I’ve decided I’m going to add some veterinary/health content to my Blog. Generalities about issues/conditions relevant to the agility competitor. I of course can’t offer specific medical advice to anyone–you should ALWAYS consult your veterinarian with any questions or concerns. That’s what they’re THERE for. I just hope to help give you some food for thought, and maybe a starting place for issues that may come up. I hope to be adding some buttons to make it easier to sort through the blog by topic, specifically separating out agility-related posts from health-related posts. If you have a specific topic you’d like me to cover, just comment or send me a message. You might not be the only person with that question. So, first post is about something I mentioned on Facebook the other day—Canine Influenza…
Dogs with canine influenza should NOT be frolicking in the bluebonnets…
There’s been some media coverage lately about Canine Influenza, the dog flu. It is a mutated horse flu virus, that has actually been recognized since 2004. The most severe outbreaks have been in greyhound kennels in Florida, and more recently, here in Texas, but it has been documented in 38 states to date.
Canine influenza is a respiratory virus that affects dogs in a similar fashion as the flu virus does to people. It causes respiratory illness, and most dogs will have the mild version (80%). The signs of canine influenza are typical of most respiratory viruses–cough, fever, nasal discharge–but canine influenza has the potential to become more severe then the average infection. Just like with people, a few dogs will develop these signs, and a small percentage can even die from the infection. The difference between the typical “kennel cough” and canine influenza is similar to the difference in people between a cold, and the flu. The virus is spread in the air and through contact, so dogs that are in close proximity to other dogs (dog shows, dog parks, boarding, etc), will be at higher risk for exposure.
So, two companies now have a vaccine against Canine Influenza. It isn’t perfect. It doesn’t prevent infection, it lessens clinical signs. But to me, for the high risk dog, it’s still worth considering. None of us want to overvaccinate our dogs, though I’m sure I differ from some in what I consider overvaccination. I’ve had canine influenza on my radar for awhile now, when the vaccine first became available. I dismissed a lot of the hype, because the fact was, we weren’t seeing much of anything in Texas. Then, last Thanksgiving, there was a confirmed outbreak in San Antonio. And a couple of weeks ago, there were several deaths at the local greyhound track in League City, unconfirmed, but highly suspicious of canine influenza. I took another hard look, and decided to go ahead and vaccinate my two actively competing dogs with the flu vaccine.
I had a couple of reasons. The number of cases does seem to be increasing, and becoming more prevalent in the area. I have not seen any reactions from the vaccine itself. And, we’re about to be into our “indoor” trial season. We don’t have a lot of summer trials here in Texas, but the ones we do are indoors, in air-conditioning. Dogs will be in enclosed buildings, and in much closer confines, so they are at much higher risk of exposure. I decided to focus on protecting my dogs now, and see what course the virus takes in the future.
So, talk to your vet about canine influenza. Find out if it’s increasing in prevalence in your area. Find out their experience with the vaccine. And make a choice for yourself. Don’t buy into media hype, but don’t dismiss it outright as another unnecessary vaccine either. Be educated, and make your decision based upon THAT. If you do decide to vaccinate, the vaccine will need to boostered in 3 weeks, and then annually, to continue to provide immunity.
If you want more information, you can check out the CDC’s Website
If your dog is coughing or showing respiratory signs, separate them from other dogs, and make an appointment with your veterinarian.
Health by .
So, I will admit my training has been somewhat…unmotivated lately. So much of my focus has been on the health of my dogs, that I haven’t really felt comfortable focusing on skill training. My whole focus was on Trip and Nationals, and since I decided NOT to go to Tryouts, I didn’t have that extra push to keep working hard heading into Tryouts. So while with Trip, my focus is going to remain on having fun, rewarding lots, and staying stress-free, it’s time to get down to it with Ticket. I have a list of things I know we need to work on. The first two things are for ALL agility courses–jumping, and weave pole entries. The rest is all pretty specific to saving hundredths of a second, mastering international challenges, and doing whatever is necessary to win Nationals and the World Championships. No small goals for us 🙂
I think it’s easy when you have a young, talented dog, to just take it easy, work your basics, and gain a false sense of security when you run your average AKC course, and find very few that offer much challenge. I’m not saying you necessarily Q everytime, just that it’s rarely the *course* that beats you. You don’t walk out onto a course and say, wow, I have no idea how we will do this. The BASIC skill set is there. But since US courses don’t require winning to advance, and don’t contain some of the same challenges that international courses do, you don’t have the same incentive to work on more advanced skills. There is no immediate reward for doing so–you’re never “tested” on that knowledge. I think that’s the rut I’ve fallen into. Ticket definitely has more foundation in those type of skills then previous dogs, but working them has been put on the back burner. It’s time to turn up the heat.
Watching World Team tryouts this weekend was bittersweet. I missed being there much more then I thought I would. It was the right decision to make at the time, and probably would still be now. Trip didn’t need that stress at the point–she’s started running like her old self, but every now and then I see a glimmer of ring stress when a mistake is made. Better to take it easy for awhile, and focus on fun. Even knowing that, it’s hard though. On the plus side, watching was inspirational. The courses had some amazing challenges, and most were pretty brutal as far as Q rate. And the thought came back–“I can DO that.” OK, maybe not yet with Ticket. But she sure has the potential to be there. So, add that to the Tulsa goal–Minnesota, 2012. 🙂 Lots of work left to do yet, but I seem to have found the motivation to get it in gear.
Congrats to the new Team members, and to those who will get that phone call later this month! The US will field another amazing team–here’s to Gold.
So, things haven’t slowed down since AKC Nationals. Trip took the week off, but I did start shifting my focus to Ticket. The first thing I’m trying to work on is jumping. It’s not that she’s a “bad” jumper, she can just be careless when she gets very high, and she’s so fast that my handling is often late. I’m trying something new to try to help. She can do static and calm jumping exercises all day, but as soon as I add speed and handling, she will start dropping bars. So I’ve started stopping her when she drops a bar, and restarting the sequence. When she does it and keeps the bars up, big reward. I’m trying to be neutral and not make it any more of a correction then “you don’t get to keep going.” So far, it really seems to be helping. I can definitely see her THINKING about her jumping and paying attention to what she’s doing. And it seemed to help at the trial–she had 4/6 runs with no bars. I’m super proud of my thinking baby girl. It’s definitely the #1 fault we have, and I think if we can overcome that, we’ll have some serious progress. Most other things on my “list” to work on are much more nit-picky–tightening turns, rear cross work, etc.
At the Lake Charles trial, Trip ran FANTASTIC! She faulted both standard runs (?!), but she was SO FAST in JWW–just like my old Trip. I was happy with how she ran, and with her attitude in the ring. That’s going to continue to be my focus. Ticket got her first MX and MXF leg, as well as a Time to Beat leg. She was very close in both her JWW runs, and I was really proud of how she ran. Ticket has shows the next two weekends, and I’m hoping we might be able to eek out our first QQ. Tough, but it could happen. I’ll post video later this week.
This week will be a little tougher because I’ve been gone, so no training. I just finished my acupuncture certification, so it was worth it, but flying in Friday night and showing Saturday morning after no work all week is not the ideal way to get Ticket ready for a trial. 🙂 I suspect she will be a little full of herself, but will not doubt have a blast.
Happy trials–enjoy your dog this weekend!
