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lilly316

Dog problem.

Lily316
11 years ago

I took my two dogs to the doggie park today as we do every weekend.and have for a few years. The Dachshund loves to go and just wander around. It's made him a lot more social. Ziggy, the Boston/Sheltie mix is the ball boy of the park. He's even been featured on a calender, because he makes spectacular leaps and catches balls 5 feet off the ground. He goes full out the whole time as he did today. Husband was using a ball launcher and Ziggy was racing. Then most of the small dogs went to the fence and chased the big dogs racing back and forth with Ziggy leading the pack. It was 60 degrees. Ziggy came over panting like mad and then staggered and laid down. We gave him water and he was panting and unsteady on his feet. We made him lie down and then husband held him on his lap. After five minutes, Ziggy got down and ran over to get the ball which of course we didn't throw. He's four years old, a rescue , and in perfect health and weight at around 25 pounds. He's all muscle and goes on a three mile walk every day. He's perfectly normal now, ate his dinner, begged for more, and slept on his bed as he does every night. He's sitting beside me now with a ball in his mouth. >>This scared me. I thought he was having a stoke. He's scheduled for his annual check up this month. Any ideas of what happened.. Pure exhaustion?

Comments (7)

  • User
    11 years ago

    Maybe. Or maybe you're guy was having an off day and wasn't feeling up to par when you got there. I would watch him and monitor future dog park outings. And maybe you can mention it to the Vet when you go.

    I had a similar experience yesterday. The weather was in the high 50's and we (my 8 month old Lab and I) went to the dog park. She loves going there and is off and running the minute we get in the gate. Usually, she runs around greeting the other dogs for a good 30 minutes before taking a break. Yesterday though, the park was full and there was so much more activity, she ran for a good 1.5 hours solid without stopping. I had to force her to leave. She was quiet all evening and had no interest in eating. I thought she was over tired. Well at 4:00 this morning she started dry heaving and threw up which she's never done before. After that she ate her dinner and perked up. It makes me wonder if her tummy had been hurting all evening and if she really did over do it at the park. I plan on keeping her home for a few days and watching how she does. Any concerns and we'll be visiting our vet too.

  • annzgw
    11 years ago

    Definitely monitor him until you see the vet. I would be suspicious of heart problems, not a stroke.

  • Lily316
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    I will be monitoring him closely and besides the walk, no ball playing for awhile. He's obsessive about it..like a kid who doesn't know when to stop.And I will be monitoring my husband who apparently doesn't know when to stop throwing the ball. I wish when I take the dogs to the park, Ziggy would interact more, but it's like he has OCD. Totally ball obsessed.

  • jomuir
    11 years ago

    We had a sheltie w/a heart murmur, first noticed it soon after we got him when DH was walking the dogs, talking to a neighbor. Neighbor asked 'why's your dog falling out'. He would collapse on exertion/excitement.

    I woke one day to find him dead on the bedroom floor, we got to love him for less than 6 months before he died (he was around 8 yrs old). We spent a LOT of money on him to no avail, EKG's, scans, X-rays, lots of visits to the vet. I hope your situation is better than ours was!

  • Lily316
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    On his first visit to the vet when I got him four years ago, Vet thought he detected a small heart murmur but said it was so faint he could barely hear it. That vet moved, and we now go to the guy who took over his practice . He said he detected absolutely no heart murmur, not even a tiny one.

    A friend said her greyhound had laryngeal paralysis which might be what Ziggy has. Anyone here have that experience?

  • lzrddr
    11 years ago

    Most likely heat exhaustion. Pretty common in dogs that chase balls at the park or whereever. Does not matter too much that it is only 60 out, but more likely to happen the hotter it gets. Just be careful not to overdo it. We see a lot of this sort of problem at our clinic, even in the winter (though a lot less often in the winter). A dog can get heat exhaustion any time of year since most of the heat is created internally from running and burning calories. External heat just makes things happen all that much faster. You can usually avoid this by resting your pet periodically in the shade (10-15 mintues is usually enough), have them drink a bit of water and just relax a bit (I know THEY don't want to relax and would rather keep running and playing, but they don't always know what's best for them). Wobbliness after excercise is the first sign... but then comes collapse and then seizures, so don't ever push it. Checking the heart is a good idea, too, but pure heat exhaustion is common with perfectly normal cardiac function.

  • Lily316
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Thanks lzrddr..That's what I'm thinking now. He's been fine ever since last Sunday's collapse. Even though we offer water all the time, he's hyper and is obsessed with the ball chasing. I think the person who was throwing it(husband) learned his lesson about taking breaks. Even on our walk yesterday and it was in the upper 70's, Ziggy didn't have any problems. He even stopped and played with a friend and was fine. I think it was shear exhaustion and dehydration.