Registered: May 2016
Location: Palatka, FL
Posts: 5106

Do you guys that own and breed Blue Dogs, have much problems with thyroid issues.

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Registered: Jan 2016
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Posts: 624

My guess is that anything that was tightly line bred going back to the Elbert Vaughn line of dogs does.

Elbert has been dead now close to 40 years but there were people still trying to carry that line of dogs on for years after his passing.

I raised a litter from a grandson of Mack II that I had to keep on thyroid meds from 2 yrs old. We didn’t discover the issue until after the litter were adults.

I’d hunted with (3) generations prior and all those dogs died at 7-8yrs old. They all from 3 yrs old on didn’t take the cold well either. My vet was the one that suspected the thyroid issue. Tests proved his suspicions were correct. We put them on the meds and it was daily administered for the rest of their lives. Meds were pretty cheap as I recall at the time and were given once daily for the rest of their lives.

As many of you know, a good share of the blueticks today
if you go back far enough will find Elbert Vaughns dogs there. Northern Blue, Uchtmans, Smokey River, Sebastian,
Bragg just to name a few. Though most of the afore mentioned are deep back in todays dogs my guess is the thyroid issues still pop up.

Dogs with thyroid issues should not be bred.

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Dan

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Registered: Jul 2004
Location: Jodaviess Co. N.W. IL.
Posts: 3597

HAVE RAISED THE SAME LINE FOR 40 YEARS WITH NOT ONE THYROID ISSUE. <v>

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Blue Dog 1

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Registered: Feb 2021
Location: NW Arkansas
Posts: 136

Bruce I've wondered the same thing. I've seen it in Walkers and wondered if it wa the same in the other breeds.

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Tom Wood

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Registered: Dec 2013
Location: Nichols Ny
Posts: 1566

I'd say no. And I have a reasoning for that answer.

On average of say most blue dog owners don't hunt as hard as guys hunting competition with walkers. And the competition dogs seem to be diagnosed earlier than pleasure dogs. And since blue dogs are the second most registered breed, but seem to be the lowest count at hunts means most never see a comp hunt. But its just a theory and opinion. I'd bet all the dogs from years ago that were "blown up" were thyroid dogs though. It only makes sense for them to be thyroid dogs.

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Registered: Nov 2017
Location: NE Alabama
Posts: 27

I have a 5 year old female that has always been intolerant of the cold if it gets below 40.Used to could at least tree 1 coon a night most nights and but has always lost hustle after first tree I’ve always though she might have a thyroid issue just never pushed her hard hunting wise.But this year she’s only treed one coon and can’t finish a track and will grab trees out of laziness so I’m leaning on going and get her tested.

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'PR' Pollards Sthrn Roots Memphis

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Registered: Dec 2008
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I have tested 6-7 dogs in the last ten years. All blueticks and one crossbreed. It has been a little while since Ive been to the vet but I think most want to see the range from 1 to 4 to be considered normal and anything under 1 can be considered low and may or may not be recommended treatment. I have never seen any of the dogs I tested, with a number over 1 and never thought to have had a hypothyroid dog except one male that I still have now. He shows symptoms of a thyroid dog but none of the others did and I have no other reason to believe they needed any sort of medication other then the number or diagram shown to me by my vet. The one that showed symptoms we put on a on going trial of synthetic thyroid medication and messed around with it for years. It was obvious after a week or so that the meds helped and gave him back the energy he used to have...take him off and right back into the symptoms he had before and not as much drive in the woods. I took him in countless times to check his level after being on meds and never saw his number go over 1.2 and that was when I was giving him four of the .8mg a day. Overall he operated best for me on two .8 pills given to him at the same time in the middle of the day. (the four you could easily tell was too much).

I know there is a million different scenarios and everyone's situation can be different with this kind of stuff but all of the dogs I have tested would have been considered low as to what Im hearing out there but I dont see any obvious symptoms and not going to put a dog on that type of medication unless its a last case scenario. They hunt fine for me and if they covered any more country then they already do I would just be turning loose and driving roads around to catch up.

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Registered: May 2007
Location: southern WI
Posts: 772

I’ve been raising and hunting Blueticks my whole life. Dad bought me my 1st Bluetick the week I was born. I’ve never been without one in 45 years. I’ve never had one with a thyroid issue. Plenty of them have had issues treeing coon but it wasn’t because they had a thyroid issue. Lol

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Registered: Oct 2004
Location: Paragon IN
Posts: 1100

I've never had a reason to even test one and I've raised Blueticks for almost 40 years.

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