Do the potential health risks EBD's have make you nervous?

[RachaelJ]

Dealing with non-life-threatening health issues doesn't really worry me so much as I think I will be a nervous wreck about the general anesthesia thing. Honestly, our family has lost two (elderly) dogs in two years, and my own father passed away early this year, and my six year old daughter has really been through a lot with these losses. She still cries when she talks about her Grandpa, and our black lab Dixie. As a matter of fact, one of the first things she said to me when we were coming home from picking out our puppy was, "Our puppy isn't going to die for a really LONG time, right Mama?" It would absolutely break her heart if something happened to Gus before he reaches a nice, ripe old age. I DO worry about the trauma of that. We did buy pet insurance, too, but no amount of money would be too much to save Gus.. it is those freak occurences that I worry about.

We had a yorkie that passed away. He was very young only 3.5. He had a brain disorder that had a rapid onset and came out of nowhere. The doggie neurologist ended up saying that there really wasn't anything that I or the breeder could have done to prevent it from developing. It was just one of those things. My daughter who is 10 also posed the same question about our next animal family member. I worry about her developing a sense that she would not want pets in the future if anything was to happen that I couldn't fix.

In our research, she is the one that asked about EBDs as my dad has had American and English BDs so she was interested. Our exposure to the breed has been positive so here we are. As I'm a researcher by profession, everything I do ends up getting researched so delving deeper into the breed health is natural for me. I appreciate everyone's feedback, it's been helpful.



I think

 

[cowsmom]

i think with all pets there is a risk of health issues as with humans. that being said bullies do come with their share of problems and well health issues. its what you agree to if you get a bully imo. i got sarah and had no clue bout anything and ive learned so much from her about lots of issues i would know nothing about otherwise. i also have a friend that i would never want to be without. bullies have their issues but they also have something else that just makes it all worth while .