Canadian Challenge takes time on the trail to vaccinate pet dogs in Grandmother’s Bay
- Chelsea Laskowski | February 27, 2017
This year, the Canadian Challenge Sled Dog Race veterinarians went above and beyond their duties in order to keep dogs healthy during the internationally-renowned event.
For the first time ever, the veterinarians decided to host a free dog vaccination clinic in Grandmother’s Bay, which is the northern-most checkpoint along this year’s 434-kilometre Canadian Challenge trail.
Grandmother’s Bay residents were invited to bring their dogs to the fire hall on Thursday, while veterinarians set aside two hours to provide up to 50 rabies and parvovirus/distemper vaccines, as well as a deworming treatment.
“It’s always nice to give back to a community if you can. Because we’re so transient we have not so many opportunities to do that,” said race president Gill Gracie.
“If there are 50 healthy dogs in the community, that’s a good thing.”
Northern Animal Rescue volunteer Laura Batten said was excited to see a clinic come in because these types of vaccinations and deworming treatments can save dogs’ lives.
For example, she said, parvovirus has been going through Sucker River and La Ronge lately.
“Once an animal gets parvo, there’s no turning back: it dies usually. We have to feed it a lot of electrolytes because its chances of surviving are slim. And the vaccine’s not going to help once the dog already has it,” Batten said.
Rabies vaccinations are also important because in recent months some of the local dogs “have had to be put down because they’ve bitten by wolves and they don’t know if the wolves have rabies,” she said.
Also, she said dogs are frequently fed raw fish in the Grandmother’s Bay area, which leads to worms. Some dogs have “almost died from having worms,” Batten said.
The majority of dogs at the Thursday clinic were brought in by their owners, but about five dogs roaming in the area were also brought indoors. Most dogs in Grandmother’s Bay – whether they are pets or strays – are not tied up, meaning their risk of spreading viruses is even higher.
Batten said it’s really difficult for community members to find transportation for treatments like this in La Ronge, so “the community was really excited.”
The Thursday clinic was made possible due to donations from the Western College of Veterinarian Medicine and two pharmacy companies, Merial and Vetoquinol.
Canadian Challenge races of all distances started wrapping up on Wednesday, with the 12-dog race winner Aaron Peck finishing his race in La Ronge while the Grandmother’s Bay clinic was going on.
The warm weather in recent weeks turned the trail too muddy and dangerous in the south, meaning organizers had to bump the race’s starting point further north to Elk Ridge from its usual Prince Albert kickoff point. The trail distance is usually 600 kilometres, but had to be shortened this year.
Mushers like Jerry Walker from Pierceland were worried the trail conditions would lead teams to go too fast and increase their dogs’ risk of spraining their wrists, but the Thursday clinic showed that veterinarians were also thinking about the health of dogs in the communities they pass through.