By Eric Tighe

As some of you know I have been around the working dog world for quite a long time. It would be at least 25 years working sheep and cattle. For the last 20 years, besides food nearly all my dog health needs have been done with Homeopathy. Like most of the people working dogs, when I started out money was pretty tight so I was willing to try anything to keep my dogs healthy and working for as long as I could.

So as my wife and I had been bitten and were a bit shy of western medicine we turned to homeopathy for our own health, so it was a natural progression for us to start using it on our dogs. We started out with the basics Accidents, Infections, Grass Seeds etc… And still to this day are amazed by how effective and simple the basic tools in Homeopathy can be. I still feel that anyone that has working dogs should have some basic remedies on hand to work quickly on their dogs, and if need be on themselves. One of the main things I have noticed over the years the sooner you can start working on your dog, there are quicker results and fewer problems tend to develop.

When working on properties, long hours and often in remote areas getting a dog to help can often be a very tricky process. It often means a long drive or a late-night call out. Meanwhile, the work still has to go on as you are needed for the stockwork and it has to happen. Through no one’s fault, dogs that are hurt quite often don’t get help as quickly as they should as we play a wait and see game.

Now there are instances that are, just drop everything and get to help as quickly as possible and that is what needs to be done.

The number of times we see a dog get rolled by a cow or hit by an old weather and think that would have had to hurt. The dog will let out a welp and continues on, he might be a bit sore and by the end of the day, and we have barely remembered what happened. The next day your old mate is a bit slow out of the box, but he is your main dog so he has to show up sore or not. Most of the time it’s early in the week and everyone is under the pump. If you’re lucky you take a younger dog to take the load off the good dog. So, the week goes on, the dog eventually comes good as dogs are tough. But what long term tole does this sort of event take on your dog/dogs?

I have learnt very early that if I can treat a dog with a homeopathic remedy quickly after such an event, that their recovery time is greatly reduced with a lot less complications as time moves on.

You don’t need a degree to know what has happened to your dog, most times you see it happen or you can work it out. It’s just taking enough time and having a few tools on hand to start working on your dog at the first available opportunity. For the last 15 years, I have carried a small selection of homeopathic remedies in the console of the work ute. This has allowed me to work on my dogs and myself as the day goes on, so no injury is left to chance. 

Something to think about – Homeopathy has been around for over 250 years and there is quite a lot of information about its effectiveness and it is used in a lot of countries around the world as the first choice in medicine. 

Homeopathic remedies are cost-effective, long-lasting and you don’t need to have a licence to carry and use them. When using it for the basic health needs you don’t need to be a professor to work out what remedies to use, if you need to go further than the basics you can either go to a qualified homeopath or the vet. We are very lucky that we have the choice available to us. All we need to use Homeopathy is a bit of compassion, some basic tools and you’re on the way. 

Warning: Once you have used the basic remedies for a while you will look at health in an entirely different way, Homoeopathy will allow you to be proactive in your dog’s health.

To see our recommended remedies for your furry family click here.