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Thyroid Dog-Looking for Help

So I know it’s been cussed and discussed many times but I never paid any attention until now. I unknowingly bought a dog with thyroid issues. The guy not telling me is irrelevant at this point. I just want to know how to address the situation. He is a nice hound or I would get rid of him and move on.

Any direction on who I could reach out too for sound advice would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Todd

look up Sonny Phipps on here, he's a good dude that's been down this road.

it's not a huge deal on a dog you like. a pill or 2 a day, pills are cheap. peanut butter or whatever to give pill can be cheap enough and dog is good it go

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"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." (Edmund Burke)

Lone Pine North

Call me 330-466-1469

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Get deep or Get Beat!

I have recently changed my thinking on thyroid problems based on my personal experience with the problem.

The 1st dog we had that tested low thyroid was in 2017. He tested 0.4 on a 1-4 normal scale. He was a 2 yr old and had never had a tick disease. The vet put him on thyroxine and it didn’t help him much. We kept hunting the dog and increasing the dose of thyroxine. Our thinking was if you regulated his thyroid level when he was sitting around doing nothing in the pen that it would fall too low when we started hunting him again. Took him to the vet several times to have his levels re-tested and he was usually still below 1.0 but occasionally higher. His reading were all over the map and we never found a dose that kept him where his levels needed to be. If we rested the dog for a week or so he might have a good night but the next day he was completely wiped out. He looked like he was dead laying out there in the pen and completely worthless if you tried to hunt him again the next night.

The 2nd dog we had that tested low thyroid was a littermate brother to the first dog. We went to hunting him hard trying to get him ready for the hunts and around 3yrs old he tested 0.6. We didn’t keep him long after that trying to fix the problem knowing the trouble we had with his brother.

So after talking it over with our vets and doing a ton of research on the subject I concluded it was a genetic problem Autoimmune thyroiditis. From what I understand about this condition the dogs body produces autoimmune antibodies that binds where the thyroxine is supposed to bind blocking the uptake of the hormone for normal cell function. This seemed to fit to me because 1) no matter how much thyroxine you gave the 1st dog it didn’t help 2) they were littermate brothers 3) top side was wipeout bred 4) their sire was an excellent dog when he was young but wasn’t the same dog when he was older.

After this we started over with different bloodlines. We bought a nice 4 yr old male without any thyroid problems. This dog climbed a tree and fell about 40 foot and jacked himself up. We then bought a 3 yr old female that was healthy without any thyroid issues and bred her to this male. We raised a litter of pups and kept 4 of them. Then narrowed it down to 2 and started pouring the hunting on them trying to get them ready for the super stakes. The most talented one was getting hunted a good bit harder. She got where she wouldn’t go hunting. Hauled her to the vet every thing checked good except her T4 thyroid level was low (0.4). I didn’t give her any pills. I just put her up and rested her and started researching this problem again. I researched diets that support thyroid function and settled on high quality food that checked most of the boxes I was looking for and switched her diet and continued to rest her. While researching the problem I came across a scientific study that showed sled dogs T4 levels dropped while training for the Iditarod race. I also found where athletes training for the Olympics had developed thyroid problems. So my current thinking is that over hunting can lead to thyroid problems. I also feel that your average dog foods do not meet the needs of dog that are training hard. After 6-7 weeks of rest and a change in diet I had a full thyroid panel test sent of to the state lab. Her T4 levels had come up some but was still a little low. However her free T4, T3, TSH and autoimmune antibody were normal. So I continued to rest her a few more weeks and started hunting her lightly. It is now 10 weeks since the full thyroid panel and I’m hunting her about 3 nights a week for 1-2 hours and she is treeing coons. I still have a lot of question marks on her but things are moving in the right direction. Hopefully this will help answer some of your questions.

So here’s a question……….what is a reasonable expectation from a hound regarding time in the woods?

I know the thyroid thing is real. Last coonhound I had was a thyroid dog. As I looked back on the dogs he came from, there was (4) generations preceding him that I’m sure all died of Thyroid issues. They all died in the dead of winter in their dog box. They all were bothered by the cold and mine was the same. I put mine down but it was for a non-thyroid related issue.

Just wondering is there a point where hounds are getting hunted to much. Perhaps taxing their immune system which in turn aggravates the thyroid condition?

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Dan

Is this a coonhound thing? Or are foxhounds and bird dogs having thyroid issues?

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Donald Bergeron

quote:

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Originally posted by DL NH
So here’s a question……….what is a reasonable expectation from a hound regarding time in the woods?

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Thanks for the responses. I am have earned quite a bit so far.

Todd

Thanks for the responses. I am have earned quite a bit so far.

Todd

I’ve had hare hounds (aka beagles) for over 40 yrs. I’ve seen times where guys I’ve been running with have had to carry there dogs out of the woods because they were so exhausted they just laid down and wouldn’t get up and walk out. I’ll probably get some flack for this next statement.

As houndsmen & women it IS our responsibility to read the signs of exhaustion in our hounds and call it a day/night. Most of the really good dogs I’ve seen or owned didn’t know when to quit. It’s just not in their DNA.

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Dan

quote:

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Originally posted by DL NH


As houndsmen & women it IS our responsibility to read the signs of exhaustion in our hounds and call it a day/night.

Most of the really good dogs I’ve seen or owned didn’t know when to quit. It’s just not in their DNA.

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Training dogs is not so much about quantity, it's more about timing, and the right situations...After that it's up to the dog....A hunting dog is born...