Hello All,
I know I don't post a lot on the forum but I have a question today.
Last week Wednesday my sister imported a Czech female. She did the usual take it to the vet just to make sure everything checks out okay. In this check up, they bombarded(sp) her fiance with ALL sorts of info about how he needs to vacc. for this and that and the other. One thing they mentioned that sticks out in my head is vaccinating for Lepto. because "it is around". I asked the vet, and tech, what is the infection rate of lepto in this area? They BOTH couldn't nor wouldn't tell me... obviously because they didn't know. This got me to thinking, is there a website that I can find the infection rate of the normal, or, vaccinated for, canine diseases? Just so I can have a good "arguement" for when the vet wants to challenge what I am thinking. So I am better informed...when asked about the infection rates of these types of things. We live in Gods country...Wisconsin..isn't that what they call it anyway. If it is of any help.

On another note, and I dont' know if I should put this in another section of the forum, but I am teaching my Czech female to hunt antler sheds, and man within just a few min she can find them pretty reliably when they are hidden, and we wait for about 20min. I worked with her just a few times...a total of about an hour all together. And she is almost 7 years old! Maybe we can find some sheds this year....

 Quote: Brandon LaMere

On another note, and I dont' know if I should put this in another section of the forum, but I am teaching my Czech female to hunt antler sheds, and man within just a few min she can find them pretty reliably when they are hidden, and we wait for about 20min. I worked with her just a few times...a total of about an hour all together. And she is almost 7 years old! Maybe we can find some sheds this year....

I thought I found something once about your first question. I will look later tonight if no one else comes up with anything.

I swear it had the number of cases reported, state by state. Hopefully I'm not lying again. I do that.

I've taught my dog to find shed antlers, too. The only problem we've really ran in to was finding an area to hunt that has a good concentration of bucks. If you can find that, so your dog has a reasonable chance of coming into scent on something, you'll do good.

Another thing to start doing NOW, if you aren't already, is go well out of your way to keep any foreign scent off the antlers.

Don't touch 'em. Store them where they can't absorb other scents.(outside is good) Hide old sheds, as well as new sheds.

Stuff like that.:smile:

Here is a little vid of Turbo looking for some. I thought I was gonna trick him good the way the first one was set up(hidden in a wood pile that I've never put them in), but you can see in the vid when he comes into scent. Lucky shot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cECOOmUwLvU

There. Now you have to return the favor and give us some video of that doggy workin'.

 Quote: Brandon LaMere

... On another note, and I dont' know if I should put this in another section of the forum...

Yes, probably. Pretty unrelated.

The Jean Dodds protocol:
http://www.weim.net/emberweims/Vaccine.html

http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=2+1556&aid=454

I don't know off-hand how to get infection rates in your region. Sounds like Michael does, if he's not lyin' again.

 Quote: Connie Sutherland

Sounds like Michael does, if he's not lyin' again.

I may not be right, but I ain't lyin'. And thats the truth.

If I recall the lepto vaccination covers only 2 of the 7 or 8 strains out there for the dogs to contract. Lepto also is one the vaccines that can cause some of the worse reactions. Bacically, I believe it is a pretty useless vaccination. I only give to vaccinations of Parvo & Distemper at 12 & about 16-18 weeks & them a Rabies at a year. That's it.

Anne, that sounds like a pretty good time to get the pups vaccinated. old enough, and not to hard on their little systems. I have dug and dug for a site for counts of each disease, but can't seem to come up with anything. I have Jean Dodds protocol saved...I will definatly be re-reading that.

ET-Ask, after that last round Anne, you don't do anoter set ever?

Michael, I wish I knew how to get the software for my camera onto my computer. The stupid thing says something along the line that my computer isn't compatible or something! Dumb thing anyway. I stack all of our wood, works pretty well for hinding things and watching for the behavior changes. How do *you* keep your scent off of the antlers. I have just one at the moment that I got from my brother, but will be getting more soon(I hope) from a guy that butchers deer during hunting season.
Another thing that I thought of, since she will be pretty fresh this season, would it be smart to maybe take a couple with me, in case we dont' come across any, that I can plant a couple and she can haev a "find" so she doesn't lose interest?

Thanks for the Links Connie! I knew I would hear from you...

Lepto exists in deer, cattle, and pigs in Wisconsin. It is present in the urine of goats and sheep. It is found in the urine of rats and mice. It can be cultured out of standing water in many sites where deer drink and urinate.
Lepto is not a figment of someones imagination, it causes abortions everyday on farms in Wisconsin and Minnesota, had one last year on my own farm.
Repeated Lepto vaccines can cause reactions, that's true. There are multiple strains and not much cross protection, maybe not any from one strain to another.

There are multiple strains and not much cross protection, maybe not any from one strain to another.

Yes, I think that this, and the side effects, are the major Lepto vaccination problems.... definitely not unbelief in the existence of the disease.

The second link I posted gives a pretty good overview of the disease and its many serovars. It also says that "Because of the lack of cross protection between strains, the high incidence of reactions, and the need for frequent vaccination, many veterinarians have begun to recommend leptospiral vaccinations only for those dogs at higher risk."

It's something to research individually, absolutely.

http://www.labbies.com/lepto.htm

From this site I read....

"New Leptospirosis Vaccine Immunizes Against L. grippotyphosa and L. pomona

Fort Dodge now offers the Duramune Leptospirosis vaccine that immunizes against L. grippotyphosa and L. pomona serovars as well as L. icterohaemorrhagiae and L. canicola . This vaccine has been formulated through the new subunit technology that uses only the antigen component of the organism (that will produce an immune response) instead of the entire organism. As such, subunit vaccines greatly reduce vaccine side-effects that occur with higher incidence with bacterin-based vaccines while providing durable protection from the disease."


I don't disagree that it is out there, what I am looking for is the rate of infection. I want to know, that if this vet is telling me that it is out there, how common is it? Is this something that if I control where my dogs drink from, and make sure they don't drink stagnent water, is it worth the vaccine?

Thanks for the posts...

Lepto exists in deer, cattle, and pigs in Wisconsin. It is found in the urine of rats and mice. It can be cultured out of standing water in many sites where deer drink and urinate.
Lepto is not a figment of someones imagination, it causes abortions everyday on farms in Wisconsin and Minnesota, had one last year on my own farm.
Repeated Lepto vaccines can cause reactions, that's true. There are multiple strains and not much cross protection, maybe not any from one strain to another. It's also a zoonotic disease, can move from animals to people. It causes kidney problems, a hemmhoragic gastroenteritis, I think maybe liver (hepatitis) there must be another MD or Vet on this forum. Lepto lives in the north woods, Lepto canicola, Google it. Or Lepto icterohemmhoragica, suis, pomona those are all the serotypes I can remember, it can cause a carrier state where an affected critter sheds the disease but remains pretty healthy. The most common cause of spontaneous abortion in cattle, major reservoir in nature is deer and rats, I think.