Think About Getting Your Dog the Flu Shot

Many people don’t realize that dog can get the flu virus, just like humans. Canine influenza is extremely contagious, especially if your dog attends doggy day care or visits dog parks.

According to veterinarian, Cynda Crawford, dogs spread the flu to each other in the same way that children in kindergarten do. If your dog is in contact with other dogs, you might want to consider vaccinating him against the flu.

The dog flu virus was identified in 2004 when a research team found that it originated from horses. The majority of dogs have a natural immunity to canine influenza but they are still at risk of contracting the virus.

If you travel with your dog, getting a flu shot can help protect him from infected dogs. 

Symptoms are very similar to the flu symptom that people experience.

• Runny nose
• Sneezing
• Fever
• Cough
• Pneumonia, resulting in death for some dogs

Ask your veterinarian if your dog should get the flu vaccine. The shot minimizes the symptoms of the flu and is available for dogs 6-weeks old and over. The flu vaccine is given with two injections, up to one month apart.

Consult your vet about the canine influenza vaccine to protect your dog from symptoms.

Resources:

Dog Fancy: A Flu Shot for Fido?, May 2012

Photo By Sonia Sevilla (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Go Red Sox from Your Little Fan

A friend of mine sent me this photo of her little Yorkshire Terrier in her Red Sox shirt. I thought it was adorable, so I figured I would share. Go Red Sox! This little dog in a Red Sox shirt is ready for the 2013 World Series!

Touching Dog Quotes and Sayings

I hesitate to call my collie a dog – he is my best friend, companion and confidante. When I look at him, I don’t see a dog but a member of my family. Many people don’t seem to understand this relationship but the few who mention dogs in the following quotes, better express my feelings about my dog. These are my favorite, inspirational dog quotes. They give me goose bumps when I read them and some even bring a tear to the eye. I hope you enjoy these touching dog quotes about a dog’s life, death and love as much as I do.

He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion.-- Author Unknown

Dogs have given us their absolute all. We are the center of their universe. We are the focus of their love and faith and trust. They serve us in return for scraps. It is without a doubt the best deal man has ever made. -- Roger Caras

Dogs are our link to paradise. They don't know evil or jealousy or discontent. To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden, where doing nothing was not boring--it was peace.-- Milan Kundera

A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than he loves himself. -- Josh Billings

If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went. -- Will Rogers

Petting, scratching, and cuddling a dog could be as soothing to the mind and heart as deep meditation and almost as good for the soul as prayer. -- Dean Koontz, False Memory

No matter how close we are to another person, few human relationships are as free from strife, disagreement, and frustration as is the relationship you have with a good dog. Few human beings give of themselves to another as a dog gives of itself. I also suspect that we cherish dogs because their unblemished souls make us wish - consciously or unconsciously - that we were as innocent as they are, and make us yearn for a place where innocence is universal and where the meanness, the betrayals, and the cruelties of this world are unknown.-- Dean Koontz, A Big Little Life: A Memoir of a Joyful Dog

Dogs, lives are short, too short, but you know that going in. You know the pain is coming, you're going to lose a dog, and there's going to be great anguish, so you live fully in the moment with her, never fail to share her joy or delight in her innocence, because you can't support the illusion that a dog can be your lifelong companion. There's such beauty in the hard honesty of that, in accepting and giving love while always aware that it comes with an unbearable price. Maybe loving dogs is a way we do penance for all the other illusions we allow ourselves and the mistakes we make because of those illusions. -- Dean Koontz, The Darkest Evening of the Year

The greatest fear dogs know is the fear that you will not come back when you go out the door without them. -- Stanley Coren

References:

Goodreads

Great Inspirational Quotes.com