Comment: Travelling with Dogs

Thanks for the tips Steve O.

I never thought of a First Aid kit just for our dog. I'll get up to the vets and sort that out.

eighty matey

Hi Steve

I was always under the impression that once a dog takes a bait, there is nothing to save the poor dog.

Some friends of mine that have station country west of Broken Hill, but in SA lost 2 of their own dogs from baits that they had put out for dingos.

When they found the first dog dead, they put its body onto the back of their tray top. There other health dog could sense that the other dog was dead and started to lick the poor dead dog around the face, in the hope that it could be revived.

12 hours later, they had to shoot that other dog, as they could not bare the pain of seeing it suffer in such pain and dyeing a painful death, all from licking the face area of the dog that took the bait.

If you ever get to Laverton in WA, there are signs up in the Caravan Park advising all people that travel with dogs how serious a problem it can be. There have been cases where dogs have died from licking tyres of vehicles that have driven over baits.


Cheers


Stephen

The use of the fox/wild dog bait 10-80 is pretty widespread.

However, one thing that must be done is in areas where it's used signs need to be displayed. This doesn't mean that they will be though.

I travel with two four legged vacuum cleaners, who will eat anything, so I keep a constant watch on them. When I stop on the road I'll have a scout around first to ensure that bait layers haven't been at work.

When I stop long enough to do so, not necessarily wee wee stops, I tie them up to the van. That stops them wandering away out of the supervised area.

There is an antidote to 10-80, but only vets carry it, and it must be administered pretty soon after the bait has been ingested. I didn't know that it was in tablet form, I believed it was administered by injection.

Growing up in an area where the paralysis tick was abundant, and after loosing a couple of dogs, we got wise. A dog will usually scratch a tick out as soon as it penetrates the skin as the point of penetration gets itchy. But... if they have a collar on they can't remove the tick from beneath that location, and unless you take the collar off, or constantly check the dogs neck area, they'll succumb to the poison.

Both of my 'darlings' are secured in the back of my vehicle at night, sans collar. And this prevents them from wandering, being a nuisance or getting off the chain.

If you own dogs, you have responsibility to check them fairly frequently for injuries, ticks, wounds, or anything else. A dog will not tell you it is unwell or hurt, as they mask injuries etc. as a self protection thing. This stems from their pack origins.

Despite their being a pain in the neck at times, they are still good company on the road.

And...yes, I have a doggy first aid kit, but no 10-80 antidote.

my vet advised me to buy some lectric crystals at the supermarket before you go away ,if you think your pet has got a bait ,put some crystals down the throat quickly to make it sick,and not to let any other pets near the bait that was sicked up,as this is also a dangerous time as the bait has been activated,if their is any chance of a vet any where get their quickly as you not have much time to save it,i know this is difficult as you could be miles away.when i go away i make inquiries where the vets are and phone numbers ,in the back blocks vets are few and far between ,a handy phone number to a vet,at home or any where could make all the difference bye now barry

Muzzels and Leads is all you can do.

We have 2 dogs, and are very careful with the dogs and having their muzzels on. We take them camping everywhere with us and they will be coming with us next year on our lap.

In saying that, we have come close a couple of times when we thought the dogs were gone for good, the most recent was June last year camping midway up the WA coast in a remote camp. Dogs have had their muzzels on all day and we took them off to feed them dinner, and our dogs are usually pretty good and can be trusted off the lead when we are around, and other half fed them, off the lead as their dinner bowls were away from their beds, then both of us started doing the dishes from dinner and not even 2 minutes later, both dogs were gone, without their muzzels. The others camped near us heard us calling them and came to help and told us that a dog was taken by a bait last year in this spot. There were no signs anywhere when we came through the gate to the area, but we still left their muzzels on, only taking them off for dinner time.

Long story short, many many hours later and stressing, 1 dog came back on her own eventually all happy with herself, and the dumb one (she normally follows the other one everywhere) was eventually found in the wee hours trotting up a dirt track ages away going the wrong way. Both were safe and well. Lost 1 of their coats (as it was cold and i had already put their coats on).

Pretty sure the older (and smarter one) saw a rabbit and chased it, then the other dog just followed her. They made no noise or anything and they were not even 5m away from us when we fed them. Our dogs rarely bark.

They now stay on their 3m pastic coated wire leads even when getting fed.

Other suggestion is to invest in a good quality dog car harness. Both our magicians know how to slip out of their collars no matter how tight and also how to slip the large clip on the lead. Every night the lead is threaded through the seat belt sash, clipped onto the metal D buckle, and then attached to her collar as well.

Good quality plastic full enclosed muzzel is the only way to go. The halter type ones dont stop them from licking or picking up stuff. The plastic full mouth ones still let them drink when you fill the water bowl up a bit higher than normal.

My boss' dog was taken last year by a bait, terrible and traumatic experience for him and his wife.