The Tick In The Tall Grass: A Growing Threat To Dog Owners And Their Dogs

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270 – June, 2026

By Lisa Dubé Forman

I wish I had told this story sooner, but sometimes the most vital news arrives right when we need it most. As the climate shifts, a dangerous new syndrome is rewriting the rules for everyone who loves dogs, the outdoors, and our sport.

A decade ago, Scott Curatolo-Wagemann, a marine biologist on Long Island, knew of only one person with a tick-borne illness called alpha-gal syndrome. Today, it has spread to his sister, her best friend, a baseball teammate’s mother, his own phlebotomist—and to Curatolo-Wagemann himself. “This small tick bite has affected me more than a shark bite or cancer,” he told The New York Times. He survived both.

For those of us in the purebred dog community—hunters, field trialers, show exhibitors, breeders, and pet owners—ticks are nothing new. We pull them off our dogs after every walk and every hunt. But now the threat has evolved in ways we cannot ignore. A potentially deadly tick-borne disease is spreading rapidly across the United States, and the same climate forces driving its expansion are accelerating the spread of other parasites and viruses. What was once considered a nuisance is becoming a serious public health concern with direct implications for anyone who spends time outdoors or with a dog.

What is alpha-gal syndrome? Unlike most tick-borne diseases, this is not an infection—it is an allergy, and the trigger is red meat.

Click here to read the complete article
270 – June, 2026

Short URL: https://caninechronicle.com/?p=361053

Posted by AnthonyA on Jun 29 2026. Filed under Current Articles, Featured. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.