Things to watch out for when walking your dog.
Always be sure to watch out for these when walking your dogs:
– Litter
– Other dogs’ poop
– Sun (especially in the summer)
– Water puddles
– Pesticides and Rodenticides sometimes found in recently treated lawns, yards, agricultural fields, flower gardens, and buildings,
– Toxic plants
– Unleashed dogs
The text also mentions wild animals, but that’s not necessarily the case here in NZ, unless you take your dogs on tracks where there are wild pigs. This one time while walking Rocky up the Mt. Oxford Track, a group of 3 or 4 wild piglets crossed our path. That gave me just enough time to pick up Rocky and press my pace because I knew that behind the babies, mama-pig would be lurking.
Make sure you keep your dogs on the leash all the time when walking in any nature tracks, even those close to Christchurch. Dogs might chase after rabbits, stoats, possums, or find animal carcasses that you won’t know if they’ve been poised or not.
There are also heaps of pest control traps in forests everywhere that little dogs can get to and eat the bait.
Also, be careful if your dog likes to go for swims. Always check on the Department of Conservation – DOC – and Environment Canterbury (ECan) websites whether the lagoon/lake/stream you’ll be visiting has signs of algae bloom. Algae bloom is likely deadly for dogs. Dr Alistair Humphrey (Canterbury Medical Officer of Health) says that, in humans: “Exposure may cause skin rashes, nausea, stomach cramps, tingling and numbness around the mouth and fingertips”.
Read the article on I Heart Dogs.