Grass Awn's - DEADLY for your dog

I was thinking about heading out to North or South Dakota this fall of 2022, but after reading through this thread, I think I’ll stay in Wisconsin and just let my two French Brittany’s keep after ruffed grouse and woodcock. One or two weeks of pheasant hunting isn’t worth the risk to my dogs or my wallet.
 
Thinblueline said:
I was thinking about heading out to North or South Dakota this fall of 2022, but after reading through this thread, I think I’ll stay in Wisconsin and just let my two French Brittany’s keep after ruffed grouse and woodcock. One or two weeks of pheasant hunting isn’t worth the risk to my dogs or my wallet.
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Mistake!! SD is pretty awesome. A dog can get hurt anywhere, anytime. Sometime I mistake my dog for a robot or machine. In my mind they shouldn’t get tired and never thirsty, or never want to stop or get hurt. Just like at my construction company, we don’t work in fear that someone will get hurt, but when we do we just deal with it
 
4shot said:
Mistake!! SD is pretty awesome. A dog can get hurt anywhere, anytime. Sometime I mistake my dog for a robot or machine. In my mind they shouldn’t get tired and never thirsty, or never want to stop or get hurt. Just like at my construction company, we don’t work in fear that someone will get hurt, but when we do we just deal with it
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Exactly. And do what you can to be smart & prevent accidents. That's the whole point of this thread. Not to scare someone away from hunting. But to educate, so we & our dogs can continue to do what we love safely. Mean seeds are all over; not just South Dakota. Learn to identify & avoid them (not difficult) & do tailgate checks. Those things will take you far.
 
Friend had one of his setters inhale an awn. Worked it's way into the dogs lung and eventually killed it. Took the dog to several vets and the Purdue Vet college. Nothing they could do.

I had never heard of it before and have hunted for 5 decades. Thought maybe it was some thing from the prairies here in Indiana/Illinois, but dog got it in my home state of WI.
 
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Grass awns are under the category of Migrating Foreign Bodies. It includes broken quills, stick slivers, bone shards, etc. A5 is proactive with “tailgate checks” several times during the hunt. Pay attention to your dog and try to avoid accidents. Hunting is meant to be fun, but has its dangers. Be safe.
 
It sure was a Canada Wild Rye year here. The stuff seems to be everywhere this year! Be careful out there!
 
remy3424 said:
This hobby is full of hazards to both human and hound.
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My intent here is to educate; not cause people to freak out every time they see one of these grasses. For pheasant hunters, they're almost impossible to avoid completely. But my preference is to avoid fields, which do exist, where these grasses are dominant. Being able to identify them is the only way to do that, unless you quit hunting altogether, which would be dumb.
 
Yes, me too. It came up early this year because we're looking at buying property in Idaho that would be used for training/hunting, and it's currently infested with noxious plants that have awns (cheatgrass, medusahead, foxtail). We're in discussions with the county extension service about mitigation strategies, but I'm not convinced that we can adequately knock it back enough to safely run our dogs on the parcel. Some of the plants can be controlled by early spring grazing, while others will have to be sprayed. From what we can tell, it requires a multi-pronged approach. However, regardless of how much effort we'd put into the parcel, seeds could still come in from the adjacent parcels. I always knew that cheatgrass, foxtail, etc, was a problem, but until the past few days, I did not fully understand the scope of the issue.

If you're interested in this ecological calamity (yes, that's what I think it is), you can read more here: https://westernwatersheds.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Cheatgrass-Literature-Review-final.pdf

A few stats:

1. For reference, a study in southern Idaho showed a cheatgrass density ranging from 100 to 1,400 cheatgrass plants per square foot (1,076 to 15,069 plants per square meter), with an average density of 6,157 plants per square meter (Stewart and Hull 1949).

2. Cheatgrass covers at least 51 million acres in the West (about 39% of the Great Basin), with some estimates putting cheatgrass-infested lands at 99-101 million acres . This means an area larger than the entire state of Nebraska is dominated by this invasive species.

3. Cheatgrass seed densities can reach 8,000 to 31,000 seeds per square meter, with one study finding an average of 17,717 seeds per square meter . A single plant can produce up to 5,000 seeds, creating an overwhelming competitive advantage over native species.

ETA: I HATE grass awns, and I HATE what they can do to our dogs. Tailgate checks are imperative IMO but you should also be on the lookout for other signs/symptoms of migrating foreign bodies in your dogs, e.g., change in attitude, coughing, head shaking, sores on paws, chest, and back, etc.
 
I had a run in with my young gsp this spring. Noticed a bump on his short ribs. Kept getting bigger. Imagining didn’t show anything. Two rounds of antibiotics almost made bump go away. But as soon and they wore off it came back fast. Took two surgeries but luckily it was caught before it got to the vitals.But he’s fine now…. Long 3 months!
 

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This thread really helped me 2 years ago when I had my dogs in a field in SD heavy with it. Turned around and got the dogs out of there. Always good to get a reminder. Thanks.
 
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