# LGDs and fox tails.



## PendergrassRanch (May 30, 2013)

Well since working at the vet hospital, I have seen way too many Great Pyranees come in with hundreds of infected foxtails and other thorns in their skin.  Other dogs get them too but its mostly the working dogs that come in with hundreds of them.

Anyone else have this issue? That alone makes me not want to get a GP or any other double coated long hair breed,  because you have to shave their coat down which ruins it.  The last one that came in was also covered in ticks    I'm getting kind of tired of picking hundreds of thorns out of a dogs skin!

We also get tons of dogs with imbedded foxtails in their toes, ears, skin, even one in her vulva...ouch!


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## secuono (May 30, 2013)

With an unkept pasture, all the animals come in with burrs and such. Daily brushing keeps it manageable. But this year, we were able to mow everything enough to keep the weeds down. 

You should have a short haired LGD if it lives in an area full of those types of weeds. Shaving leaves it very vulnerable to heat, sunburn and winter cold.


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## Stubbornhillfarm (May 31, 2013)

I don't think we have foxtail around here.  But last night...after our LGD's took off on a long romp (to the neighbors farm  ) we must have picked 50 ticks off each of them!!!    Dang things.


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## woodsie (May 31, 2013)

Anatolian or Akbash are short haired LGDs that would not have the same coat problems. I visited a beautiful Akbash yesterday...very nice dog, with smooth coat. I'd definitely consider one, our hot summer make my Pyrs miserable!


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## lmccall728 (Jun 22, 2013)

I brushed our LGD (Great Pyr/Anatolian cross with Pyr coat) almost every day during the summer to make sure I got all the foxtails .... they would really accumulate in between his toes. Since I began brushing him when he was a puppy he was okay with it - he even got to the point where he would try to spread his toes for me. Even doing this daily, he would have tons of foxtails between his furry toes. 

I can't even imagine having one in my sock for a day! Their double coat does tend to hang on to them.
If I happened to miss one, the next time I brushed him and found it, it would be so deep I would need tweezers.

For the ticks we just use Frontline Plus or a tick collar. We just tried the tick collar out because someone recommended we try it and it works just as good as Frontline but only cost us $4.


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## bcnewe2 (Jun 22, 2013)

My Anatolian with short hair gets foxtails picked every evening.  By the time I find them they are to the skin.  Harder to pick off than tics! I couldn't brush them off, I have to pick them.

It horrid.  Plus we got rain today so still the grass waits to become hay.  We now have the hill mowed.  So the lgd and the sheep can see each other.


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## Briard'nSheep (Jun 23, 2013)

even smooth haired dogs will get fox tails, it's called spear grass where i am from.

 A friends Kerry Blue Terrier had one between it's toes, and the vet tried to get it out. It appeared again a week later above the food . They got it out with a 3rd attempt on the leg another week later! we have none on our property, but have seen it in town!


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## PendergrassRanch (Jun 25, 2013)

I know smooth haired dogs get foxtails.  We get a ton of dogs in with them embedded in their toes, ears, eyes, throats, nose...  Its so much fun holding a dogs foot for an hour while a vet digs around for a tiny piece of grass.


However, its the double coated breeds that have the hundreds of them embedded in their skin all over their body.


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## Bossroo (Jun 25, 2013)

When I worked at a University  Vet. Med. Teaching Hospital...  I performed quite a few necropsies on quite a range of animals where a fox tail had migrated deep  into the nasal cavity,  muscles,  joints, organs, heart, the spinal cord, as well as the brain.


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## babsbag (Jun 25, 2013)

My neighbor's german shepherds have them embedded all over them, she "pops" the sores open all the time and removes the foxtail. My LGDs haven't gotten any. My goats keep my pasture pretty well groomed so it isn't a problem. But now you have me wondering about what will happen when the dogs and goats have another 3 acres to roam.


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## cindyg (Jul 24, 2013)

What are foxtails?  I've never heard of that, maybe we don't have it here in NS?  Any one got a picture?  Tks.


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