First post :-) OUR ASPEN

I've never blogged in my life so bear with me!! This was my boyfriend Ray's idea. This blog is mostly about Aspen.  I don't know if anyone will read this but if they do I hope they learn a little from our personal experience with the Bernes Mountain Dog. The blog is named Big Paw Berner because I think just about everyone that has met Aspen as puppy said, "Wow he has some big paws, he's going to be a big dog" and that he is :-)

To start off with I'll admit I made some mistakes.  When in search of a pure bred dog please please be patient and please please do your research!! I failed at this and thus Aspen is with us now! Sometimes mistakes lead to great things, but we defiantly took the hard road. I quite frankly am lucky he is such a fantastic dog, otherwise I might be sleeping out in the snow now as we speak.  Needless to say my boyfriend was not pleased with my impulsiveness getting a dog at all.

Our neighbor had gotten a berner puppy last winter.  His name is Titan and he's about a month older then Aspen.  Of course being the impulsive person that I am I did not take time to go chat with them etc.  I just googled the first dog breeder closest to us.  Only now do we chat on regular basis usually about medical problems or dog food.  I recommend talking to people that have your breed of dog because they can give you a great deal of insight.  After talking to them we found out they use to own a berner prior to Titan named Casey.  He died at the young age of 6. That being said berners have a short life.  Something I did not know :-( Aspen is alive and well but the fact that someday maybe sooner then we expect we will have to say good-bye breaks my heart and it's defiantly something to be prepared for.  

I also believe that getting a dog from an excellent breeder is essential.  You can expect that they will ask you tons of questions to make sure the breed is right for you. In turn you need to do the same.  You should ask things about grandparents and great-grandparents.  How long did they live?  How did they pass? Make sure to check clearances too. In my opinion you also want a puppy that has parents with titles.  You want someone who shows and puts lots of time into their dogs.  These people have a passion for not only preserving the breed but also making them better. So yes they may cost more, and yes you may need to be put on a waiting list and yes it is worth it. Below is a photo from where we got him from... just lots of dogs that all have to live outside it's sort of sad :-(

When I think about Aspen I think about the song by Garth Brooks the dance (I grew up rural).  It' goes:

"And now I'm glad I didn't know
The way it all would end the way it all would go
Our lives are better left to chance I could have missed the pain
But I'd of had to miss the dance"

So what I mean is that if I would have known everything I know now I would have waited.  I would have found a responsible breeder.  But now that I have him I wouldn't change a darn thing!  Lets face it I love the dog!! 

Aspen today is doing pretty well.  His major problem to date is with chronic diarrhea.  We can't be 100% sure why this happened because no one really knows, but he has had it since the day we brought him home.  Only recently have we considered that it could have been caused by giving too much de wormer as a puppy.  When we went to get Aspen at the dog farm the breeder had not given him his wormer yet. She picked him up outside and estimated him at about 40 lbs.  He was not he was only 30 lbs and needless to say he was a very very sick puppy.  Bloody stools and constant watery bowel movements.  I would get up every two hours to bring him out and often he couldn't even make it that long.  It was horrible. The vet we saw said it would pass but it never did. We asked our current vet if she thought perhaps she cleaned him out and messed up the balance in his digestive tract?  She thought it was very possible. We are working with them to get him back on track.

He also had an umbilical hernia.  Which the breeder said was fine and didn't need to be repaired.  Our vet didn't agree and said it needed to be done immediately and she really pushed me into neutering him at only 4 months old saying it was the best.  I to this day wish I hadn't done that.  I would have waited until he was a year old. We are currently no longer vetting with them.

Next he has developed some bone angulation in the front legs.  It doesn't seem to bother him, but we have put him on a glucose supplement.  Only time will tell what if anything will be done with that.  As long as it doesn't bother him we will leave well enough alone.

Lastly he has some socialization issues and is not very friendly with strangers.  Lets face it strangers scare the crap out of him!!  Actually to start out with inanimate objects would cause him to just bolt!! He almost pulled me into traffic when we were leaving the petsmart because the automatic doors scared him.   For that reason he entered good dog camp.  It's a remote collar training.  Now before you shoot it down let me explain... Aspen could not go for walks past the mail box... with this training he can.  I like to think of it as a communication tool.  It's my way of communicating with him .  When he is scared there is absolutely nothing I can do to help him because he can't hear me.  He is WAY too scared to be given direction.  With the remote collar it just gets his attention.  It's a physical sensation because verbal communication will not work.  It's also on a very low level... I've done it to myself. He has never once yelped or anything like that... Once I have his attention I can tell him what to do when he's scared and it helps a lot.  Did it fix his problem NO but it helps.  Again a breeder issue.  Puppies need tons and tons of socialization.  He loves dogs because he was in a big pen with tons of them. He missed out on being socialized to people at a very young age.  In addition, his persistent GI problems didn't allow for us to socialize him with many others either. My hopes of him becoming  a therapy dog are far away goals but you never know. I do not know what Aspen's limits are... it just gives us something to work towards.

I must now tell you all of the things I LOVE about him!! He is an absolute clown once you get to know him.  Full of personality and attitude.  He is the most loyal dog I've ever met. It makes me cry to mention how much he loves to go with us.  Anytime we go somewhere he is usually scared but that does not stop he from trying.  He wants to go with us where ever we go no matter how scary that may be.  I'm telling you it's dedication and love and I admire him so because of that. He is also extremely smart.  The third day we got him home he could sit.  He figured out if I sit I get a treat-done.  This is his list thus far sit, shake, down, give me a five, wait, place and his favorite Hug.  He is a massive cuddler, keeps Ray's spot on the bed warm when he's out of town, great alarm dog (huge bark on him),He's great in the car, Loves to hang his huge head out the window, he love to swim, baths not so much, walks perfect on a leash, He loves the couch, He love to shred socks, He can watch TV and does ( I'm not kidding he totally loves TV), he talks to us in the morning usually, Dances when we get home (he does like twists and jumps of joy!! It's so fantastic) It never fails on a bad day he can make me smile.  His new adventure is the snow :-)  Pictures of our big boy below.. Thanks for reading :-)