Canine (General)

[Jalyssa]

I live in a rural area in SC. 5 days ago, a wolf/dog? , he has the markings of an Alaskan huskie and looks around 7 months old, wandered here from the woods in my backyard which is odd considering that not very many people around here get this breed for a pet. He seems healthy but is dirty, and does not seem sick. My kids threw him a treat the first day, unbeknown to me, and he has not left. When first approached he would pee on himself, now he's comfortable enough that he does'nt, he lets us pet him and seems happy but shies away sometimes. My problem is that he follows my 9 year old daughter to the bus stop and just sits there until the bus picks her up and he returns back to our house, but the other 3 kids at her bus stop don't like dogs even though there are several at their house, and I was wondering if I can leash train this feral dog that we wish to keep or should I call animal control. If having him checked by a vet is the first step, how can I do that if the dog is still cautious towards us?
I should mention that this dog has not acted aggresive to me, my kids or the kids at the bus stop.

[Daveyo]

Hi I am Daveyo

Sorry for the late reply here. Been quite busy. As to your question, and your story it sounds like a good dog there. So to answer your question, first thing to do is take that dog to a GOOD VET and not some banshee one which is quite common. The one thing you can tell if you have a good vet is ask him if he knows how to do the brush border smear test of the bladder lining to detect Canine Distemper If he says he knows here is the correct answer.

[The very best test for rapidly diagnosing ACUTE distemper is to do what is called a brush border smear of the cells of the inside lining of the bladder. These cells ALWAYS have inclusions. So, easy to collect, easy to stain (quick dip) and instantly diagnosed with inclusions in these cells which are carmine red and para nuclear.

Any medical person can tell you how to get cells from the bladder. Urinary catheter. Empty bladder flush with saline and collect some of the last saline. Spin down the saline and remove the cells. Place on slide and dry stain with diff-quick. Very common stain used by most medics or lab people who use medical microscopy. Everyone? I should hope so. Very fast, very cheap, very accurate for Dx of distemper. If present then Distemper If negative then either kennel cough or respiratory Herpes or Toxoplasmosis. ]

If this VET gives you this correct answer then go to him and make sure he is always your VET, because then you know you got a real VET Doctor.

That is the very first thing you need to do for that dog. Secondly then get a blood test done to see what the overall picture looks like on that dog.

Since this dog came from the wild you do not know if this dog ever had any diseases or any of the following infections common to dogs. So you should have this vet at the same time when doing the blood test to find out what antibodies is inside this dog. If he sees antibodies of Distemper, or Parvo, or Rabies etc, then you know either that dog had prior vaccination shots, or was infected and survived on its own. If you see Distemper this is a tough one for you. If that dog survived Distemper then this virus is inside the CNS. If this was a vaccination shot then your in the clear. Best way for you to know is have the VET do a CSF tap inquiry and send some of the spine fluid to Antec Labs in USA and have them check for Distemper antibodies. If none present then you know the dog had a vaccination shot.

That will pretty much put you right up to snuff on the primary health of that dog. Then do a vaccination shot series of two total shots of each being a 1/2 dose spread out every 3-4 weeks. Then as last you do the Rabies shot Then after this is done you vaccinate this dog once every 3 years.

Most importantly make sure you give this dog the RABIES SHOT after all else is done above ASAP. It is a wild dog and it is most vulnerable to catch rabies if staying outside.

If all is clear, then you can bring the dog inside and have him or her become one of the family. It will not take long for the dog to know you and understand you. Then you can teach and train the dog what you wish. Just make sure you always observe this dog and treat it nicely. It will be a good loyal companion for your kids.

Other things such as a good bath is in order, make a dog house for him/her and be nice and give it food and water and dog bone treats is best.

Also have the VET give you an age guess on this dog as well. A vet can pretty much have a good guess without knowing much on the dog based on its size and its bone size and over all looks. Have him check the teeth out, have him check for worms especially because this is not good either. During the mosquitoe season you need to protect that dog from mossie bites. This is how worms get transmitted to the dog. Frontline Guard works best and it is applied on the back of the dog good for a solid month. You will have to do this minimum of say 5 months. Mossie season usually begins either late May or early June and lasts at least to beginning October the max. You can pretty much tell when Mossie season arrives. Just go outside around sunset and look up a bit above you. If you see a buzzing of a lot of insects swirling around then its mossie season and time for the heart guard as well as the front line defense. OK

If you do this then all should be ok for your dog. Give your dog good food and never rice. Rice swells up and causes intestinal problems in dogs.

I think I have everything covered.

If you need help feel free to make a post here and contact me. Ask for DAVEYO !!!!!

Take care

Daveyo