Brucellosis outbreak in Michigan - Page 2

 Mi_GSD, 

This may have started in a kennel or puppy mill, but it is not isolated to such places. ALL dog owners and especially breeders should always be concerned about this disease and plenty of other canine diseases. In my experience, many dog owners, including those involved in dog sport have sort of a cavalier attitude about disease prevalence. I have another article to post soon on tick blood work demonstrating what a large percentage of dogs have tick borne disease. One has to be vigilant and know that those one associates with also has the same health concerns and practices as you do!

Again, are you sure something is not in your water or air up there? LOL Seems like you have your unfair share of troubles up there lately!

regards.

I am probably too careful.  I just bred two of my own dogs a couple of weeks ago and made sure they were clear of CB...again!

Don't say anything about it being in the water.  It's the only thing we have left dammit.

MI_GSD, 

The water mention was a joke about all the wackos you have up there that we have been kidding about....

Thanks to Diane for the excellent information too. It behooves all of us to know about this.

Okay guys... 

Now I am really worried.  My female is deffinately breed worthy and I sure dont want to expose her.  The dogs at the training facility share water, not  only from drinking but swimming also.  The puppies (my little guy) play together after the training session.  Saliva, on bite sleeves and tugs, Oh My!  How would you go about being safe?

I guess maybe I was misinformed about treatment,

If you dog test's positive what do you do?

 If I had a dog who tested positive, I would be asking what test was administered and have the dog tested again by a different test, probably a culture. Antibiotics would be a given and, if you read the link Diane posted, you will read that sometimes long term treatment is necessary. It is a very detailed article and I suggest everyone read it and save it.

 Sperna,

The question of whether this can be transmitted via saliva, say on a sleeve, is an important one and a good question. The answer likely is, no one knows. Generally speaking, most infectious agents require a certain amount of organism in the saliva, or blood, the air etc., in order for there to be enough for an infectious dose. I do not know if that is known about this organism. Nor do I know how much is typically found in saliva in infected dogs. I would have to review a lot of literature, but my guess is, it probably really is in very minute amounts. Perhaps Diane knows what the infectious doseis considered to be in humans and we might extrapolate from there (although it would be just that, an extrapolation and the value of that information would remain suspect).

For example, say a particular pathogen is of concern. We might be able to find that the number of bacteria necessary for an infection to be transmitted is very low, say only 200 bacteria. But, for comparison, another pathogen may require even less, and other pathogens require much higher counts, say in the thousands. Anthrax, for example, has an infectious does of 8,000 to 50,000 organisms by inhalation according to the Public Health Agency of Canada MSDSs for infectious substances (and it is currently under revision). That dose might change depending on whether the pathogen was weaponized. 

My comment was made to make people think about possible routes of exposure for not only this pathogen, but all pathogens. So often in SchH work, I have seen completely trashed sleeve covers, covered in saliva and/or blood and dog after dog after dog being worked. Further, the sleeve covers are typically never washed. 

I like to keep sleeve covers clean as possible, washed, and we have limited club dogs using them rather than lots of dogs owned by people whom we don't know. If a dog is actively bleeding, we do not work it, say if it bit its tongue, for example. If the truth be known, probably there are some transmissions of pathogens made during training activities with equipment like sleeve and tug work, but it is hard to quantify just because no research has ever been done. It would make a very interesting doctoral dissertation! However, since the dogs can be in close contact too sometimes, it would always be difficult to know exactly what the mode of transmission was likely to have been.

Hodie,

Thank's,  I'll try to read it soon.   Right now's a bad time for me to read..   long story, but I will.

My dog's are due for a vet visit soon and I'll try to be more informed before I go.

brent.

Thanks Hodie....

The information is great and I did go to training.  I decided to take along my own equipment.  If I don't have it, I will purchase it.  They are meticulously clean (I watched) and all the dogs had to have health certificates.  He did suggest testing. 

I was my second class at this club and my dog (UNA) in the picture at the right, was an absolute pain in the butt.  She forgot all her basic commands when she seen everyone and started to stress.  So we are going to get her over there more often and sometimes to just watch the others work so she can get used to it.  I was really frustrated.  She had her CGC at 6 mos.  We are now headed through Obedience (intermediate). 

Wish us better luck next time....

Two Moons,

Hope all is well there. 

Sperna,

Having one's own equipment is certainly a great way to go and that is what I do as well as much as possible.

As fr the pain in the butt, remember, your dog is just getting started. Many people rush training and just because the dog is sitting, for example, at home, does not at all mean it will sit where there are distractions. I hope your club will help you overcome this. It can be done, but it takes patience and a lot of repetition and proper foundation work to start with. But, one word of caution: early obedience must be carefully done or one can easily kill drive needed to do really good Schutzhund work. So be sure you are working with your training director on what and how to do this.

Good luck every time!