Autumn is the season owners underestimate. It looks benign compared with summer heat and winter ice, and it produces a reliable run of emergency consultations every year, most of them caused by something the dog picked up off the ground.
Conkers and acorns
Horse chestnuts contain aesculin, which is toxic to dogs and causes vomiting, diarrhoea, abdominal pain and, in some cases, more serious signs. They are also exactly the right size and shape to cause an intestinal blockage, which is a surgical problem rather than a pharmacological one. Retrieving breeds are the usual patients, because a conker behaves like a ball.
Acorns contain tannins, which cause stomach upset and, with repeated ingestion, can affect the kidneys and liver. A dog that habitually crunches acorns under the same oak on the same route is not doing itself a one-off harm.
The practical answer is management rather than training alone: know where the chestnut and oak trees are on your routes, avoid them in October and November, and teach a solid leave-it cue in advance of the season rather than during it.
Mushrooms
Most wild mushrooms are harmless, some are dangerous and a few are lethal, and telling them apart in a wood at seven in the morning is not realistic. The rule is simple: do not let the dog eat any of them.
If your dog does, photograph what is left, and if possible pick a whole specimen with the base intact, wrap it in paper rather than plastic, and take it to the vet with you. Identification changes treatment, and the first signs of the most dangerous species can appear many hours after ingestion, once damage is already underway.
Vomiting, drooling, wobbliness or lethargy after a walk in woodland is a call to the vet, not a wait-and-see evening.
Antifreeze
From October, cars are topped up and screen wash and coolant spill in car parks and garages. Ethylene glycol is sweet, dogs drink it readily, and it damages the kidneys severely. Treatment has to start very early to work.
Keep dogs away from puddles under parked cars, which is easier said than done in an underground garage, and store containers where a dog cannot reach them. Any suspicion of ingestion is an immediate telephone call, not an observation period.
Fallen fruit and fermentation
Windfall apples, pears and plums ferment where they lie. A dog that eats a quantity of fermenting fruit can become genuinely intoxicated, with wobbliness and vomiting, and stones from plums and similar fruit are both a blockage risk and a source of cyanogenic compounds if crushed.
Grapes and raisins deserve their own line, because they are toxic to dogs in a way that is not dose-predictable and can cause kidney failure. This matters more from October onwards as baking starts, and it becomes acute at Christmas.
Blue-green algae and standing water
Blooms persist into autumn in still water, particularly after a warm September. A dog that swims in or drinks affected water, or licks its coat afterwards, can be seriously poisoned very quickly. Avoid water with discoloured scum or a paint-like surface, and respect posted warnings.
Rats, poison and what dogs find
Rodenticide use increases as rodents move indoors for the winter. Dogs are poisoned both directly, by finding bait, and indirectly, by eating a poisoned rodent. Anticoagulant products cause bleeding that may appear days later, with pale gums, lethargy, coughing or bruising.
If you know or suspect ingestion, take the packaging or a photograph of it to the vet, since the active ingredient determines the antidote and the monitoring period.
Dark evenings and mud
From late October the after-work walk happens in the dark. Reflective gear on the dog and on you, a light on the collar, and a long line rather than off-lead freedom on unlit ground are all sensible adjustments. You cannot supervise what your dog is eating if you cannot see the ground.
Wet leaf litter hides broken glass, sharp stones and discarded barbecue debris, and mud between the toes causes irritation if it dries there. A rinse and a check of the feet after muddy walks is the same habit that serves you in winter.
Fireworks start early
Autumn is also when noise phobia work should begin, because the season of bangs runs from late autumn through New Year. Starting desensitisation in September or October gives you the weeks the process actually needs, and it is far more effective than managing a frightened dog on the night itself.
The seasonal check when you get home
Autumn produces its own list of small problems that are easy to catch at the door and awkward a week later. Wet leaves and mud hide glass and thorns, so check the pads. Long wet fur mats quickly behind the ears and in the armpits, and a mat that forms in October is still there in December unless it is dealt with. Grass seeds are gone by now, but burrs and sticky seed heads are not.
Wet dogs left to dry in a warm flat develop skin problems in the folds and between the toes, particularly in breeds with dense undercoats. Towel properly rather than relying on a shake at the door, and pay attention to the belly and the back of the legs where the mud actually is.
Rain, and dogs who refuse it
Some dogs genuinely dislike walking in heavy rain, and forcing a distressed dog through forty-five minutes of it achieves nothing. A shorter outing with real sniffing, followed by scent work or training indoors, covers the day better than a long miserable march. A well-fitting rain coat helps thin-coated and short-coated dogs more than owners expect, and it also halves the drying job afterwards.
The good part
Autumn is the best walking season here. Temperatures suit almost every dog, the valley paths and forest tracks are at their most interesting, ground conditions are soft on joints, and the sniffing is extraordinary as vegetation breaks down. The hazards above are all manageable with a leave-it cue, a lead in the right places and knowing where the chestnut trees are.
What a walker should be doing
Route choice is the whole of the prevention. A walker who knows which paths are lined with horse chestnuts, who avoids standing water after a warm spell, and who checks and cleans paws after a muddy forest route is doing the work. The report should note anything the dog tried to eat, which is usually the first sign that a route needs changing for a few weeks.
General information for dog owners in Luxembourg, not veterinary or legal advice. For your own dog, ask your vet, a qualified behaviourist or your commune. How this journal is written and checked.
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