A trip to the vet

Today was Arie's first trip to the Vet. I should have gotten Arie there before now for her follow up shots from what the Russell's got her before they sent her to us, but like I always say better late than never.

However, to set the record strait I am personally not fond of vaccinations. Not for any living thing, people and animals included. There might be some good in them under certain circumstances but, from what I have heard there are some pretty bad side effects that make administering vaccines something like playing Russian roulette. Now to be fair I know there are many well meaning and kind hearted people in the health care systems for both people and animals that believe vaccines are a beneficial and necessary preventative. And health care professionals make a good chunk of their living from administering them, as far as what I understand.

Our family manages our farm "organically". We don't use pesticides, herbicides, fungicides or any other kind of chemical or pharmaceutical on our crops or livestock. We prefer instead to use as natural of methods as possible when dealing with disease, parasites, insects, etc. Our thinking is, "what did people and animals have for millennia", before all the modern trappings of civilization, which includes today the wide spread use of pharmaceuticals and chemicals.

There is plenty of information out there to suggest that vaccinations can do some pretty nasty things to both man and beast. For one thing vaccines hype up the immune system in an unnatural way which can cause all kinds of problems including auto-immune disorders.

But, I'll not go into all that here if you want to find out more on the dangers of vaccines one good place to start is at http://www.mercola.com/ or http://healthypets.mercola.com/ or http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/02/09/6-principles-you-should-know-before-making-an-informed-swine-flu-vaccine-decision.aspx .

In order to purchase a Kangal Dog through an American Kangal Dog Club member breeder you have to sign a contract that says you will take your dog in for regular veterinary care and for vaccines and so forth. Which, I understand they require it for the well being of the animals, but it does not allow for a differing opinion regarding vaccines. For the most part we administer our own veterinary care here at our farm, it just doesn't happen to include vaccines. But, for the sake of honoring an agreement which would enable me to purchase one of these fine dogs I am willing to set aside my convictions. I personally believe, in the end, it might do more harm than good. But, I'm a person who honors my word and if that is what is required then that is what I'll do. And I did that today.

The Kangal breed was developed in the rugged Turkish countryside and that is what made this breed what it is. I doubt Turkish shepherds have had modern medicines for their dogs until very recently. So what made the Kangal dogs so hardy and robust? I suggest it was the rugged conditions from which it came.

In my opinion modern animal husbandry with all it's chemical and pharmaceutical assistance in the end only weakens the animals, of whatever kind, be it cattle, sheep, goats, poultry or dogs or whatever. It gets to where they can't even survive without the crutches of these modern trappings. And the farmer or rancher becomes financially beholden to those who peddle such potions.

I'm not opposed to the medical and veterinary professions, they have their place to be sure. When something happens, like in the case of an accident, they are very good at patching things back together. And drugs have their place, like in pain management, but we should not stay dependant on them with so many natural remedies at our disposal. Natural remedies and preventatives that have been tried and true for millinia.

But, back to taking Arie to the Vet. She was a great hit there today. Everyone loved her. And she did it all without a hitch. Initially she was slightly reluctant to pass through the first of double doors but, with a little coaxing she went right in. At first I wondered if perhaps she would do that whole plant her feet on the ground thing that some dogs will do when they are asked to enter a new place. But, she didn't do that and soon became comfortable in the foreign surroundings. She sniffed and sniffed and sniffed taking it all in. Plus there were numerous folks who petted her which she thoroughly loved. It so happend that when we arrived there were no other pets in the lobby either.

Right away they put her on the scale and she weighed in at 68 pounds on their professional veterinary scale. So that is her official weight as of today.

The Doctor gave her an examination and she passed with flying colors. She did have hook worms however, but they gave her some medicine to take car of that. The fact that she had worms came as no surprise since she is constantly eating stuff out on the farm, including a little poop here and there from all the animals.

I was very impressed with how well Arie did in the Vets office. Except for when we left there was other pets in the lobby and she began to growl at another dog. Now, since she is a livestock protection dog growling at another dog shouldn't come as a surprise. It is surprising to me however, that she will do that at such a young age. Then as we were leaving the parking lot in our truck a man was taking a big German Shepherd Dog inside and Arie barked ferociously at it. The man laughed because he had just been inside petting Arie and saw how much of a puppy she still is as she welcomed his affections. She made a quick transformation from placid pup to a big dog barking. I just shook my head. She amazes me.

Then Arie and I headed to the other side of town to get a leaking tire fixed on my truck. While they worked on it we walked to a park. Arie is getting a well rounded education getting all kinds of experiences not just life on a farm. I take her to town with me every chance I get.

Arie has lost almost all of her puppy teeth. It is funny when I play with her since now she no longer has those sharp little things to poke or scratch my skin. She now gums me instead and it makes me laugh. She does have some adult teeth in the very front and once in a while she pinches me with those.

I haven't really wanted to play with her too much as I wasn't sure that was a good idea with the size she is going to get and her temperment but, she seems to need to play some so I do relent sometimes and play fight with her. But, when she starts getting carried away I make her stop and we go do something else. It's like distracting a naughty child with something else when they are doing what they shouldn't be doing. Seems to work with her as well.

Earlier this evening I spent some time working with Arie and our daughter and my Mom to keep Arie from jumping on them and biting them. Because just prior, our daughter had taken Arie for a walk, where about half way into it, Arie began to play and would not stop biting. Our daughter actually was in tears when she got back. So it was time to do some training. My mom happened to come over so it was even better having an extra distraction for Arie. Not just one person to maul but, potentially two. Every time she began to jump or play I firmly made her stop. We did this over and over until she got the idea it was better to be nice and to be calm than to be mean. There are times to play and there are not times to play. I think she got the point tonight.

The first two pictures below are from yesterday.

I was standing just inside the door to the house and Arie spotted some movement. So she became alert as you can see by her expression which I caught with the camera.


Then she saw it was me and her ears dropped in recognition, as the picture indicates. Arie is very expressive. I like that about her. In these first two pictures you can see that she is tied to a lawn chair. It is a heavy iron chair but, she does tip it over from time to time. I tie Arie in the yard close to the house for awhile, at least every other day, just to keep her familiar with everyone who comes and goes around here.



The next pictures are from this evening right after our training session in minding her manners. She spotted two of the cats and was watching them intently.


Arie has beautiful markings.

I like this last picture as she turned around to look at our daughter.