Watering the dog

A recent post on FB commented on water and dogs drinking habits. I would like to tell a personal story about my main working dog, Jim, and water.

Early one morning during the summer (a few years ago – the dog was aged 3 years old) I was moving a flock of sheep, approximately 100, from a pasture to some grazing off property. When the job was done my dog and I returned to the barn to do some work. I notice that he was acting strange, sitting and staring off into a direction where there was no stock. He obviously was in distress and had swelling in the belly area which I took to be serious. I called the vet and then took him in where he was diagnosed as having “twisted gut”, a very serious situation which any horseman will recognize. I gave the go a head for immediate surgery which had 1/2 his stomach and his spleen removed. The stomach was then stitched to the wall cavity which would prevent this from happening again.

He recovered despite a 5% chance of survival by the vets and eventually, in 6 weeks, returned to light duties. He continued to gain strength and over the years has been my number 1 dog. He is now 13 years old and still working albeit at a slower pace. He is one tough dog.

Now what has this to do with water you ask? Well after this event I racked my brain on what could possibly have caused this when, I could find no reports or evidence of this happening to this breed. My dog is a New Zealand Heading dog so naturally I did some searching in Kiwi land including the Royal New Zealand Veterinarian College. No reports were found. I was somewhat stumped until about 2 months after the operation when I met an old timer rancher and as we talked over my dog he said that it was a common occurrence in Border Collies. These are the dogs that work all day every day year around. He told me that they have to keep a tight watch on the amount of water they ALLOW the dog to drink. If the dog drinks more water then the stomach can process it can slosh around eventually twisting the gut. The dog is tied up at the end of the day fed and given a bucket of water. In the morning the dog is found dead. More research into this and talking to many people the conclusion I have drawn is that water is the culprit. To date I have not been challenged on this assumption.

The moral of the story is that dogs do not need a continued unlimited supply of water. Teaching the dog to drink responsibly is what is needed. To date I have not had any more problems like this with any of my dogs. I ensure that they are hydrated and they know when to quit drinking. Know your dog and be aware of him like you would your partner/friend. Look out for them and they will look out for you.

Be who you are and say what you feel....
Because those that matter...
don't mind...
And those that mind... don't
matter."