Forest Dangers: The natural woodlands and deep forests can be some of the most exciting terrain for your dog to explore. There are endless adventures to uncover and natural curiosities everywhere your dog turns. However, because the forest contains plenty of mammal life, it makes for great hunting and trapping. And this presents a life-threatening danger to your dog if you are exploring terrain that should be off-limits.
For example, in the northern part of the US, many hunters set bait designed to trap fur-type species. Woodland dogs are attracted to this bait which has resulted in many unfortunate accidents with family dogs. Many of these traps are placed in ditches where dogs love to roam.
The best defense against these dangers when you are taking your dog to explore the forests is to be aware of the hunting and trapping seasons, as well as be educated about the hunting areas you are in. Even if it is off-season and you’re running your dog through a no-hunting area, you must be aware of poachers. It is best to place a bright orange hunters best around your dog’s torso. These types of dog vests are available through certain suppliers.
Prairies Chasing: Many people do not consider a Prairie to be something to worry about when taking their dog out hiking. They are not aggressive creatures and are actually scared of most animals. But therein lies the problem. Dogs love to chase prairies!
While your dog is probably not going to chase a large animal like a deer or bison, it is very likely that he will run after one of these small Prairie animals and end up chasing him for miles at a time. There are many cases where some dogs began to chase a Prairie and never made it back. They either wound up getting lost due to running so far away, or the more likely scenario ? they met their match with some larger hungry wild animal.
Foxtail Plants: When running through grassland areas the most commonly encountered danger is called the foxtail plant. This is a perennial weedy grass that is located in large fields and on some roadsides. It is slender shaped with long brushy spikes that contain seeds which will embed themselves into your dog’s flesh. The most common area that dogs get these painful little spikes embedded is in between their toes. It is just like having barbed wire puncturing and stabbing through the skin. Each seed contains little barbs which point backwards. Because of this design, they slowly get pushed deeper and deeper into the body and can cause infection or lead up to more serious situations, such as organ failure.
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