I was first introduced to Homeopathy by Laura Kiaulenas of BMW Harlequins. It was in February of 1992 at Westminster KC. I was there as a spectator and Laura and I began a discussion about the health problems in Great Danes and dogs in general.

For years I had heard negative talk about vaccines but felt my dogs weren't affected. I always vaccinated my dogs as recommened by the vets and gave yearly boosters on their birthdays. If I was showing them, they got boosters every 6 months. As Laura began explaining the principle of Homeopathy to me and the effects that vaccines can have on dogs, I wondered if I had been wrong about the health of my dogs. I wondered if the vaccines could actually be the cause behind some of the problems and began looking at things in a different light. I still wasn't sure though.

In March of 1992, I had a litter born prematurely and lost all but one puppy. She was a very lightly marked harle puppy. A few days later my Ch Honey had to have a C-section to deliver two fawn boys. Two days later, my Ch Butterscotch, {Fridge's Sister} had to have a C-Cection to deliver one fawn girl. She also had to have a breast removed at the same time. Her puppy was so tiny and weak, it couldn't nurse so I began hand raising her.

The mother of the harle was being very rough with her puppy so I decided to see if Honey would raise her, she was being such a wonderful mom to her two boys. She accepted her immediately. Then I tried putting the fawn girl, at 6 days of age, on her and she accepted her as well. Now remember this fawn girl had never had any colostrum from the mothers milk. I had another litter of 3 whelped a couple of weeks later.

I had a total of 7 puppies from 4 litters. This was the problem I had been having with my bitches. Very small litters and C-sections frequently.

A couple of days shy of 6 weeks, the first born puppy got sick, vomiting and diahrrea. It smelled like Parvo to me but my vet said it couldn't be, she was too young. We lost her. Honey's two males got sick. He was able to save them but still didn't know what it was. When the first puppy from the last litter got sick and died within a few hours an autopsy showed she did indeed have Parvo and she was under 6 weeks of age. I couldn't understand this as I had boostered all the bitches prior to breeding. To make a long story short, the only puppy that did not get Parvo was the little fawn girl who never had any of the mothers colostrum. It really started me thinking. One of Honey's males got HOD and treatment was not effective and we finally had to have him put down. The other bloated at less than a year of age but did survive. The fawn girl has been very healthy.

After this disaster, I decided to look into Homeopathy and started buying books and reading everything I could get my hands on. I realize now that I over vaccinated my dogs and had begun to destroy their immune systems. It was very hard to change my routine of vaccinating my dogs. I decided to give Nosodes on my next litters and see what happened. I had a Hot Parvo here and the next litter I had I used the Nosodes beginning at 4 weeks of age. Not one of the puppies got Parvo. I also did not booster the mother.

In the past 4 years, I feel I have made a lot of progress with my dogs health. One in particular, Ginny. Her first litter, she whelped one live puppy, one dead and then a C-section to remove 2 dead puppies. After a lot of homeopathy treatments, her second litter was a litter of 7 whelped normally and her last litter, a litter of 4 sired by Fridge whelped normally. I had bred her 2 other times to Fridge when he was alive but she did not conceive.

My Ch Betty is another. She whelped a litter of 8 live puppies in July 1995. Her previous litter was another litter of 8 but 4 were born dead. Before that she had a litter of 2. She received extensive homeopathy treatment in between the last 2 litters and absolutely no vaccines. She had had a Rabies Vaccine a month before being bred with the litter with 4 dead puppies in it.

Human Success Story #1

This involves my oldest daughter Sheryl who works with us in our grooming shop. I have watched her suffer with Asthma for years. Several times a month she would come to work gasping for every breath and using her asthma spray. Many times she would get so bad that she had to leave to get a shot but it never cured it. I had just gotten my book "Everybody's Guide to Homeopathy" and my Kit with several remedies which Laura suggested I buy and have on hand. I began reading the chapter on Asthma. There were several remedies for Asthma so we had to try and find which one best suited her symptoms. We decided on Spongia as her Asthma usually came on shortly after she fell asleep. She kept the Spongia next to her bed and when the next Asthma attack happened, she reached for the remedy instead of the asthma spray. Very shortly her breathing was back to normal. She came to work the next day and told me what happened. I gave her some more Spongia just in case it happened again. There was one more incident which was just slight and she took the remedy again. This was in 1992. She never had another problem until recently when she had a bad breathing spell but we were able to trace it to dip she had used on a dog. She was my very first success in using homeopathy. I have treated her for hives with Apis and used Apis again when she was stung by some yellow jackets and within a couple of minutes she was having chills, hot flashes and feeling dizzy. A minute or two after giving her the Apis, she was fine.

Dog Success Story #1

This has appeared in The Great Dane Reporter but I will do it again here for those who do not get the Reporter.

In October 1992, we were entered in some shows in Ga.. Fridge had a good chance of retiring the Challenge Trophy which had been offered for 27 years by the Great Dane Club of the Mid South. You have to win Best Of Breed 3 times and he had already won it twice.

He was out in our yard when a strange dog came up to our fence and was trying to get to Fridge. Fridge was jumping up on the fence and we aren't exactly sure how it happened but he injured his left front foot bad!!! He was head bobbing lame.

I called Laura K. We were supposed to leave the following morning. Jim didn't want to go - he said there was no way Fridge was going to be walking on that foot for some time. It was swollen on the back side just above the pad and very tender to the touch. Laura questioned me at length about the color and the location of the pain etc.. She had 2 remedies to try but didn't know which might work. I was to give him one remedy for several doses throughout the night and if he was still limping by morning, switch to the other remedy. Morning came and he was still limping. Now Jim was convinced we should not go. I said I wanted to go anyway as we did have a puppy entered and I began the second remedy. I gave him several doses and by the time we got half way to Altlanta, we stopped at a rest area to walk the dogs and Fridge WAS NOT limping. Neither of us could believe it. The swelling had gone down - it was no longer tender to the touch. He won the breed all 3 days and retired the Challenge Trophy. I Know he would have still been limping if it had not been for the homeopathic remedy.

Human Success #2

Several years ago, Jim was having a lot of pain in his right foot. He went to the Doctor several times but nothing was ever diagnosed nor did he get any relief. The doctors mentioned a spur but were not able to find one. None of the medications worked. When he would get out of bed in the morning, sometimes he would nearly fall down when he stepped on the foot. He had been in the ring a couple of times and as he was running around there would be such pain someone would have to go in the ring and take over the dog.

We were at some shows in Fl and Laura K was there. I told her about the problem Jim had been having and she "took the case" asking a lot of questions. She repertorized the symptoms and decided on the remedy Pulsatilla. She said it would not be an immediate response as this had been going on for some time. Almost daily I would ask Jim if it was any better and kept getting "no" for an answer. After a couple of weeks, he began to have less pain, and it eventually became nonexistent. He has never had the pain in the foot again. Was it going to go away on its own? I certainly don't think so.

Human Success #3

We will forever be indebted to homeopathy for this success. Jim had been having some stomach problems off and on for almost a year. Each time it seemed to be a little worse then the time before. Then one time it got so bad he was unable to have a normal stool and what he did have was streaked with blood. We were scared to death. He immediately went to the base hospital and they ordered a colonoscopy. It was not successful as they found a blockage. Then barium enema xrays were ordered and this definitely showed there was a blockage. The Doctors wanted to try another colonoscopy to try and get past the blockage but weren't able to. They diagnosed Diverticulitis and said the blockage was caused from the diverticulitis causing scar tissue along the colon and that surgery would have to be done to remove that section of the colon. They scheduled more barium enema xrays for 3 weeks {soonest they could do it at a military hospital}. As soon as we got home I began making phone calls and found that the homeopathic remedy Silica would remove scar tissue. I began giving Jim the Silica. We had no idea if it would work but it was our only hope.

Three weeks later he went in for the xrays after which the Surgeon was going to schedule his surgery. The xray technicians had him get dressed after the xrays, then came back in and apologized - they wanted to redo the xrays to make sure they were seeing it right. After the second set was done, Jim came out and we waited for the Surgeon. He came to the xray lab, looked at the films and came out - with a very puzzled look on his face. He said he just couldn't understand it, but the scar tissue was gone and that surgery was not needed. Would the scar tissue just disappear on it's own. I don't think so, Jim was having this problem for over a year. Many people who followed what was happening with Jim, asked if we told the surgeon that we had given Jim a homeopathic remedy. We did not, because frankly, I don't think they would have accepted that it was the remedy that had caused the scar tissue to disappear. We definitely do. This happened in June of 1995 and Jim has not had anymore upsets.

Dog Success #2

Fridge had a sister, Ch Von Shrado's Butterscotch - who had a lot of breeding problems. I had bred her and about 4 weeks along, she began drinking large amounts of water, didn't want to eat, so I took her to the Vet. expecting a closed Pyometra. He did a CBC. The results showed a very high white blood count and he confirmed that we most likely were dealing with a closed pyometra. He suggested spay surgery immediately.. I told him I wanted to try something first. He knew I was doing a lot with homeopathy and said if it worked, it would make a believer out of him. I began a remedy as soon as I got home and right away she went from a closed to an open pyometra. After a few days, the discharge lessened. she began drinking less and her appetite picked up. I took her back after 2 or 3 weeks and he did another blood test. Perfectly normal!! He said, "Alright, what did you use, where do you get it?" I wish I could say that we did get puppies from her after that but we never did. We did breed her a couple more times, but we also never had another pyometra.

Dog Success #3

This involves another Pyometra. Saffron was in heat and had planned on breeding her, when she started having the typical discharge from pyometra. I had never had one do this while in heat but that is what happened. I tried the same remedy on her that had worked on Butter but it didn't phase her. Switched to a different remedy and she cleared up right away. She is just 2 1/2 {6/96} and I plan to try her again. She will be given several remedies and hopefully will produce a litter. I will update this as time goes on.

THE UPDATE: Saffron was bred on March 18, 1997 - one year after her Pyometra.

On May 20th, 1997 she whelped a litter of 9 puppies. First was stillborn and the rest very vigorous, healthy puppies - nursing immediately. As of today, 6/1/97 @ 12 days, all are still doing well and Saffron has been an excellent mother.

Dog Success #4

This involves a case of H.O.D. {Hypertrophic Osteodystrophy.}. In the past 25 years of raising Great Danes, I have had 4 cases of HOD.. The first 3 were treated by my Veterinarian the conventional way, with steroids and antibiotics. All 3 eventually had to be put to sleep because they kept getting worse each time they would "Crash". We would treat them, they would improve, then go down again. If anyone has ever seen a dog with HOD, they are pitiful. They become very cowhocked, roach backed, in a lot of pain, and no appetite. They run an extremely high fever. Their joints are hot, enlarged and extremely tender to the touch.

Whitney was whelped 5/21/94. On 10/11/94, around 4 1/2 months Whitney was diagnosed with HOD. She had a fever of 105.2 - joints swollen - very painful - would not get up. She would cry out if you touched any of her legs. Jim's first reaction was "take her in and put her to sleep". I told him I wanted to try Homeopathy this time. I called my friend Magda. She had me give her Calc Phos 30c every 15 minutes for 4 doses. then every 30 minutes for 4 more doses. I also gave her 3 - 1000 mg Vitamin C, and put her on a very low protein dog food. The lowest I could find was Purina Fit N Trim - 14%.

10/12/94--- A.M. - Up and walking - temperature normal.

---P.M. - Down again - Calc Fluor 30c several doses - 3000 mg Vitamin c.

10/13 - Up and walking - temperature normal.

10/14 - Calc Fluor 30c

10/19 - Calc Fluor 200c

10/27 - Silica CM

Whitney had an excellent rear before the HOD but was left cowhocked after she recovered. We then gave her:

11/28 - Phosphorus 30c every other day for 4 times.

12/23 - Calc Phos 200c to help strengthen her rear.

I am pleased to say that Whitney had a complete recovery from HOD and her rear is fine. You would never know that she ever had HOD.

Another reason why I believe in Homeopathy.

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