Canine Cough (kennel cough)

Explained through a kennel owners perspective

Canine Cough (kennel cough)- it’s the bane of the kennel industry’s existence. We are not big fans of the name but we all know that the main place dogs pick this virus up is around other dogs – like at doggie daycares and kennels. Also, the kennel cough name is used generically for any number of infectious agents that can cause upper respiratory symptoms (known in the veterinary world as CIRDC- canine infectious respiratory disease complex).

For many, many years, Diane & I beat ourselves up every time we had even one case of kennel cough. I worried that it meant that we were not cleaning enough, using the right cleaning products, or strict enough about vaccines. I swore if we tried hard enough, we’d be able to prevent it altogether. So we made changes, and still, the cough continued to rear its ugly head throughout the years, particularly during the busier seasons. You know – when people really want to board their dogs.

So then we tried education – “This is what Kennel Cough is. This is how your dog gets it. This is what it sounds like. It is extremely common for dogs that are regularly in a social setting with other dogs, even with the best of cleaning and prevention protocols. Please do not bring your dog in if they have any symptoms” and that educated people to some extent. But similar to COVID or other respiratory infections, this can be asymptomatic and we will not know if a dog is carrying it until it has already spread.

Sadly, many pet parents still don’t know what to look for. When we see signs or symptoms of any sort, we always immediately remove the dog from the group and call the owner to make them aware so they can come pick up their dog. To complicate things even more, a dog may have been previously exposed to a cause of kennel cough and be shedding the infection without showing any symptoms at all.

Another thing we have to battle is the understandable confusion about the Kennel Cough vaccine; AKA the Bordetella vaccine. I will let the professionals explain this better than I can in depth. Per our veterinarian there are a bunch of other viruses or bacteria that cause Upper Respiratory Infections in dogs (more than a dozen, hence the CIRDC name), and this Bordetella vaccine only helps prevent one of them. So we end up with frustrated and concerned owners of dogs who have gotten the vaccine but still get the sickness.

This year (2024), when I was very upset about the rapidly spreading cough, I called my vet/mentor/friend/client Dr.  Tim Gaffrey and asked him to tell me what I could do, once and for all, to rid my business of the cough. His response is really what got me to calm down about it. He told me in so many words – wait for it – TO STOP ALLOWING NOSE TO NOSE CONTACT – at my kennel. Which we both know is difficult as dogs boarding and socializing commonly interact with each other in this way. 

Dr. Gaffrey was basically telling me what every professional that I spoke to up until that point had, that, much like illnesses in daycare, even the best cleaning protocols could not prevent kennel cough altogether. Touch barriers, hand and equipment cleaning protocols, and air handling systems can’t always stop every case of aerosol transmission.  He also reminded me that it is one of the very minor and temporary risks of dogs socializing congregating, whether at a dog park, daycare, or even with dogs of friends and family dogs, and that the majority of cases are mild to moderate as well as temporary. And I have begun to approach things differently ever since then.

Chances are, if you choose to take your dog to a dog park, daycare, or a boarding facility, they are going to get exposed to some sort of communicable illness. Kennel cough is probably the most common, but things like puppy warts and giardia are also things that are seen in animals that have close contact with one another. Just like when people take their kid to school, they will probably get a cold, head lice, a stomach bug, or one of the many other germs that go around. And the younger the dog, the more likely that is, as they are still building up their immune system. As the world learned over the last few years, viruses are terribly persistent, and this applies in the dog world even more. You can tell your kid to wear a mask and stand 6 feet away – you cannot tell your puppy not to lick inside his new friend’s mouth and slurp up his tasty drool when it gets on the floor. Puppies love to put things in their mouths and put their mouths on things – especially their friends! And, as a behaviorist & trainer, the consequences of not socializing with other animals far outweigh the risk of getting something like kennel cough.

It breaks our hearts when people call us and tell us their dog is sick, or when we hear a new puppy friend is dealing with an upper respiratory infection. Even my own retrievers have gotten it while out in the kennel during the day. But, we now no longer beat ourselves up over it, feeling like we did something wrong. Instead, we constantly revisit and revise our protocols, we continue to be incredibly transparent, we have intense cleaning protocols and ensure we are hyper aware of the signs and symptoms. We have communication plans and focus daily on ensuring we are doing the best we can to keep every single dog in our building safe and healthy.

We are incredibly transparent about any signs of illness we see in our facilities. Internally, we track the number of cases we see each week and try to ensure no one is out of the loop.

• When we first receive reports of coughing, clients who have recently attended training and/or boarding are notified via email right away
• All new clients are informed before scheduling their boarding or training, and new puppies are not permitted to begin until we go 14 days without a reported case
• All clients who report their dog is symptomatic receive a follow up email mandating their dog stay out of kennel until 10 days after the last cough
• This process will repeat, rotating every 7 – 10 days until our facility goes 14 days without a reported case

This process gives every pet owner the opportunity to cancel if they are concerned, it prevents us from furthering the spread by postponing our in house evaluations, and it helps keep everyone informed on symptoms in the event they begin to see them from their own dogs.

Diane and I have accepted the fact that we will see communicable diseases go around our dog population from time to time, and the very best we can do is educate, inform, stay strict on our cleaning and vaccine protocols and over-communicate to both new and current clients. Safety of the dogs in our care is, and always will remain my top priority. 

Please feel free to reach out to me with any questions.

Kind regards,

J.R. Totten, ABCDT

Owner, Green Timber Training & Kennels

jr@greentimberkennels.com

We would like to "Thank"  Liz Blondy, Owner of Canine to Five for providing a great artical regarding her Doggie Day Care and allowing Green Timber Kennels to use her artical as a base for how kennel cough is seen from a kennel / daycare owners perspective.