IVDD Awareness Walk - May 2015

This month’s walk had a very special purpose, to raise awareness about Intervertebral Disk Disease (IVDD).




Those of you who came along and picked  up some educational material, checked in with our visiting vet Dr. Milad and vet student Paul, or talked to people whose dogs have suffered from IVDD will already know;

• 1 in five dachshunds will have an IVDD episode in their lifetime
• IVDD is a genetic disease, not an injury
• There are things you can do to reduce the risk of an IVDD episode
• Time is critical when responding to an IVDD episode; as your hound’s primary carer you need to have a plan in place and ready to go
• There is currently no predictive test for IVDD
• Many dogs who suffer IVDD go on to lead happy, fulfilled and belly-rub filled lives.

Australia is really lucky to have an active IVDD support group filled with awesomely knowledgeable, supportive and downright lovely folk who have asked and answered most of the questions you’ll ever come up with.

Join up before IVDD becomes an issue in your life and help spread the word.  For more information, join the IVDD support group, read our guest post from a IVDD dog parent and checkout our Back to Basics summary on IVDD.

You might also be interested to know that for our metro members we have ramps available for sale in the  long dogs online shop (local pickup only).

I’m sure you’ll all join us in thanking all those involved in arranging all the fun of the fair with special mentions to Sary, Mercedes, Ally, Frances, Jo and TJ. Also a big thank you to all those generous members who donated items for the raffle, sales and second hand stall.

All up $1047.25 was raised from Sunday’s walk will go to IVDD Support Australia to assist with the production of education material.


Everyone seemed to really enjoy the walk, and the Jodie Gibson's coffee van appeared to be a big hit with the two legged walkers.

We were all delighted to see Sir Basil (formally Fat Bob) make his Long Dogs WA debut.  He has come a wonderfully long way since his rescue from the pound and is a credit to everyone involved in his care.

We have pictures from the walk in our online gallery, and check out our facebook group for more photos from members.