Mike W. Bryant
Northern News Services

NNSL (Aug 27/99) - Dog mushers are up in arms about recent reports of a kennel cough epidemic in town.

In last Friday's Yellowknifer, it was reported that about 80 per cent of local dogs have been infected with the virus, a number that Dr. Tom Pisz, head veterinarian at the Great Slave Animal Hospital, still believes to be possible.

But members of the Yellowknife Dog Trotter's Club are saying that they have not heard of a single case out of more that 900 sled dogs.

"With the numbers reported in the article that would mean that 1,600 dogs have been infected," said Carol Beck, who owns approximately 175 dogs.

"There's approximately 900 sled dogs in town. We phoned around and so far, we haven't been notified of any cases of kennel cough."

Another source of apprehension for the mushers was the reasoning behind the habit of dogs eating grass and foxtail.

Pisz told Yellowknifer the prime reason for an animal eating grass and foxtail was to relieve the irritation attributed to kennel cough.

Mushers, however, argue that it is simply what dogs like to do and that symptoms from eating foxtail grass could be confused with those caused by the virus.

"We haven't seen any kennel cough," said Vivian Demelt, co-owner of K and D Kennels. "Sometimes they eat foxtail grass and it sticks in their throat and gives them a cough. We try to keep them away from those."

As for the eight pounds of rocks found in one musher's dog last week, Beck says that it is too ludicrous to contemplate.

"We never experienced dogs eating rocks from kennel cough," Beck said. "I don't know how a dog can have room in its stomach for 600 rocks. It just doesn't make sense."

Meanwhile, Dr. Pisz contends that kennel cough is still a serious problem for pet owners in Yellowknife and that as far as dogs owned by mushers, he has little contact with them because many prescribe their own treatments at kennels.

"I saw the one dog who ate eight pounds of rocks and it had kennel cough," said Pisz.

"That was the only musher dog that I saw."

"Definitely more than half the dogs in town have kennel cough but I only see people's pets. I see 20 dogs a day with it. There's certainly a lot of dogs in town having it," Pisz said.

"If they (mushers) think that dogs don't have kennel cough in Yellowknife then that's their problem. Give me any 10 dogs at random at the kennels and I'll find tonsillitis, which is a symptom of kennel cough."