Gundog Training Forum

In our area this year there has been a marked increase in grass seed injuries / conditions noted at our Vets in Doncaster. Whether it was due to a very wet winter then early good weather boosting grass crops i dont know...... however what i do know is that its cost our insurers an awful lot of money.

Our Springer, Merlin has just spent 4 hrs in surgery at a specialist refferal centre in Wakefield following his 3rd incident this year. 1st incident minor injury to one if his paws simple extraction at the Vets, thankfully my partner works there and we get a discount. 2nd incident more serious this time 3 or 4 seeds embedded in the back of his throat........ full blown surgery insurance claim ........ 3rd incident yesterday what was a case of a cough , suspected kennel cough ...vaccinated but several strains, turned out to be a major incident at a cost of circa £3000 to £4000 pounds. He had been CT Scanned and had a foreign body go through his Larynx and set up home between his wall of the Larynx and the cartilage in his neck ..... This had, over a period if time formed a leaking abcess in his airway .......good job hes insured up to £7000.
Merlin is a very small fast Rytex bloodline dog, therefore goes everywhere at 100mph with his mouth open ...just at seed head height. Its now worrying me that this will reoccure and beside the costs its not good for him the little mite. THEREFORE........

Has anyone seen anything like a Gauzed Muzzle, similar to a greyhound racing muzzle that would prevent the ingress of seeds into his airways but would allow him to breath and still scent through it. It may not be pleasant for him at first ......but long term it will save him going under the knife and me worrying about it constantly when out working.

Todays incident resulted in a very tricky operation ...where the results may have easily been that dreaded final procedeure that all responsible owners fear PTS = R.I.P. had a seed migrated into his lungs then that would have been it....MANY THANKS TO THE VETS AND STAFF AT BOTH PRACTICE AND THE SPECIALIST REFERRAL CENTRE FOR PROMPT ACTION WITH EXTREME DEDICATION AND DILIGENCE

Sorry to hear his problems,
I'd not be hunting or letting any dog run through grass that Is in seed.
As for a gauze muzzle that would likely inhibit his airway to much and cause other issues.

Agree with Simon, keep out of grass when its in seed, not worth the risk

The Americans use a kind of shroud as the foxtails there are awful. www.outfoxfordogs.com is the website

Sorry to hear this.

We’re hearing more and more about performance related injuries in spaniels so maybe we should be breeding gundogs that are up to the job and not just selecting for speed merchants for the sake of sheer speed, which seems to be the current fad defining a ‘quality’ dog. I’ve hunted and shot over spaniels for as long as anyone else and never restricted their hunting for fear of them inhaling grass seeds. Does that mean that nobody is dogging in at the moment because, as I see it, the fields and hedgerows are full of grass seeds! I’ve shot hundreds of rabbits over spaniels for many years right through the year and on rough grasslands full of seed heads but, touch wood, have never had a problem.

Naj

Seems to be dog dependent rather than breeding, so far, I've not had any issues but there were a couple of Cockers in the same area who were always at the vet's having seeds removed. Neither of those were class acts when it came to hunting! A Pointer also had a seed in her foot, maybe its just as simple as some dogs stop and deal with a seed before it gets into the skin and others don't. Maybe also dependant on how much Spear Grass there is in the area, we don't have a great deal of it here.
Would certainly keep the dog away from long grass for the duration of the season, not easy but hunting dry grass is not worth the risk to him, poor lad.

As always its a combination of factors, you could even throw `climate change ' into the equation if you chose too. Over the years mine have had various seeds go into unwanted locations like feet and eyes ( and probably nose given the sudden onslaught of sneezing ). Even being careful and avoiding long grass where possible , dogs being dogs and hunters being hunters, hunting dogs and long grass will often get together and a seed will lodge where its not wanted.
A lot can be mitigated with good dog management:
Trim hairy feet back in spring and keep them trimmed.
Check dogs feet and eyes both out and certainly after exercise.
Run a comb over the dog and see if any seeds come away, if you find them a more thorough search may be warranted.
Don't work a dog through grass where ever possible and certainly don't work it hard in hot weather to make it have to pant/gape.
Monitor the fields to know when seeds are coming loose.
Use the many other options to exercise and train your dog during the summer months.
The best PPE is avoidance in the first place