Being a breeder certainly has it’s highs and lows. Today was a low day as I made the decision to put my beautiful red collar fawn boy PUREHEARTBUL Garrett to sleep.

This lovely second born boy came out feet first and was having difficulty breathing. After assisting him to to be born I spent the next few minutes breathing for him then realised he had mucus on his lungs. After spending time sucking out the mucus and breathing for him he gulped in a huge breath and started screaming. Wow, did he have a huge set of pipes.

He was alive and well, then checked over by the vets when the rest of his siblings were delivered via c-section that evening. All was good until I noticed that he was struggling to get up at three weeks of age. I spent many hours teaching him how to get up and making him walk. He learned quickly and was getting stronger however he started to walk sideways.

Although challenging he moved quickly and kept up with all the other pups, playing with his siblings and Cora’s kids with gusto and never let them stand over him. He was a cuddler and was first to run to the fence to get his morning cuddles from me…

Then at his 6 week health check the veterinarian heard a heart murmur. LIKE, OMG, WHY, didn’t this boy have enough on his plate already…

So today, at eight weeks old, a trip to the vets for a plan to manage him was carried out along with lots of cuddles with the vet nurses.

First up, the exray of his leg which worried me the most because I knew the heart murmur could be operated on, however, a giant dog needs his back legs to function normally.

The exray revealed that Garrett was born with a defect which resulted in not having a socket for his femur to attach/sit in so it was like it was just floating. Being such a young dog surgery is simply not possible until he is 18 months old and his bones have fully developed.

Just imagine trying to stop a 50-60kg dog from wanting to jump and play only to realise that it hurt and worst watching him in pain. My ethics have always been quality of life, not quantity. I have been blessed to have cared and watch him grow into a stunning happy boy even through the pain for the eight weeks of life I was previliged to share with him.

It turned out that the murmur was dissipating and correcting by itself as the vets could hardly hear it. Small miracles however I would take the heart murmur over the leg anyday.

Garrett was a my success story and sadly I could never predict this scenario for my handsome boy.

RIP my little man, run free and remember mumma loves you…

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A point to note that due to PUREHEARTBUL Dainty Lady Ava’s early retirement from breeding I only breed Boo to carry on her beautiful bloodlines and PUREHEARTBUL Giselle will indeed carry on her legacy.

This has been the most challenging experience as even though I was expecting four pups she gave birth to seven and unfortunately I have lost three boys from this litter.

The first one was still born, then PUREHEARTBUL Gerard choked on his biscuits and died in my arms while I was attempting to save his life and PUREHEARTBUL Garrett with a birth defect.

Breeding strong, sound quality dogs with no issues is what I as a breeder aim for however it still sucks when you loose them because no matter what you love them all…

Karen Feldbauer