Oy. Yesterday was Monday, and it was a Monday with a vengeance. It began and ended with phone calls, which seems innocuous enough - but no, oh no.
First, every service dog I worked with last week is down with something that looks like bordetella, one is so ill he was at the emergency vet at 11:30 at night. There's a remote possibility I carried it home on my clothes - yikes. Commonly called "kennel cough" this category of disease is easy to diagnose and easy to treat - if caught early. There is a vaccine, but like the common cold in humans, there are so many strains the vaccine is not particularly effective. It went through our house last year, and I for one don't *ever* want to repeat the honking geese sound coming out of my dogs - or the string of sleepless nights. I'm now a big fan of the scorched earth policy when it comes to bordetalla: one sick dog gets everybody on Doxycycline. Not cheap, but smart.
Latest news from the office: could be an outbreak of canine influenza. Oh joy. Lab results due tomorrow. We remain in lock-down until a diagnosis is confirmed.
Update: three service dogs in hospital, one dead. Not bordatella, not canine influenza, positive for parainfluenza - obviously not one covered by the vaccine. I stop going to work for a week and put my entire ranch under 10-day quarantine. Luckily, none of my dogs (nor the guest bitch) take ill.
Next, a family that wants to donate a six month old puppy to the service dog organization (I'm a contract instructor/trainer) for training. While this sounds very nice, I'm always leery of dogs people don't want to keep. The owner's wife's uncle brought the dog to me for evaluation, and upon reviewing the limited paperwork, I discovered the dog never got her last puppy shots, and has never been vaccinated against rabies! In addition, she is fed Old Yeller brand food (oh, the irony), lives outside 7x24, is intact, no microchip, no health clearances on her or her parents. The breeder sold this puppy without a contract, a sure sign of a backyard breeder (at best) or puppy mill (at worst) - no ethical breeder would ever do that. And somebody seriously thinks this is a good service dog candidate?!?! No, but thanks for calling. God only knows what will happen to this puppy, they can't afford to keep her - which is saying something since she gets no veterinary care and is eating garbage.
Let's see... next up was a GREAT training class with some convicted offenders - seriously, we had a blast. These kids are working hard and will make great trainers, not to mention what they are learning about non-violent problem solving.
But - then I get back to my car and check voice mail; new clients I met last week had to break up a bitch-fight with a gun, one of the bitches is now dead. They had strict instructions to keep the bitches separated (crated in different rooms) but something happened, they got together, and it went straight to hell. This is the problem with management: at some point, it fails. Always. Management is a decent stop-gap until training is complete, but never ever works long term.
Today is pouring rain, mud up to our ankles; I've canceled all my classes for today. I think I'll turn off the phone, make some popcorn, and pop in a movie. And keep my ears open for sounds of coughing, honking, and gagging.
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