Still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up but I think I’m getting closer to finding out. What blast I had yesterday being in this class. I learned so much in the five hours I was there. It went by so quickly. Each week I plan to share some of the more notable things that I learn.

Class Takeaway--We saw a short video on what distemper looks like and it was very heart wrenching. We don’t see a lot of distemper because we vaccinate for it, so the video was taken in another country where is it more prominent. Distemper is part of the puppy vaccinations that come in 3 series (it is the D in DHLPP). Your puppy should have received at least the 1st set by the time he reaches 6-8 weeks during his stay with the breeder. It is very important to continue the series when you take your puppy home. In the video, dogs that had contracted distemper, were in quarantine. None of them could get up to walk. They were all floundering around and twitching uncontrollably. What torture this must be for them. Distemper is caused by a virus. It is spread by body fluids, sneezing, coughing, urinating, etc. It can also be contracted by contaminated water or food. Pretty scary, huh? How many of us walk our dogs in the same place that other dogs have been without any thought of what our pup is walking through. Let’s hope that whatever dogs were there before them were vaccinated. This is the reason it is so important to keep your pup away from other dogs until he is fully immunized.

The symptoms of distemper are vomiting and diarrhea, fever, nose discharge, eye discharge, cough, shivering, inappetence,  energy loss, thickening of the foot pad and nose to the point of cracking, and seizures. Puppies who get this only have a 20% chance of living and typically never recover 100%.  So please make sure when you take your puppy home from the breeder that you continue with this very important series of vaccines.