Hello, my name is Tirra and this is my entire world. His name is Boomer. I was introduced to Boomer when he was 9 months old, and I immediately knew I was not leaving him where I had found him. He was chained to a tree, with no shelter, no bowls, no toys, at a trap house on the north side of Edmonton Alberta. I was originally there to meet him as a client due to complaints of him being “out of control” and “unstable” as well as aggressive and untrainable. It didn’t take me long, nor would it have taken anyone, to realize just how neglectful and abusive the situation I had walked into was. I made a the decision to bring him home that day.

He had never had toys or any sort of reward/relationship based training. He was reactive and would get predatory drift around dogs (even from down the street behind a fence). He was jumpy, would shut down, tuck tail, and hide because of the slightest things, and would take nearly an hour to recover every time. We took things slow. I started basic obedience training, impulse control, and confidence boosting activities. Soon we were out in public working through all his fears, and starting to work on more advanced skills. He wanted to work, he wanted to learn. It also didn’t take me long to realize that this dog had the drive for bite work.

We started in IGP, teaching him how to feel confident and powerful, how to bark and how to respond to pressure in a progressive way. I had a history in the sport and knew it would benefit him.

Shortly after we made the switch to PSA (Protection Sports Association) and have been training in the sport for approximately 1.5 yrs, it has become our entire life. Anyone who knows this dog knows he thrives in the sport and loves every second of his training. We had plans of competing in 2, maybe even 3 trials this season, as well as attending Decoy preparation camps and the Decoy certification being held in Alberta Canada this year.

Unfortunately, during one of his regular training sessions on Saturday, March 14th he suddenly collapsed and became momentarily unconscious while doing bite work. This only lasted a few seconds before he began struggling and flailing to stand up for about 10-15 seconds while simultaneously loosing control of his bowels.

He was brought into the vet the next day (March 15th) with suspicions of a seizure. During his initial exam we went over symptoms, previous signs/injuries, and his typical behaviour. Boomer is not a subdued dog, he is not a timid dog, however this is how he was acting since the episode. It was mentioned that he had a minor heart murmur that the vet could hear but wasn’t majorly concerned with as it was very faint. We opted for bloodwork, and an X-Ray of his spine due to some previously presented lame/weakness and wanted to rule out a spinal and/or nerve injury.

We got results for bloodwork immediately, followed by a report from a specialist about the X-Ray the day after (March 16th). Nothing. No visible cause for the collapse, or weakness. After seeing these results I booked another appointment to run more tests.

On March 17th he underwent a heart ultrasound, an ECG, a blood pressure test, as well as a heart worm test. Upon initial observation the vets said that the ECG looked normal, and the murmur was mild and to simply monitor it. So still no answers as to why he would have collapsed during a routine day for him. I’m currently awaiting an opinion from a cardiologist specialist on the ultrasound, and results from both the blood pressure and the heart worm tests.

The next step is an MRI. This is where I swallow my pride as I’ll do anything for my dog and ask for help. Anything as easy as sharing this is appreciated!

The estimate for an MRI is roughly $6000 (Not including the other tests), then hopefully treatment and recovery.

The goal is to give Boomer the quality of life he deserves