To the best of my recollection, someone posted that health insurance should
be purchased for a Berner for at least the first two years. I would
disagree with this. Cancer does not generally seem to occur in this breed
that early. Buy coverage for the dog's entire life. For example, Moses'
chemotherapy for bone cancer cost one thousand dollars per session, the bone
biopsy cost about six hundred dollars, and the amputation cost about one
thousand dollars.
Moses will, please God, be nine years old in August and is "bursting" with
happiness and completely mobile.
I think three events should be mandatory at National Specialties; draft,
herding, and conformation, with the primary emphasis being on conformation;
let us first, get dog shows back to an evaluation of/competition between
potential or already breeding dogs and second, test the breed for the
tasks that would be required of it on the farm.
Last night at 10PM on Fox News, they did a segment on home insurance and dog
ownership. Five million people are bitten by dogs every year. They
interviewed a lady who lost her home insurance because the company she used
deemed Dals (she has a sweet, well-trained one) aggressive. Other dogs "on
the lists" are Pit Bulls, Rotties, GSDs, and Black Labs. Are Berners on any
lists yet? I fear they might well be on all lists in the not too distant
future due to the population explosion in the breed, pet store pups,
backyard breeders, etc.
Lisa Allen
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