07/18/08 Bend
 
Cheatgrass Is Dangerous To Our Dogs
 
Learn to recognize cheatgrass, avoid the areas during peak season, and prevent cheatgrass from injuring your dogs. Cheatgrass is an annual and grows rapidly during the spring rains. It is the summer months when the when they dry out that poses the most threat to our dogs. The seed portion of the weed easily falls off and easily sticks to the dog’s coat. The seed has a barbed end and wants to migrate in one direction and is difficult to remove. Linked here are pictures of cheatgrass from when it first emerges in the spring, to when it dries in the summer. Learn to recognize the green sprouts emerging in the spring so you can remove them from your yard before they become dangerous. Be sure to remove them before they dry and germinate.
 
Invasive Cheatgrass Link
 
Here’s how to prevent cheatgrass injuries:
1. Try to avoid areas where cheatgrass is invasive, especially in the dry summer months.
2. Keep it eradicated in your yard.
3. Thoroughly brush and inspect your dog’s coat after running in areas where cheatgrass is prevalent. Remove any seeds that are sticking on your dog’s coat.
4. Inspect in your dog’s ears, eyes, nose, tail/anas area, groin, armpits and especially between the toes, and paw pads.
5. If your dogs is sneezing and the mucous is bloody, pawing at it’s face, has watery eyes get them to a vet immediately. The longer the cheatgrass festers the deeper it will travel and the more damage it can do.
6. If a skin infection or lesion suddenly appears suspect that there could be a small cheatgrass seed under the skin. This will require a vet appointment.
 
The fortunate thing is our cheatgrass season is shorter than it is in California and the grass is not as dense and invasive. With good precaution we can enjoy our dogs off leash in the summer months.
 
Meredith Gage
Pawsitive Experience
trainingdogs123@bendbroadband.com