Contractor Safety
The safety of Dog Adventures Northwest Contractors is absolutely essential. Contractors are asked to keep the following things in mind when engaging in work for Dog Adventures Northwest.
Dog Safety
The safety of animals in Dog Adventures Northwest's care is also vitally important. Contractors are asked to keep the following things in mind when caring for animals as a representative of Dog Adventures Northwest.
Parasites
Cyanobacteria
Information from the Oregon Health Authority
Cyanobacteria are beneficial bacteria found in all freshwater, worldwide. Under the right conditions—when weather, sunlight, water temperature, nutrients and water chemistry are ideal—cyanobacteria can multiply into blooms in any water body. Many blooms are harmless, but some can produce cyanotoxins that make people and animals sick.
Exposure to cyanotoxins occurs when water is swallowed while swimming, or when water droplets are inhaled during high-speed activities such as water-skiing or wakeboarding. Symptoms of exposure to cyanotoxins include diarrhea, cramps, vomiting, numbness, dizziness and fainting. Although cyanotoxins are not absorbed through the skin, people with sensitive skin can develop a red, raised rash when wading, playing, or swimming in or around a bloom.
Children and pets are particularly sensitive to illness because of their size and activity levels. Dogs can get extremely ill and even die within minutes to hours of exposure to cyanotoxins by drinking the water, licking their fur, or eating the toxins from floating mats or dried crust along the shore. Similar to dogs, livestock and wildlife can become ill and die after drinking from waterbodies, troughs or other sources of drinking water affected by blooms and potential toxins.
Only a fraction of freshwater bodies in Oregon are monitored for cyanotoxins. For this reason, it is important for people to visually observe any water body they choose to recreate in before taking the plunge.
OHA recommends that everyone stay out of water that looks foamy, scummy, thick like pea-green or blue-green paint, or where brownish-red mats are present. If you are unsure, follow OHA’s guidance of “When in doubt, stay out.”
Open recreational areas where blooms are identified can still be enjoyed for activities such as camping, hiking, biking, picnicking and bird watching. By being aware of signs of a bloom and taking appropriate precautions to reduce or eliminate your exposure, you can also enjoy water activities such as canoeing, fishing and boating, as long as speeds do not create excessive water spray, and fish are cleaned appropriately.
To learn if an advisory has been issued or lifted for a specific water body, visit the Harmful Algae Bloom website or call the Oregon Public Health Division toll-free information line at 877-290-6767.
[Kerry's addition: Cyanobacteria does not reside in deep and fast-moving areas of rivers. Keep this in mind when choosing your adventure location. Check out this PDF for helpful visuals of what is and what is not cyanobacteria.]
Grass Awns
Dog Adventures Northwest had a botanist walk the property in 2023, who confirmed that there are almost no foxtails or cheatgrass at Base Camp. Most of it is in the old parking area in front of the barn. Nevertheless, please don't get lax about your post-adventure body check! Regular grass seeds/awns can cause a good deal of irritation. Whether you adventure at Base Camp or somewhere else, please check paw pads, ears, eyes, armpits, and groins for things like ticks, twigs, grass seeds/awns, and anything else that might cause irritation. (This is especially important when the grass goes to seed!) Additionally, give their bodies a quick once over to loosen any debris, and do a sweep for the same items. Some tools as well as tick repellent is available for everyone to use at Base Camp, but if you adventure elsewhere, please be prepared!
Yellowjackets
Shared by Cyrus Heiduska 4.28.23. Thank you, Cyrus!
If you hike in the woods, be careful because our little yellow striped buddies have come out of hibernation. I have actual ptsd hearing any sort of bee or horsefly type hum flying around me, after getting swarmed badly by yellow jackets on two different adventures. One of my 3-day-a-week client dogs was terrified of returning to the place where she got stung so badly, so I had to change my entire adventure plan so she wouldn’t freak out and bolt. It took her a year to get over it.
From the research I’ve done, it’s not easy to repel them. Your best bet is to avoid stepping on their ground level buried nests.
Wasp spray works to kill them, but it is also extremely harmful to dogs and to you, so you really don’t want to spray it around you in a cloud. It is meant for spraying directly into a nest, while they’re sleeping. Instead, carry a spray bottle of diluted dish soap! The soap clogs their breathing pores.
You can supposedly use various essential oils to deter them, but I don’t think it works that well. I use a recipe of diluted peppermint, lemongrass, geranium, clove, and thyme oils, and I apply it to my hat, pants ankles, my pits, wrist sweatbands, and the middle of my back where the backpack rides, because body heat and sweat spread out our aromas to the air.
I just got a can of “Maggies Farm Flying Insect Killer” to try this season, it was at Fred Meyer. It’s basically the same essential oil blend but in an aerosol spray can. It says “safe for use around children and pets”. It doesn’t claim anything about wasps, only mosquitoes and flies, but it’s something that might help to spray if you’re worried and not yet under attack.
Both times I got swarmed, we had trodden on an in ground nest. Completely invisible, no warning signs. Where they like to nest is in areas of undisturbed dry dirt, pine needles, dry leaves, among the woods. So your best bet to avoid them is to stay on a well trodden path, or open exposed field, or creek bed. Don’t go off trail into the dry woods.
If you get caught, run. Run away fast, calling your dogs to run with you. Leave behind anything you dropped, go back for it later without the dogs. Don’t stop running until you can’t hear them chasing you anymore. Of course you’ll try to swipe away any yellow jackets that are on you, but be gentle! If you crush them, they release a pheromone that signals all the other yellow jackets to attack.
They cling stubbornly onto dog fur, and they don’t die when they sting, they just sting more, the madder they get. You will be tempted to help the dogs by brushing them off, but be gentle, and don’t stop to do that until you’re a long way away from the nest. I used a stick to try to flick them off the dogs, trying not to kill the bugs or poke/hit the dog. Keep checking each dog over and over, because invariably several more of the bastards will have gone under the fur or in hard to see spots, and reveal themselves later.
Carry Benadryl! It will reduce the risk of anaphylactic shock for anyone who’s actually allergic to the stings, and it will reduce irritation and swelling for everyone. 25 mg of Benadryl per 25 lbs of dog. There is legal risk in medicating someone else’s dog, but there’s also risk in failing to do so. Every time I have told a client that I gave Benadryl following a sting, the parents were appreciative. We’ve had several individual stings apart from the two swarms.
I hope this helps. Bee safe out there!
In the Event of Animal Injury or Emergency
EMERGENCY ANIMAL HOSPITALS
All Contractors must have the following numbers and addresses readily accessible while caring for animals with Dog Adventures Northwest: