I liked my new family, they gave me lots of toys to play with and nice food. I wanted to eat the food but I did not feel well so I couldn't. This worried my mom a lot but I could not tell her how I was feeling. I had to have my needles at about 12 weeks to stop me getting sick again and then I was taught to walk on a lead. My folks took me for long walks. I couldn't keep up, I had pain in my hips but I wasn't able to tell them about it. The pet shop people said it was OK for me to go for walks so they took me for walks as they thought they were being kind. The pain in my hips wouldn't go away and it got worse and worse until it made me limp. I was only five months old then. My mom saw me limping and took me to the vet again. This vet was attached to the pet shop from where I was bought and I had been given a clean bill of health at the time I was bought ..... whatever that means!!! The vet poked me in the stomach and said I was getting bloat, he did not want to look at my hips, I wonder why!!! He gave me some more injections and told my mom to bring me back to him in another three months if she was still worried. My mom was frustrated by all this and took me to another vet. He was nice, I had to stay at the vet hospital all night and I was scared without my mom there. They made me sleep for a while and then I could go home. I was real pleased when my folks came to take me home again. Before we went home the vet and my mom were talking about me and my mom was crying, they were talking about my hips, the vet said to her that I had severe hip dysplasia and my elbows were starting to get sick. Mom was upset for ages but I gave her lots of kisses and slurps to make her feel better and make her smile again. Mom talked with dad for a long time about me, I was scared, mom said that the vet said I should go to sleep for a long time but mom told him no. I was glad mom said no despite the pain. My folks also talked about operations on my legs, that made me real scared. Mom took me to another vet and begged him to help me, he was not real happy about helping me but he did.

I was only six months old when I had my first operation on my hips. My mom and dad took a video of me the day before the operation and I felt like a film star but I was still frightened. I had my first hip operation and I did not see my mom for two whole days, she wanted to visit me but the vet said that it would just upset me so she wasn't allowed to. All the hair on my left hip had been shaved off and it really really hurt bad now. My folks came to take me home, boy was I glad to see them again. During the night I tried to get in the sofa and got my bad leg twisted up and I screamed for my mom to help me. I screamed and screamed, the pain was so bad that mom had to call the vet to see what she could give me to get rid of the pain and calm me down. Dogs can't have much in the way of pain-killers so I just had to wait for the extra pain to go away. I could not walk so they had to carry me out to the toilet and for a bit of exercise for about two weeks as I was not able to or allowed to bear any weight on my leg.

About three months later I had to have an operation on my right hip. My right hip had been better than my left one according to my Xrays but it had got much worse since my first operation as it was having more strain put on it. That really hurt too and I had to be left at the vet again for another two days. When my mom came to pick me up I had just chewed out my stiches. The vet was real mad at me and told my mom I was bad, my mom got mad at the vet for getting mad at me (teheehee). She told him that he had no right to get mad at me after all I had been through. When I got home I had my brand new very own bed, so that my new friend Maddison another St Bernard, did not jump on me and hurt me. Maddison was horrid to me in the beginning. She used to drink all my water out of my bowl or push the bowl so far way that I could not reach it. Mom used to scold her but she didn't care. I even used to let her on my bed but she used to bite my neck and feet and really annoy me. She was only a tiny puppy then like I once was. Maddison and me became the best of friends, she knew that my body was weak and I was full of pain. As she got older she learned to play with me gently and protect me and she did until the day I died.

As I got older the pain in my elbows got worse and worse and I had to go back to the vet again. My mom was told I had severe elbow dysplasia and arthritis and that I needed more operations to try and fix it up. This made my mom so sad, she said it wasn't fair for me to have to suffer this way coz I had never hurt anyone or anything. I had to take Prednisolone to help with the pain but it did horrid things to me and that made my mom upset too. My mom gave me some new tablets to try (Carprofen) that were better for me, I felt much better but my skin broke down so I had to go back on the Prednisolone. My mom and dad gave me a swimming pool to exercise in coz my feet got sore when I walked on the road and I really enjoyed that. I stood on the steps with my two front legs and let my body float in the water and all my pain went away while I did that.

My mom started asking lots of questions and started to hear things about my breeder that made her really wild and upset because she had always thought that my hip dysplasia and elbow dysplasia was just a case of bad luck for us all. My breeder was not Xraying her St Bernards hips and elbows for dysplasia that she bred from and my real mom and me were not cared for properly during the pregnancy and after I was born. My mom found out who my breeder was and that she had been suspended from the Canine Association for cruelty and neglect and this made my mom really really mad. My mom showed me to a lot of people who had St Bernards from my breeder who were also sick and she got in touch with the TV people to help her do something about my breeder and make her stop doing this to St Bernards just like me. The TV people came and I was on telly with some of my friends. My mom got lots of phone calls after the show and she helped those people and their St Bernards too.

My mom fixed up the pet shop people real good too. She took them to court (and won the case) because she had spent a lot of money on operations for me and because they knew all about my breeder and what she was doing with her dogs but they had told my mom and dad that my real parents had been Xrayed and had perfect hips. My breeder tried to get mom into trouble with the police (but it didn't work) because all this was starting to affect her income. My mom didn't care about that coz she loved me so much and she was hurting real bad seeing me in so much pain.

I died not long after my eighth birthday as my body could not take any more, my mom used to sometimes just cuddle me and cry and cry coz she knew that my life was full of pain that could have been prevented and that my time with her was coming to an end. My mom said I should tell you all about me so that if you ever want share your life with a St Bernard you will know that we suffer from genetic diseases but some responsible, registered breeders are Xraying their dogs to try and make sure that St Bernards like me don't have to suffer like I did. She also wanted me to tell you that no reputable breeders sell their puppies to retail outlets because good breeders like to see who is buying their puppies to make sure they go to good homes with proper instructions for care. My mom says that if you want to buy a St Bernard that you must learn lots and lots about St Bernards before buying one and that you must check for screening certificates and understand what the grades mean. If the breeders you talk to sound too good to be true - then they probably are. If you do not see the certificates, assume the parents to be dysplastic unless proven otherwise and go and buy somewhere else. Sometimes even good breeders have trouble with hip and elbow dysplasia but you will get to know what is good and what is bad if you do your homework.

St Bernards like me suffer from many genetic diseases and you must find out what they are before you buy one. If there is no demand for St Bernards like me in pet shops then maybe the bad breeders will breed less and one day disappear so that all the St Bernards in the world will have the strong healthy bodies that they need to enjoy a long and pain free life. My mom didn't do her homework before buying me but we were so glad we found each other, she says that it must have been God's will that I came to her. I was so glad that she stopped my breeder from producing more saint puppies coz by doing that she has saved many other St Bernards from ending up like I did. If you be strong like my mommy and refuse to buy your St Bernards from bad breeders then my life sentence of suffering and premature death will not have been in vain.