The Outdoors

By Scott Rall, Outdoors Columnist

So, I was reminded that it was time for the tick spot and heart worm treatment for my dogs the other day when my phone chimed in and told me so. The ticks are out in full force and in the past two very short outings, I ended up removing five ticks. I was not in the grass for more than 10 minutes combined.

Maybe the mild winter will make tick season all that much more entertaining this season. I shopped all over the internet for enough tick spot to do four dogs for about two years. I normally apply this stuff starting in April and quit in October. That is four doses for six months, a total application of 24 units. The issue I have is three dogs are in one weight category and my Ghosty dog is in the smaller one.

After a few Google searches, I decided to call my vet. When it was all said and done, I bought what I needed from the vet. They were only a little more expensive and I figured if I needed them to be open when I need them, this would help them stay in business.

You might laugh at that thought process, but if you live in southwest Minnesota or northwest Iowa, it is a real issue.  There have been several vet practices that have shuttered the doors in the past few years. Seems like what I have been told that new vet grads don’t want to work weekends or take any night or after hours call times.

This has led to very limited after-hours emergency care available. Several vet practices now share and rotate after hours calls. In some cases, if I needed an emergency vet service, I might have to drive 60 miles to get it. I often wondered if in that time I could actually have a dog die because vet care was too far away?

I am scheduled for all of my routine immunizations for the month of June. I opt for June because, in addition to all of the normal stuff the average dog owner needs, I get a rattle snake vaccine for all four of my dogs as well. Each fall I head out to western South Dakota to hunt prairie grouse, and there is a chance of running across a rattle snake. I have heard stories from some hunters who claim they have hunted in rattle snake territory for years and have never seen one. On one of the very first trips I ever took we tangled with one on the first outing of the first day.

My dog did not get bit, but it certainly could have by the time I figured out what was what and removed the dog from that area. Many hunters will kill the snake and I will not. They are just doing their thing in the same way they have done it for 10,000 years. The rattle snake vaccine is the strongest in the dog at about the 90th day after they get the shot. A trip in late September is about 90 days out from the vax so my dogs will be the most protected.

Vaccinating your dog against rattle snakes is not a 100% problem solver, but it should result in a living dog at the end of the day. You might still need to seek vet attention depending on how the dog reacts or where the bite was placed. Most vets don’t stock this vax, so if you are looking to do so you will need to call ahead to make sure they order it and have it on hand. My understanding is that this vax also has a pretty short shelf life, so a vet cannot order a batch and then just hold it over on a shelf until it is all used up.

There are several other vaccines that are not necessarily required in order to board your dog at a boarding facility but I would certainly visit with your dog’s vet and at least discover what other protections you might very well benefit from. As much as a routine trip to the vet might cost, it is still a lot cheaper than paying the freight for a sick one in the dog hospital for a week.

My annual trip is about a grand. Add in the two ankle biters my gal can’t live without, and the tally increases even more. I find it kind of ironic when I visit with a potential buyer of one our Labrador puppies that they always try to go with the get a “good deal on a used car” lingo. I tell them all the time that the cost of the puppy initially is far cheaper than owning that dog for 12 years. In fact, the purchase price might be the least expensive part of owning a dog.

You need to do a good job. That means you need to be a good dog owner and make sure as the more evolved of the two species that you don’t cheap out when it come to caring for your dog. If a dog gives their best every day in the field, then you need to do your best as the owner 365 days a year. Apply the tick spot and make an appointment. Many vets are more then 60 days out for routine stuff.

I am headed out of the office and am headed home to go pet my Black Pack Pheasant Attack Crew. I just can’t imagine what life would be like without Black Labs in it. One other item for comparison, dog food gets delivered to my house 500 pounds at a time. Two months of dog food equals all of the routine vet bills for a year.

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If you have any questions, reach out to me at scottarall@gmail.com.