Another incident at Sandy Hill Park – this time with powdered hot chocolate

“Wednesday (November 10) night I took my dogs to the Sandy Hill dog park, we went in by the Sweetland entrance from the North and our dogs kept sniffing and eating something around the tree near the entrance. The other people in the park said that their dogs had been eating something there too, unfortunately it was too dark to see what it was. We went back the next morning and we saw that it was a very large amount of powdered hot chocolate. Probably 10 containers (5-6 litres dry?) so I am guessing it was purchased at Bulk Barn or something. It was spread around the area under the tree. We were very concerned that someone may have been trying to poison dogs, I don’t think we are being paranoid as I can honestly say there is no reasonable explanation for soooo much hot chocolate to be placed there. If someone from the community center wanted to get rid of it they could have put it in the dumpster much closer to the center.

We went home and got a snow shovel and returned and shovelled it up and put it in the dumpster.

If this was, in fact, someone linked to the park controversy this has really gone too far. If it was just a random act of strangeness or coincidence, then so be it. All we can say is keep your eyes open if your dogs are sniffing around the bushes in the park, and perhaps pass this info onto the ladies who are so opposed to the dog park to demonstrate how we need a safe place for our dogs to play and this debate may end up with sick and injured dogs which I am sure is not the intention of the mothers who are worried about the potential danger for children.”

Where did you find this information. Conroy doesn’t have water other than puddles where water collects after a rainfall. I would hope that you checked your sources before spreading this on your blog and through twitter.

Sorry, I wrote too soon. I see that your inlaw heard it on the radio (so did my bf). I have serious doubts about this story and its freaking a lot of people out.

@veryfiery – I understand your concern and really hope that you are right. Although, when this happened in Toronto, it was people pouring the antifreeze into the puddles and bodies of water. I read on Chez’s FB page that they are trying to get the NCC to go and test the bodies of water.

I sent an email to NCC, hopefully they can shed some light. Thanks Liz.

Where can we e-mail the NCC about the issue? I think the more people who contact them about it, the more of an impact it’ll make. Thanks.

If you can confirm this I will put up a warning on my blog too.

I just spoke with a reporter from the Citizen and he is looking into this.

He also mentioned that antifreeze will evaporate in a few days so what was there a few days ago, will likely evaporate in a relatively short time. If you go to the parks, just be diligent to make sure your dogs don’t drink from any puddles or bodies of water.

I am not sure how to contact the NCC, but you could try checking their website and seeing if there is contact info there. The reporter said it’s hard for them to find evidence unless the water is tested immediately because the alchohol in the antifreeze evaporates so quickly.

Antifreeze does not evaporate quickly. It is more commonly referred to as Ethylene Glycol and the major metabolites causing toxicity are glycolic acid and oxalic acid. There is a Wiki page for further reading.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethylene_glycol_poisoning

I really hope if someone is purposely doing this that they get caught very soon.

NCC info email address.

info@ncc-ccn.ca

On a side note. If you do take your dog to Conroy or Bruce pit. It is very much worth while to know where the nearest emergency vet is located. I Believe the Alta Vista Animal Hospital on Bank is probably the nearest for Conroy (Yes I did actually need to take my Pupp there for a false alarm .. Snail eating I think)

I also notice there are particular high traffic times when there are owners who take un-neutered and/or aggressive dogs to the park. Personally I just avoid the park at those times.

I am with you Steve, way too many ignorant dog owners in one place. We stopped going especially on the high traffic “weekend warrior times” i.e. sat & sun brunch time. I was actually informed, “my dog doesn’t like your kind of dog” as an explanation why her dog was being agressive towards my two boxers. Nice.

Both of my dogs got sick after a trip to Bruce Pit on Sunday morning. They both were very energetic in the morning, then became sluggish after we got back and spent the entire day on the couch – not typical behaviour for a Doberman puppy and a young Boston Terrier. They both vomited during the day, but never enough to get us to the point of going to emergency. They both were in good spirits yesterday.

One of them licked a muddy puddle but the other didn’t. However, they both stopped at the same spot at one point, so we’re guessing something about that spot may have made them sick. The spot was very close to the entrance – after coming in, turn right, and follow the fence. After the initial trees to your left, the field opens up. This was 10 or so feet from the trail, and I would estimate it was 50 feet past the trees. I’m not sure my anecdotal evidence is worth anything but I think it’s worth mentioning.

I’m going to e-mail the NCC and let them know as well, in case it’s of any help.

After an incident on Thursday at Conroy Pit where an off leash GSD attacked my 3.5 month old puppy unprovoked and the owner would not take responsibility for her dog, I don’t think I’ll be back to the dog parks any time soon, which is a real shame.

After reading the article posted about Conroy Pit, I asked my vet about the incident. Anti freeze takes awhile to shut down the kidneys. More then likely it ‘could’ have been a poison for the dog to have passed away so quickly. Keep in mind there are many homes in the area and people could have spread rat/ raccoon poison. whether or not someone actually intended to hurt an animal is not known. There have been several cases of kennel cough going around in the past few weeks. It is spread very easily. common signs of kennel cough are reverse sneezing, vomiting or gagging. I was at Conroy Pit this past Sunday and there were few/ if any puddles for dogs to drink from. I go to Conroy almost everyday and have never had any bad experiences.

Thanks all for your comments and keep them coming!

@Steve and verfiery – we also avoid the crazy times as we have two small dogs. We also take the less traveled paths as well. Also thanks for the link to Wikipedia as well as the NCC’s email address.

@Andrew – I’m so glad to hear your pups are ok and thanks for the info about where you think they might have eaten something

@ajames – I really hope it wasn’t intentional like you mentioned. And thank you for pointing out there aren’t many puddles left – that is reassuring. Also a good note about Kennel Cough.

Keep us updated if anyone hears anything else!

Someone should install hidden cameras in those areas. If you see someone without a dog hanging around suspiciously, observe them if you can, and even question them. The perpetrator is clearly someone who hates dogs.

Does anyone know where I could find propylene glycol antifreeze? Thanks.

*****EDITOR’S NOTE: She is asking about a non toxic antifreeze. To use instead of the toxic kind.*****

@Madalena

Re: Propylene Glycol
You can buy it from http://www.oildepot.ca/complete-product-line/amsoil-specialty-lubricants/anf.html

Before the flames start It is a non toxic antifreeze. Propylene Glycol has been used as a dog food additive my some manufacturers.

@ajames

My Pupp came down with Kennel Cough from Conroy a couple weeks ago .. poor girl had to stay home and go on antibiotics for 10 days. Can you believe the energy a young ridgeback gets after 10 days of rest?

I find it very troubling that someone could be so dark and hateful. I have seen the odd wanderer at Bruce Pit and wondered why they would be there without a dog. I think a good solution would be to step up the City By-Law patrol. That would show presence and deter the ‘trouble maker’, as well as, the people whose dogs are not well controlled and behaving aggressive can be told by city bylaw as well. Furthermore whoever it is that often blocks the disabled parking spot by parking to the right of the ‘no parking’ sign, thinking they are somehow exempt from the parking rules could get a ticket also.
We got a bad case of kennel cough from the ‘pits’ and needed to get antibiotics as well – turns out it is a very vicious strain this year and getting the young, healthy dogs that have been vaccinated … says my vet at Carleton Vet Services.
Let’s work together dog lovers and make OUR park the best place for ALL of us.

On behalf of everyone at the NCC, our heart goes out to those who have lost a dog or whose pets were ill.

At the NCC, we find reports of such occurrences very disturbing. We take them seriously and investigate them.

Immediately after hearing the news yesterday (November 15), an NCC Conservation Officer was on site to assess the situation. She spoke to dog owners and walked the grounds. She did not have anything abnormal to report.

We are currently investigating this situation. Another NCC Conservation Officer met with the dog owner whose dog passed away this morning (November 16). They walked the grounds, at Conroy Pit, together and the Conservation Officer had nothing abnormal to report.

At this point, we have not been able to establish a link between visits to Conroy Pit and this unfortunate situation.

We have contacted the Responsible Dog Owners of Canada to help reach out to dog owners. They can be reached through their website at http://www.responsibledogowners.ca

We ask that the dog owners remain prudent and report any abnormal situations at Conroy Pit and Bruce Pit.

The NCC can be reached at info@ncc-ccn.ca or by telephone at 613-239-5000 or 1-800-465-1867 (toll-free).

We will continue to monitor the situation and ask the public’s cooperation in this matter.

Regards,

Jean Wolff
NCC – Communications

I guess the lesson here is that bloggers are not journalists and that we should be skeptical of a story until there is actual confirmation…

The blogger should at least apology for creating a small panic. Makes me wonder if the story was posted as fact and not rumour just to generate traffic to the blog. Sad.

@Chris – I find your allegations that I “created a panic to generate traffic to the blog” abhorrent and completely insulting.

There are no ads on this blog and I make ZERO money from it so therefore there is absolutely no personal gain for me if more people visit.

I never labeled myself a journalist and simply wanted people to be aware of the situation.

THANK YOU LIZ for making us aware of this situation. It is so unfortunate that there are sick individuals out there that we need to concern ourselves with, but I think we all agree that in this situation it is better to be safe than sorry.

I Think Chez should probably have gotten the facts before broadcasting though. I however do appreciate the heads up on any possibility that this may be happening again in the dog parks and to pay more attention to what my Pupp may be nosing around at.

There are tests that the Vet can perform to see what did cause the death of a dog and it could help in identifying what the dog did ingest and what to look for (of course this would cost extra money which some just dont have to spend)

Thanks again Liz for running this blog .. I am very happy to have found it.

Even if its not antifreeze or whatever, the “heads up” is always appreciated. Better be safe than sorry.

Thanks for the update, hopefully we’ll know more soon! Always best to play it safe, just in case.

I see this as a good opportunity to point out a few things.

Any sane vet will tell you two things if you plan to attend public parks with your dog:

1) Keep your dog’s Bordatella vaccinations up to date. The bordatella vaccine is given to prevent bordatella bacteria, which develops into kennel cough (also called canine cough or infectious tracheobronchitis), a dry, hacking cough in dogs. The fact that I see people on here complaining of their dogs contracting kennel cough baffles my mind.

2) Give your dog a one-step solution to prevent, treat and/or control parasites in dogs. Advantage Multi or Revolution are two brands that come to mind. Not giving your dog this protection is just asking for trouble. The number of cases of heartworm alone in the Ottawa/Gatineau region over the past few years is staggering. Clearly a sign that there are irresponsible dog owners out there (one of the many).

3) Get your dogs micro-chipped. If they decide to wander off, and somehow end up at the Humane Society, they’ll be able to scan the dog and contact you. Better safe than sorry.

Before we all panic and scream bloody murder about some vindictive citizen poisoning our dog parks, take the time to ensure you are taking the necessary precautions to protect your pet (as well as other people’s pets as well).

My sympathies to the family that had to endure this hardship.

I appreciate this blog being posted as a precaution. However, there is no evidence currently that anti-freeze was involved. There are an infinite number of other reasons that could have caused this.

I regularly take 4 dogs to Bruce Pit (have been doing so for MANY years), and have never encountered a problem with my animals drinking water (although, I do try to discourage it I see them doing so). I ensure that all my pets are kept up to date on all critical vaccinations/treatments to ensure they are safe to attend public parks where there is a high risk of infection.

Just some food for thought.

I just want to says I appreciate what Liz does for the canine community. For all those people who think Liz being proactive and warning people about a possible problem is a problem can keep it to themselves. Don’t follow her blog then. I would rather be aware of the situation (fiction or not) then to not have heard anything and been the one with a sick dog. We need more good people like Liz who are outreaching to the community to make it better. There are way too many negative and sad things going on in the world then to have to worry about someone spreading viable information.

I agree that this blog provides a service and forum for dog owners and for the time and effort that is put in to it there is no financial gain. For those that want to criticize the blog – why would you read it – do something else with your time if you don’t like/appreciate what is going on here.
When I heard of the “pit” incidents this was where I came to look for info and follow up because for the most part the people using the blog have the dogs best interests at the forefront and ‘better safe than sorry’ – also for Liz to be trying to track down the accurate information and reach a ‘real live person’ at the NCC for information for ALL of us ‘users’ was very time consuming, no doubt.
As for Mayhem99 – it would be a wonderful place if all owners did what makes perfect logical sense – it is the responsible dog owners that vaccinate against bordatella, BUT if your dog suffers from immune problems (ie Addison’s, cancers, etc) – the vaccine does not guarantee immunity – so even responsible owners cannot be painted with the same brush because they are talking about kennel cough because it only takes 1 irresponsible owner to be at the park with an unvaccinated dog to cause problems for many, many other dogs. I think tossing ideas and info about how to care for an infected dog is something this forum is about and certainly does not mean that you are too stupid to know to vaccinate your pet.
Let’s face it – people on the forum care enough to use the forum, are likely the ones that care enough to vaccinate and are likely the responsible ones that are using the park responsibly.
Thanks again Liz for your info!

Re: Kennel Cough at Conroy

My Pupp is fully up to date on her vaccinations but as with all vaccinations is does not guarantee you will not catch what you have been vaccinated against (It can reduce the severity). I am almost certain we know the dog who passed it on to ours and my wife said that they had brought the dog to the vet and the vet did not seem to know what was causing the hacking cough their dog had. I will just have to assume it was kennel cough and that as with family doctors .. there are good vets and not so good vets.

For the record I did keep her home for 10 days while she took her meds so as not to pass it on. Not an easy thing to do with a high energy dog.

This is in reference to Mayhem99′s comment stating “1) Keep your dog’s Bordatella vaccinations up to date…The fact that I see people on here complaining of their dogs contracting kennel cough baffles my mind.”

I guess you overlooked Dixie’s comment about there being an unusually strong dose of kennel cough going around this year. I know my dogs are vaccinated against it and still managed to catch it from a dog who got it and is at Bruce Pit everyday. My dogs are 2 yr old strong healthy Labs and became violently ill with their bout of Kennel Cough two months ago. My vet mentioned to me that this is the first year in ages that they have seen dogs actually vomiting and spitting up bile from coughing so hard with it. The Bordatella treatments are not fool proof – they are a preventive measure that works most of the time on a usual case of it. This year’s case is not usual. It’s spreading like wildfire. So beware. If you see your dog begin to dry hack then get them in to get this checked. Early treatment will make your dog more comfortable and their isolation period shorter.

I too avoid the Pits on the weekends and at high traffic time. Waaaayyyy too many dogs who seem to be out for their ONCE weekly romp and they are out of control with owners who stand around chatting and not paying attention.

This just reinforces my view that we need a few more areas where dogs in Ottawa can run and play off leash. Having only two parks in an area of this size and population is asking for trouble. We desperately need to reduce the high concentration of dogs at these two parks.

Would be great if the city could put together a nice fenced in large dog park like the one in Belleville. It seems a lot of the major cities (And even some of the minor ones)in Canada have them except for Ottawa. The fenced Dogpark at lansdowne is a nice start but can become quickly over crowded and it is still up in the air as to if it will survive the lansdowne makeover.

http://quintedogpark.com/aboutUs.php

Update from the Ottawa Sun on the Conroy Pit incident

http://www.ottawasun.com/news/ottawa/2010/11/18/16210956.html

@veryfiery: My family and I have also stopped going to Conroy Pit especially because of ignorant apparently “responsible dog owners.” It got so bad that one lady with her daughter went so far as to call the police on us for having two rotties at the park! Not only did we have to wait for them to arrive for 40 or so minutes but she claimed that our dogs attacked hers and her daughter! Despite our efforts in proving her allegations false – no bite marks on anyone! – we were still given warning for get this, for 5 YEARS! That’s right, with no proof or evidence of her claims, our rotties under my name are “in file” for 5 years!
Oh! About the water, they have placed two bowls by the front entrance, so I’ve been told so watch out!

re: BadRap

I find it unacceptable that uninformed owners accuse people who own bigger breeds of having out-of-control dogs. I’ve been going to Bruce Pit now since the winter when we got our mid-sized dog and I’ve learned the following:

1. I’ve yet to encounter a “bad” Rottie, etc. They’ve either played with my dog or ignored him but have never “attacked” him.
2. I’ve encountered a couple of aggressive “small dogs” – most of have been nice but one or 2 have charged but no broken skin.
3. I appreciate all the owners that understand how dogs play.

Yesterday, one woman and her daughter accused my dog (a Vizsla) of bitting her dog and being out of control.

Note 1: She said this while her dog – some fluffy, bigger-than-a-sheltie-smaller-than-a-collie breed, was running around and playing with mine. Then she said, there was FUR coming off of her dog (!!!) – It’s the FALL, your dog is SHEDDING! Even my dog is shedding.

Note 2: Both dogs were wrestling as dog do – mine is just over a year old – he likes to play with other dog.

The accusation REALLY upset me (not sure why) especially since the owner hasn’t been there the hundreds of times my dog has been on his back being submissive and her being upset made the situation worse.

I’m not going to Bruce Pit on weekends afternoons anymore – it’s not worth it and this makes me sad.

My apologies for the rant but I’m tired of hearing about bad rotties, pitbulls, dobermans, etc. when no one dare mention the little aggressive dogs too.

@Badrap

i totally know where your coming from. I dont own rotties.. but i do own an american bulldog. And anyone that has met him knows he is the biggest baby. But we keep him on a leash because he is deaf and dont want to chance him not coming back if he is off leash.
But because he is on a leash, he must seem meneacing or something to people because they avoid walking near us, or they ask why our dog doesnt have a mussel because they believe it is now the law.
So we stopped going to bruce pit for quite some time. I have only recently started going again to see if it is different with people.

@Badrap. Most dog owners get where you’re coming from. Unfortunately there’s alot of really ignorant dog owners out there. I can’t tell you how many times a small dog has charged or tried to bite one of my australian shepherds. When I say anything to the owners, they say, oh, they’re so cute and small, they won’t hurt anyone. It’s sad that many owners of small dogs do not properly train their dogs to stop their aggressive tendencies to other dogs. My dogs have alot of patience, and have gone through alot of training, but if one of these dogs bit them and they reacted to protect themselves, we all know who would be the “bad dog”.

To Qpapillon, meli, charlie23:

I thank you all for replying to my message. I loved hearing all your experiences too with your visits to the dog parks. Reading what all of you have gone through, I stopped and thought how sad that we cannot share our joy with our beloved family members anywhere we go! Dogs are supposed to fill a void and fill our house, cars, camping, hiking, road trips with happiness and full of great memories! People complain how all the wars in the world and poverty is on the rise and we have to work together to help when our neighbors start a war with family pets! The fact of rat poison being found on NCC trails and most recently the anti freeze put into the bowls where dogs drink water from. Please ALL people, we have to give each other room to breath and live with freedom! Something we ALL have the right to have!
I thank you all again for your thoughts and experiences! I wish you all who get a badrap too, all the best! Our dogs cannot speak for themselves, so we must defend them! )

I have two small dogs. We keep our dogs leashed at all times while visiting the Conroy pit even in the areas that are designated “off leash”. Small dogs feel threatened/intimidated if being stalked by a bigger dog and will react. We did on one occasion have a bigger dog that would not leave one of ours alone and my dog growled he was corrected. My thoughts are hey if you see that I as a responsible owner have kept them on the leash then keep yours at bay or let them say hello and then call them back to you. Don’t just keep walking and leave your pet running around. We have seen too many aggressive loose dogs there of every bread from small to large. We thought that it would be a good place to try and get them a little more socialized.

My name is Lars, a three year old black lab who loves Conroy Pit.
My comment is for the person who said that keeping kennel cough vaccinations up to date will prevent kennel cough! I beg to disagree! I get the vaccine from my vet every year, and recently contracted it. No vaccine is 100% full proof.
Lars the Lab

I have a 2year Golden Retriever, named Molly. I have taken her to Conroy Pit since she had all her baby shots. She loves it there, I go every day morning & night for at least 1 1/2 hours. Everyone there knows her. She is off leash all the time. Her shots are always up to date. I have went two times on the weekend, I will not go again. There is too many vicious dogs there. A yellow lab bite her in the leg and now I have a hard time to get here to play with dogs during the week. You can not socialized a dog just on the weekend. Vicious dogs should wear muzzles or stay out of the Conroy park. Be responsible dog owners/.

Hi To All Our Friends at Bruce Pit!
Wondering if anyone else has gotten very sick from possibly being at Bruce Pit? After 4 years of enjoying daily visits at the park back in March Max
woke up limping and not himself. At the vet we were told that he was near death and would probably pass away during the night. Thanks to his doggie guardian angle watching out for him and a great vet who treated him with high doses of Prednisone, he is with us today and still on the road to recovery. Our vet says that he ate something that poisoned his system so badly that he ended up with Thrombocytopenia (no platelets in his blood). We haven’t been back to Bruce Pit since then and don’t know when and if we will return.

@Ellen:

So let me get this straight….your dog was poisoned, near death and you’re not sure if you will return!?!? With something as serious as this case, I wouldn’t be confused or even wondering whether or not to go back, unless you want your beloved pet to be near death again to confirm to you that there’s something wrong!

In reply to DogOwner, I guess you didn’t understand my comment. I was asking if any other dogs got sick from being at Bruce Pit because I don’t know where he ate whatever it was that poinsoned him. It could also have been from eating something while walking on the streets to my backyard from mouldy rabbit poo from the winter. Just trying to pin point it down before making any hasty decisions.

Hi,

I have been to Bruce Pit recently with my dogs at least once a week since the beginning of May (we went all the time last year as well). Our dogs have been fine, no sickness. However, they don’t tend to get into anything or eat anything, but on occasion they will nibble something, but no worries on my end, so maybe it was there but maybe it was something else.

Hope your pup is doing better now

As an aside @Ellen I am glad that you realize it might not be Bruce Pit because there are so many other areas that dogs can get sick from. It makes me sad when people automatically assume it is from someone or something of mal intent….albeit, sometimes it is but most of the time it is just that dogs get into stuff and we do our best to prevent but we can’t watch them 24/7. I remember once we went there and a some lady was saying how “teenages come in and put glass and pills for the dogs because they are bad”….yeah never in my time going there I have I seen this, sort of along the same thing as razorblades in halloween candy. But I digress.
Just everyone be aware of your surroundings and be safe and try to keep a good watch over our little furry friends (as well as other’s) and keep going to Bruce Pit

I actually used to walk a lot at Conroy Pit, without a dog. I thought it was a nice place to get exercise and I loved seeing all the different kinds of dogs.

I now have a 10 week old lab… so we’re waiting to complete her shots before we take her to “the pit”.

So, sometimes a person without a dog is legit!