1. Keeping Your White German Shepherd Healthy

1. Food

• Use food with a high fat content when you're working the k-9 heavily, as fat is what gives them energy.
• Use food with high protein content for young, growing pups and less for the more mature dog.
• Watch for too much protein in food. This can bring on "hot spots" in the dog and even premature death due to kidney problems.
• Food with excessive calcium can cause problems such as reduced absorption of zinc, iron and phosphorus. It may also cause skeletal problems in the dog.
• Too much sodium or salt may cause hypertension, kidney or heart disease. Many feed companies put an excessive amount of salt into their feed to make it palatable. If your dog is drinking a large amount of water it is a good indication that the feed being used has too much sodium. A vet should be consulted if problems of excessive drinking persist after the sodium in the food has been reduced.
• Practice caution when using supplements. They should not be used unless recommended by your veterinarian, or you have done a lot of research on the subject, as they may be more harmful than beneficial. The "more is better" idea is a dangerous myth. We give supplements to our k-9s and that will be discussed later.

1. Fleas

• At our kennel we bathe the dogs every week using a mixture of 22 oz "Lemon Joy" dish soap and 2 oz. Eucalyptus oil to repel and kill fleas.
• Be cautious when using flea dips. Some dips on the market are thought to cause cancer and sometimes will burn the dogs skin. There are some flea dips that will recommend you wear gloves when using their product so you do not burn your skin, giving little or no regard for your dog's skin (think about it).

1. Bedding

• Your dogs bedding should consist of cedar chips, as cedar will repel fleas. The doghouse or pen you use should be free of any wind drafts and dry from the weather. A commercial plastic doghouse with a flap over the door works great. The main thing is so he can stay worm and dry.

1. Worming

• Worm your dog every six months. Don't wait until you see worms or worm eggs.(Please read below)
• Heartworms can kill your dog: Go to your vet and get the monthly heart guard wormier.
• Natural Dips & Wormier What I am telling you here is what we use successfully at our training center. I suggest you talk to your vet before using any of the following. Ivermectin cattle and horse wormier has not been made legal to sell over the counter as a dog wormier but does work on the k-9s quite well. Ask your vet about using Ivermectin wormier. Hopefully he will tell you the truth about it. They may just tell you that it is not sold as a dog wormier and then change the subject on you. If he tries to put you off, tell him you sure would like an answer.
• A big per cent of the vets use it on their own dogs but don’t really want you to know about it as it would cut into the sales of heart wormier and intestine wormier, which I am sure you know has a high price on them.
• Ivermectin cattle wormier is the most effective wormier you can use on your k-9s as well as cattle. My vet tells me it is the safest wormier on the market. It kills any blood-sucking parasite. It takes care of heart worms, ear mites, all the blood sucking internal worms, ticks, fleas, chiggers, mosquitoes or any other parasite that bits the k-9 and it is less expensive to us. You can purchase a 50-cc bottle of it for less than it would cost you to buy the other care products for one month.
• We give ½-cc by mouth each month to each k-9 and have no problems with any parasite except maybe roundworms, which is not a bloodsucker. They live on the feces of the k-9. If you see roundworms in the feces then you will need to doctor for them. You can get it over the counter at most any farm supply.
• One of the best items to kill fleas on your k-9 is to use Joy Dish soap with lemon in it to bath him in. You will see the fleas falling off of him as you give the bath. Joy dish soap kills the fleas instantly when the soap is used on them.
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1. Wounds and Cuts

2. Injuries to Claws

3. Stings and Insect Bites

4. Vomiting and Diarrhea

5. Heat Stroke

6. Poisoning

Unfortunately, dogs like nothing better that to eat toxic substances such as rat poison, slug bait, plain chocolate (yes, plain chocolate can be toxic to dogs) human tablet like Neurofen in nice shiny foil and our biggest enemy hidden narcotics. In most cases it is best to make the dog vomit as soon as possible. Most poisons take a couple of hours to be fully absorbed into the stomach so inducing vomiting is useful up to two hours after ingestion. I am not a vet and so I will not try to tell you how to save the poisoned k-9. Talk to your vet and be prepared in case he does get poisoned. In all cases, contact the vet with details of the poison and in what quantity it has been taken. Keep any tablets, packaging or whatever can be recovered and take it with you to the vet’s surgery. They can check with the national Poison Center to see what treatment is necessary. If you are doing a search for illegal drugs in a building, vehicle or an outside stash or drugs that may have been dumped by a fleeing criminal –

I suggest you go talk to your vet and have him or her prepare a first aid kit for you to use on your k-9. Remember prevention is better than cure!

1. Ear Mites

• Get a good ear mite medicine to keep ears free from mites.
• Use it every three months.
• We use a 50/50 mix of camphoric and mineral oil. One application kills the earmites
• Ear mite medicine can be obtained through your veterinarian or it can be bought over-the-counter. If you're not positive your dog has ear mites, consult your veterinarian before administering ear mite medicine.

It is also important to talk to a vet and have him set you up with all the ingredients necessary for keeping your dog in top condition. Remember, when you have your white German Shepherd Dog trained, he is no longer an average animal, but an investment valued at several thousand dollars!

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