It will be one year on September 5th that we said goodbye to our Bud boy. He has been deeply missed esp by Bill. So in remembrance of Bud I did up a video, posted it on youtube and emailed the link to Bill. He was thrilled and surprised to see it! The video clip shows Buddy and our new puppy Karly a Shiloh Shepherd that we have had for three months now! Here is the link to youtube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMjHrk2ztc0 We miss ya Buddy.

Today was Karly's first encounter with a baby. Avery is 8 months old now and crawling. Karly wasn't sure what to make of the little human being. First she thought barking at the little human would get it to play, but alas it only succeeded in scaring her. Then she thought that little humans toes were meant for nipping--NOT! After trying to chase little human across the room she realised that this little person was not willing to play. So now she figured the only way to get little humans attention and that of grandma's too, was to bark and bark and bark and bark Lets just say Karly needs more socialization with little humans.

For the past couple of days we have noticed Karly limping. It occurs in either of the front limbs. Yesterday it was much more pronounced when she ran with some other dogs. So being the mother hen that I am we headed to the vets. I had a strong feeling that it was pano or panosteitis. Vet confirmed my suspicions and we brought home some pain medication for Karly. Panosteitis is associated with bones and growth, "growing pains". It is characterized by shifting leg lameness; one leg will heal, then another may be affected. There are no long-term ill-effects from pano. Pano is a process in which the fatty marrow inside the long bones degenerates and is replaced by bone cells. As the blood flow inside the bone becomes congested, the tissue covering the inside of the bone and the tissue covering the outside of the bone can also become affected. Eventually the new bone cells are resorbed, and the marrow is restored. This condition usually occurs in dogs between 5 and 18 months of age and shepherd's are prone to this condition. Males are usually more prone but females can be affected as they approach their first heat. Karly is now 7 months old and may soon be experiencing her first heat. Pain medication (Metacam) and limiting her exercising is the recommendation for her. This is a condition the dog will out grow as they mature and there will be no long term effects.

I have had dogs in my life for 13 years now and today I learned that something I have been doing for all these years could cause bloat in my dogs. That something is giving dogs ice water. It should not be given at all and esp after exercise or in hot temperatures. Apparently it can cause violent mscle spasm in their stomachs which can cause bloating. Bloat is a very serious condition which can kill a dog quickly if not treated promptly. To read more on this condition follow my link http://www.northernnightsshiloh.com/ and click on My Links and then on Bloat in Dogs! Read and be informed.

This was the day we welcomed a 4 month old female Shiloh Shepherd into our home! Karly is a white plush and weighed 46lbs the day we picked her up. We were looking to bring a new puppy into our family as we had lost our dog Buddy in Sept/06. He is deeply missed. Our search for a wonderful breed of dog, led us to the Shiloh Shepherds. Something about the intelligent look in their eyes won me over. We were lucky enough to find a breeder in our hometown and paid a visit to them on May 22 and the rest as they say is History! I will continue to write about our daily experiences with Karly as well as suppling information on this wonderful breed.