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This is a confidential, safe and supportive community for dog owners dealing with Brucella Canis.
Whether your dog has tested positive or you're just concerned about testing, please know that a positive result is NOT a death sentence for your dog.
I'm a fellow owner of a BC+ rescue dog, so know first-hand the stress and shock that comes with the initial diagnosis. I went against the vet's recommendation of euthanasia and my dog is leading a happy and healthy life - so can yours!
The aim of this page is to help you find the support and understanding you need during this challenging time, or just answer any questions that you might have.
DISCLAIMER - we accept practice feedback forms in good faith but do not take responsibility for insuring that the information is 100% accurate. This is a dynamic situation and changing all the time therefore the veterinary database may only act as a guide, you are strongly recommended to ask your own questions of any practice.
Julie Rowan is a former bereavement counsellor, providing support to members in a voluntary capacity, not a replacement for professional support. Instead, Julie should be though of a BC friend 'with emotional support benefits' due to her additional background knowledge and expertise, and ability to also help signpost owners to other resources that might be beneficial.

If you have a foreign dog, please read this.

I run a charity and was contacted by one of our adopters on 31st October as her dog was unwell. She adopted Benji in 2018 from foster care after he had been imported in 2017 as a puppy.

Benji was unwell and the vet wanted a BC test before treating him. After outrage from his adopters fuelled with information from us and their own research the vet treated Benji for an abccess whilst awaiting the BC results. He made a full recovery

However on 13th November his BC results came back POSITIVE and his owners were encouraged to book euthanasia as well as being told their dog would no longer receive treatment from the practice. His results were
SAT negative
iElisa 1.593

Luckily, Benji's adopters had armed themselves with every available paper and resource so they were aware that the chance of a FALSE POSITIVE due to illness/infection was high.
So they asked for him to be retested when fully recovered and medication free. He was tested again on Monday 20th and the result came back this morning NEGATIVE.
SAT negative
iElisa 1.23
iElisa 1.47 or above is considered a positive result.

So now Benji does not have Brucella (which we knew all along) and can continue to live an unrestricted and long life. But, had his adopters followed the advice of their vets, he would have been killed - a perfectly healthy dog that was taken to his vet with toothache.

So my advice to you all is this:

1. Don't be afraid to have your dog tested for BC but don't allow your vet to test when they've been taken in for injury/illness - infection AND medication (including vaccinations) can manipulate the results. Tell the vet if they require a negative BC result before administering treatment, then they should have asked for a test BEFORE the dog became unwell!

2. Do not make any impulse decisions such as euthanasia or surrender. Speak to someone who knows more about BC than you and take your time to process.

3. If you do receive a 'positive' result, get the written confirmation, speak to your vet about their policy regarding BC+ dogs and GET A SECOND TEST 3 months later or when your dog is not unwell/on any medication.
​
Unfortunately, one of our dogs has previously been euthanised following a similar 'positive' result. I've no doubt that he too would have tested negative if given the same chance that Benji got. But he didn't and an impulse decision was made.

​70 people attended (about 40 dogs) and we took £1250. Over 50% of the funds raised were from registration and donations on the day- you were so generous! 50% will go to our neutering arm, Spay It Forward, so it can continue it’s vital work paying for small trusted rescues to neuter their dogs and those outside their shelters
Sincere and eternal thanks to all those lovely people who made the effort - we know who you are and we bless you!

We have two legs that make us high off the floor. This makes a hello very difficult for our dogs. And when they do go to say hello with an appropriate muzzle sniff, they are often met with people shouting at them and pushing them away.
We leave food in easy to reach places, kitchen worksurfaces, coffee tables, bins. Perfect places for our dogs to do what has kept them alive as a species for thousands of years. scavenging and foraging, using their nose to find food. And us weird humans shout and get angry, wonder why our dinner got stolen and think of them as bad dogs.
We think sniffing natural things like dead animals and urine is disgusting and yet we constantly try to cover up any natural smells we have with chemicals, often toxic to the world around us. Detergents, perfumes, chemical sprays. We must smell overwhelming and pretty horrid to our canine friends.
We greet each other with a friendly smile, only touching each other when we give consent to do so. And yet we often greet out dogs by leaning over them, patting them on their head. If we greeted humans the way we greeted dogs it wouldn't be long before we had no friends and were arrested for assault.
We leave our dogs alone when we go out or put them in separate rooms. We use doors to confine them when it suits our daily needs. Then we wonder why this hyper-social animal feels distressed.
We have these rather odd things called hands. We touch and feel things with them. We use them to navigate the world, we grasp and pull, we hold and touch. Our dogs don't have hands, they have mouths. They use these to navigate the world around them and yet when they bite and chew, they are often told off.
We talk. We natter away, this jumble of noises that only people from the same place as us can understand. Some of us may be able to speak to some other humans from a few different countries but often struggle even with our own language. Dogs are fantastic communicators. Being able to communicate with other dogs all over the world. How confusing must our jibber jabber be to them? They often understand us a lot better than we understand them and when they do communicate with a bark they are labelled a nuisance.
They can only eat, sleep, have sex, play, socialise, run, sniff, hunt, be free, be dogs! when we enable or allow it.
Our dogs are ridiculously tolerant of our weird human ways.
We owe it to them to be just as tolerant. We owe it to them to learn more about them, communicate and teach them in ways they understand.
They do not have unrealistic expectations of us, they don’t judge or shout at us when we get things wrong. Let's try and be as tolerant and patient with them as they are with us.

Credit - Speak Dog Education with Rebecca Hanlon

The team at Give a Dog a Home know more than anyone the responsibility of taking on a dog whether that be adopting or fostering. 
We want to touch on what a complicated mass of emotions fostering a dog is. As a fosterer you need the knowledge, experience and intuition. Alongside these emotions comes a large amount of uncertainty about the outcome, ambiguous feelings on taking this often disturbed living being into your home, worrying about whether you can make a good job of it, feeling obliged to others, often unmet, who have either cared for the dog themselves in some way or are willingly taking on that grave responsibility. No wonder people rarely put their heads and hands above the parapet to volunteer as a dog fosterer. 

Good rescues will facilitate this whole experience by easing you through the process and gently guiding you along the way providing you with the knowledge and training in whatever form you can digest it, paying necessary expenses and taking into account your situation, whilst always putting the dog first. We want to emphasis that fostering a dog is a life experience which is a growthful and ultimately deeply rewarding one. 

Give a Dog a Home are seeking a rare and special type of fosterer, one who knows dogs and respects their needs, who either has no dogs at present, or alternatively has one other older, bigger dog who can wisely show her the way by taking no nonsense. This fosterer will in turn guide our little Lizzie (12kg) through adolescence, spaying, learning how to be a good adult and eventually be integrated into a home where she can spend the rest of her life. 

If you, or you know anyone who may be suitable for fostering Lizzie please contact at [email protected]. 

What a success our Give a Dog a Home dog walk was!! We just want to say a massive thank you to everyone who came along and made it a fantastic day. Due to the turnout we had we was able to raise £1272, which is amazing! 

It was so nice to see old fosters to be reunited with thriving dogs who have now all got loving family homes, but also so see how well our adopters are doing! Everyone at Give a Dog a Home is so thankful and we can't wait to see you at the next walk which will be 15th October 2022. 

Introducing Herbie, who was rescued from Romania in the summer of 2020... over a year on, Herbie is loving life with his adopters in Kent and has learnt a few tricks along the way!

If you would like to send us an update, please email [email protected] with your photo and a little background info.

We are really impressed with this addition to the Indi Dog range, and recommend it for all our dogs!
All the details and purchasing options can be found on the Indi Dog Website