improved - your car situation, too!