Collies

I don't have a collie now, but I did have a BIG black and white collie mix named Jazzee (1994/2004).. I'm not what he was mixed with though, maybe a borzoi... He was a pound puppy we adopted him when he was almost a year old, someone brought him in because he got to big ... For pity sake, hes a collie how big did they think he would get?  I've always loved collies, beautiful, beautiful breed and smart too.... Your collies are gorgeoous and your beagle mix is adorable...

Collies are awesome dog. :) I do not love the health problems in the breed though, and I find a lot of the 'fancy' to be very frustrating and totally stuck in the dark ages about the importance of health testing. I don't think Kaylee will be my last collie, but I'm not going to show them again.

 Aww I used to have a german shepherd mix too. Borzoi's are also very neat.

 Rocket is pretty small compared to Buddy.

So if you ever want to get a Collie try to get one fron a breeder they'll help you figure out which ones will be bigger or not.

Or you can always get a girl ^ ^

 Yeah there can be so many health problems with Collies if not bred right.

I lost my first Collie due to epilepsy, the litter was real big though so it could of been a part of that.

We have to be careful with all dogs of course though, what you think would be good food for a dog could end up being toxic, like grapes.

In the long run all dogs are special, but there is something about Collies that I can't put my finger on.

 Is litter size related to epilepsy?

jennie_c_d

 Is litter size related to epilepsy?

 When a dog has a very large litter, say 13 or so then there can be birth defects, we don't know for sure why Shepard started having seizures but we do know that came from a very large litter. Several of his brothers and sisters also died from epilepsy.

It's the worse thing in the world to see, we did everything we could to help keep him healthy and alive. We put him on high quality food and medication, it gave him about 6 months. He was so happy and doing fine and then one day they started and he kept having them and you know that when you have a seizure that you stop breathing.
You can only go so long without air...

Diane Stirling, Stirling Collies Breeder, just had a female give birth to a litter of 13 and half of them were just too weak to suck their mothers milk.

Sadly only 4 survived :( She was up all night trying to get them to eat by spoon feeding them.
The ones that did survive may have brain damage from this.

 Epilepsy DOES have a hereditary factor, but I have never, ever heard of litter size having anything to do with it. Several of the babies being epileptic probably just means that one or both parents had/carried epilepsy genes.

Also, there are many types of seizures. My dog has always breathed, through all of hers (fortunately!). 

 That's the thing we never had gotten a Collie before so we wouldn't know what to look for or not.

Shepard was always very timid as a puppy, he was the first born too, his mom had to rough him up a bit,
he always yawned like he wasn't getting enough oxygen to his brain, and tended to sleep on very flat hard surfaces.

I'm sure that since it was such a large litter that there was brain damage. Lack of oxygen will do that. Still I really don't know, not even after the autopsy. The vet was really stumped about this.

I wish there was more I could do, but then again if it wasn't for Shepard I would never of met this Collie Breeder gal and wouldn't have Buddy and Rocket today.

If you don't mind I'd like to change the subject.

I cried for months after Shepard died and still do sometimes today.