When you are a scientific communication officer, one day or another, you will have to do lectures. I am

not complaining here since, in my current position, this is something I really enjoy! It gives me the

opportunity to connect with our clients and discuss their questions and concerns. No better way to stay

in touch with the field!

When you lecture so often, you tend to become perfectionist. I now focus on many little details I really

did not care about when I first started. In 2015, one I will particularly pay attention to: providing our

attendees with written notes.

It makes total sense: our lectures usually contain lots of information and, as shown by several studies on

human cognitive psychology, we only retain 10% of the content that was presented.

In the past I was sharing a copy of my slides but more and more, these only display pictures: no text, so

hard to remember what the message was, especially when you review the slides few days or weeks after

the event took place.

All my new presentations will now come with lecture notes in an e-book format. Here is the one from

the talks I did during a 2015 roadshow in India:

“ The truth about Canine Herpes Virus (aka CHV-1) : should we be scared or not ? ”

As much as I like lecturing, I like writing even more. I hope this document will be helpful for you guys,

and if you have any comment/idea on how to make the content part of our seminars even better, don’t

hesitate to let me know, I’m always open to constructive suggestions! You’ll find my contact info at the

end of this e-book! Good reading then!

The first time I heard about Herpesviruses in veterinary medicine, I was in my 3rd year of veterinary

studies in Toulouse (South of France).

I heard about it in internal medicine, as a common cause of upper respiratory tract infections in cats. I

also heard about it in opthalmology, as a cause of corneal ulcers, also in felines. I heard a bit about it in

bovine and equine reproduction as well, as an important cause of infertility and abortion.

And that was it. To tell you the truth, I didn't hear much about it in the canine species during my first 4

years as a veterinary student. But that was about to change on a Monday morning of Sept 2004, when I

stepped into the CERCA building in Paris, a specialized veterinary center on canine reproduction.

I started at CERCA as a 5th year veterinary student, and spent the 7 following years there, doing a

residency and a PhD on canine reproduction. I was essentially working with dog breeders, and during my

time there, I heard MANY stories about canine herpesvirus infections. I am not going to lie, some of

them were pretty scary I must admit.

But where do we draw the line between fiction and reality ? I think we fear what we don't understand

(that is natural human behaviour after all) and that seems to be often the problem with canine

herpesvirus. There is no doubt this is a disease that can impact canine reproduction. It is crucial

however to understand to which extent.

So that’s why in this e-book, I would like share with you some of those stories. In dog breeding those

days, it is definitely important in my opinion to understand what the situation really is.

Only a couple of days after I started as a 5th year student at CERCA, I had my first encounter with canine

herpesvirus. A German Shepherd breeder brought Victoria, a 2 year old maiden bitch, to our

consultation. Victoria was not in heats at the time we saw her, and the breeder wanted to make sure

everything was ok before breeding her at her next heats. During the pre-consultation discussion I had

with him, he told me that, among other things, he would like us to test his bitch for herpes.

As I said, I was still a young veterinarian who had not heard much about canine herpesvirus during his

veterinary studies. So I was definitely surprised to be asked this question.

"Why do you want to test for herpes ?" did I ask him. He basically gave me THE look, the one you know

that means “You should definitely go back to your textbooks !”. But then he started elaborating : "

Because it is important, I really don't want this disease in my kennel. It would be a disaster, one should

never breed a herpes-positive bitch. Could you imagine the consequences ?"

Quite frankly at this time I honestly couldn't… But this is where things get interesting!

To better answer this question, I think it is important to have a good idea on how frequent Canine

Herpesvirus Infection is in canine populations.

When we want to evaluate the impact of a disease in a dog population, veterinary scientists often carry

out what we call a seroprevalence survey : they collect blood samples from a defined canine population

and look for the presence of antibodies for the disease they would like to evaluate.

Several studies like this have been conducted for Canine Herpes Virus, here are links to some of the

most recent ones :

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24694206

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22494683

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24685471

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12354184

Those results are edifying and tell us something really important about Canine Herpesvirus Infection : it

is VERY common !

Seroprevalence surveys indeed indicated that 30-100% of the individuals that were tested had

antibodies against Canine Herpesvirus. Many of those studies were in the 80% range.

It basically tells us one thing : a very large amount of dogs in those studied populations had been

exposed to the virus, which in fact seems to be ubiquitous. In breeding kennels, the risk is even higher

because of the larger dog population as well as activities like participating to dog shows or other canine

events that could increase exposure.

I did not find equivalent studies performed in the US or in Canada, but don’t believe that means that the

situation in North America might be different.

Canine Herpesvirus was first isolated in 1964, by Carmichael et al, a US research team

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/4221827 .

And I found this study that was performed on wild canids in Yellowstone park, in which the

seroprevalence of Canine Herpesvirus was very high http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19756151 .

One important thing you need to know about Herpesviruses : they are species-specific. The Canine

Herpesvirus will only infect dogs and wild canids, but no other species. I think this is important to

mention since I often get questioned by anxious owners who wonder if they can get herpes from their

dogs or if they can pass their herpes onto their animals. Don’t worry here : those viruses are usually not

able to cross the species barriers.

One might however wonder : why is Canine Herpesvirus so prevalent in dog populations then ?

The answer lays in a very particular phenomenon, specific to herpesviruses, called “latency”.

When an animal is infected by herpes, it is going to mount an immune response against this pathogen

(that is why we can perform seroprevalence surveys and look for antibodies against herpes).

There are however two important aspects of this immune response you need to know :

- 1st / It is not a long-lasting immunity, like the one you could obtain for other types of viral

infection. A puppy or a dog that survives a parvovirus infection for instance will usually build up

a strong, life-lasting immune response. In the case of herpesvirus infection, antibodies will

usually not persist more than 1 or 2 months.

- 2nd / The immune response will NOT get rid of the viral pathogen. Herpesviruses will usually go

into hiding, very often in a brain structure called the trigeminal ganglion and remain there until

conditions become better for them (this is what we will call Herpes reactivation, but we’ll come

back to that one). The virus just waits there until it will have again the possibility to replicate

itself. An individual that has been infected by herpes will typically be infected FOR LIFE. It is

certainly because of this strategy that Canine Herpesvirus is so prevalent in canine populations.

Let’s come back to Victoria’s case now. Remember, her breeder wanted to test her for Canine Herpes

Virus because “he did not want to breed a positive bitch”. Let’s discuss a little bit about the tests

available in adults and their limitations.

When it comes to Canine Herpesvirus :

- The test used most often use in adults is a serology. We draw blood and look for the presence of

antibodies for the herpesvirus.

- Polymerase Chain Reaction (aka PCR) can also be used, but those are less interesting in adults

because they will detect the viral DNA and are only interesting when the veterinarian suspects

that the animal currently sheds the virus.

- Viral culture is available in certain laboratory (typically at certain veterinary colleges), but not

used a lot in routine practice.

Let’s therefore focus on the serology.

What does a negative result mean ? Well, to tell you the truth, not much. It just tells us that at the time

we did the sample, the bitch was probably not shedding herpesvirus since there was no antibody

present. It does not tell us for sure that the bitch is herpes-free…

What does a positive result mean ? It tells us that the animal has been exposed with herpes and is

probably infected for life. There are more chances that this bitch is going to shed herpesviruses but

again, hard to tell for sure if this is currently the case just based on this result.

Remember that when a test is used, what prevails is not its result, but its interpretation.

Those tests need to be performed at the right moment. Herpesviruses are indeed reactivated by a

stressor (that decreases the efficiency of the immune system). There are many different kinds of

stressors for sure, but there are ones that are found on a regular basis in breeding bitches : heats, and

gestation.

If you want to perform a herpes serology, it should therefore better be done during the season or

eventually during gestation. This is when you have higher chances to detect a positive individual,

because of the immune suppression associated to those specific stages of the cycle.

Things need to be put into perspective here. Removing a bitch from a breeding program based on the

fact she is positive to herpes seems extreme. Remember, nearly 80% of dogs will be in this situation !

Eradicating herpes is definitely NOT the goal today and is simply unfeasible when so many individuals

are already carrying the disease.

And I think that is really an important point to make here. When I started preparing this presentation, I

googled “Canine Herpes Virus” and I found several blog posts mentioning how big a threat it is. Sure,

some clinical forms can be a problem in breeding kennels, we are going to touch on them.

For the record, when I started working in CERCA we were testing all the breeding bitches we were

seeing for canine herpesvirus at the beginning of their season. We quickly stopped… because finding a

negative one was almost exceptional!

Keep this in mind : this virus is well anchored in canine populations. It is here, we need to learn how to

live with it. And fortunately, there are many things we can do in terms of prevention !

Let`s speak about Helena`s case now.

Helena was a Briard bitch that we had followed during her timing of ovulation. She was bred on her

optimal breeding period, with a male of proven fertility. Everything had been done following the

textbooks… but when we did the pregnancy diagnosis 3 weeks after, unfortunately there were no

embryos to be found under ultrasounds…

The owners were obviously sad because they had invested their time and money, put a lot of efforts into

this breeding that would have been valuable for their genetic selection program… but it did not work

out.

Obviously we started discussing the potential causes that could explain this infertility. Almost obviously

during the discussion, they mentioned herpes.

I think first it is important to understand the clinical signs of herpesvirus infection we can eventually find

in adult dogs. Herpes is often described as a virus of “the cold mucosas” (keep this in mind, you`ll see

later why it is so important !). I also told you at the very beginning that there are respiratory and ocular

forms that are described in cats.

Well, the same clinical expressions are described also in dogs. There are forms of kennel cough that are

due to herpes. It is certainly not the most common pathogen causing this disease, but it is always

something good to keep in mind since, as breeders, you are definitely predisposed to bring this back

home after a dog show for instance. There are also reports of ocular ulcers induced by herpes in dogs.

Again, not something frequent, but always good to keep in mind when you know how predisposed dog

breeders are to see uncommon clinical forms of infectious diseases.

In the textbooks, herpes is also mentioned as a cause of inflammation of the genital tract :

balanopothitis (=inflammation of the penis) and vaginitis (=inflammation of the vagina) due to herpes

have been described in experimental studies. Those are however pretty rare, and I personally have

never seen one.

The most common clinical sign we will see in bitches, especially at the beginning of their season, will be

the presence of white pimples on the vulvar lips and eventually on the oral mucosas. Those clinical signs

are however transient and more frequently seen when the animals are infected for the first time.

After the first infection, even during a period of reactivation of the virus, most of the time the animals

are totally asymptomatic. Based on a normal clinical examination, you will have NO CLUE they are

shedding herpes.

Then, what is the big deal with infertility ? When I was preparing my board examination to become a

specialist in canine reproduction, I had to read many textbooks and in all of them there was always a

long paragraph on herpesvirus infection in dogs. I think one of the reasons is that in other species

herpes is indeed a frequent cause of infertility.

I think it also has to do with the studies that were done in the bitch on the impact of this virus during

pregnancy. Remember that herpes was isolated by a US research team in 1964. Following that, other

teams started working on what we call the pathophysiology (understand the mechanisms of action of

the virus) of herpes in dogs. The article mentioned on the slide above was published by a Japanese team

in 1979 : they experimentally infected pregnant bitches with a massive dose of herpesvirus,

administered intravenously, at different stages of gestation. Those bitches had never been exposed to

Canine Herpesvirus prior to this.

And this is what they observed :

- When the bitches were infected in early gestation, fetal deaths and mummifications were

observed ;

- When they were infected in mid-gestation, it led to abortions ;

- When they were infected in late gestation, it resulted in premature births.

This study indeed showed that herpes could lead to infertility in canines.

However, is it something frequent ?

Definitely NOT ! And that is a fortunate thing! Think about the number of breeding dogs that might be

positive to canine herpes ! It will be pretty hard to breed any of them if this disease had a very strong

impact on fertility !

The first cause of infertility in dogs, and from far, remain mistiming of the day breeding.

Here are few ressources you can look into if you want to learn more on this topic :

http://royalcaninbreedersclub.ning.com/profiles/blogs/timing-of-ovulation-in-canines-3-take-away-

messages-from-our

http://royalcaninbreedersclub.ning.com/profiles/blogs/canine-reproduction-20-facts-you-should-know-

about-timing-of

It appears however that herpes can cause infertility when the bitch is infected for the first time during

her gestation. It is usually described as a one-time thing, and if this happens, there is unfortunately not

much you will be able to do about it. Fortunalety after one episode of this kind, herpes should not be a

problem anymore when it comes to fertility.

If you observed the clinical signs we mentioned on the previous slide during gestation and you want to

find out if the problem was due to herpes, there are two way of approaching this :

- You could do a seroconversion test : it requires comparison of the antibody titers for herpes in

the bitch’s serum during the season and at the time the problem is diagnosed. If we observe an

increase in the amount of antibodies between those two samples (that is what we refer to as

seroconversion), we could definitely suspect herpes. It is interesting however to note that

certain bitches will seroconvert during gestation, with no noticeable impact on their litter.

- If there was some abortion material, it will definitely good to analyze it and look for herpes. This

is something that is not often done because sometimes veterinarians are told weeks, even

months after the episode occurred… when it is obviously too late to run those tests. If

unfortunately you experience this kind of issue, I would definitely advise you NOT to wait. The

longer you wait, the more difficult it will be for your veterinarian to reach a diagnosis. And

whatever the cause, the more difficult it will be to set up the right action plan to prevent this

from happening in the future.

As I said, infertility related to herpes is often a one-time thing in the bitch, when she is exposed to the

virus for the first time during her gestation. There are however things you breeders can do to try to

decrease the risk of seeing this situation happening.

Let’s put aside the challenges we mention earlier related to testing and focus on the kennel. Inside a

kennel, there are three types of situations that can be encountered :

- All the bitches have never been exposed to herpesvirus : in this scenario, there is a low risk of

seeing herpes-related cases of infertility. Since the virus does not circulate inside the kennel, as

long as it is not brought in, herpes will not be a problem ;

- All the bitches have been exposed to herpesvirus : in this second scenario, the risk is also low.

Indeed, since the bitches have already been exposed prior to gestation, there will be no uterine

transmission of herpes to the puppies and no associated pregnancy arrest ;

- There is a mix of bitches that have been and have NOT been exposed to the virus inside the

kennel : this is the at-risk scenario. Since some bitches have not been exposed, if they are

exposed for the first time while pregnant this is when you can observe the aforementioned

clinical signs.

In a perfect world, we would recommend you to test all your bitches to have an idea if herpes circulates

or not and try to identify those individuals that have never been exposed. But you will agree that this

might quickly turn into a very expensive scenario, especially when we know the limitations of the test.

There are two simpler ways to tackle this probem :

- 1st / Control the introduction of new breeding bitches inside your kennel : first go through a

quarantine period and then get them accustomed to your kennel’s specific microbism BEFORE

breeding her. After the quarantine period, this is usually done by mixing them with some of your

healthy adult dogs with which they are socially compatible (in the case of herpes, especially

when your dogs are in season). Being together a month or two will help the new animals build

an immunity for the specific germs you have in your kennel (all kennels are different). If herpes

circulates, they might probably be exposed to it and therefore will not be at risk the first time

you breed them.

- 2nd / If you have pregnant bitches at home, take extra-precautions when some of your animals

come back from dog shows or participate to any kind of dog events. You’ll never know what you

could potentially bring back, despite all the precautions you take (think how frequent it is to

come back from dog shows with kennel cough !). Not only herpes but any disease the pregnant

bitches have never been exposed to could potentially hurt the gestation. In this case, try to

avoid mixing dogs you brought back from exhibitions with the pregnant ones that stayed at

home.

The use of artificial Insemination has been suggested as a way to prevent herpes transmission between

individuals. This is based on the fact that herpes transmission usually happens via contact with

contaminated secretions (and since herpes can replicate in the genital tract, this would be a way to

avoid exposure).

However there is one thing to keep in mind : if artificial insemination is indeed a tool that can be used to

prevent transmission of infectious diseases, it ONLY protects the male.

Many pathogens will indeed be transmitted by the sperm. There are not many studies that have been

done in transmission of herpes via the male dog’s semen, but this is a way of transmission that has been

described in other species. So if the male dog was shedding herpes in his semen at the time of

insemination, the female would definitely have been in contact with the pathogen then.

Moreover, herpes essentially spread via oro-nasal transmission. When an artificial insemination is

performed, very often the female is used as a teaser to collect the male. If the male licks the vulva of the

female during the collection, there is always a risk of germs transmission there. So if you want to fully

protect the male, there should be NO CONTACT AT ALL between the two partners even during the

semen collection !

Don’t get me wrong : artificial insemination is a wonderful tool ! However, it is important to be aware of

its limitation when it comes to prevention of infectious diseases transmission.

Speaking of the male, what about it when it comes to herpesvirus infection ? I had clients coming to see

us for breeding soundness evaluation, asking us to test for herpes so they could decide if they would

breed the male or not. Same as for the female here. So many individuals have been exposed to the virus

that it does not make sense to remove an individual from a breeding program just based on his herpes

status.

And things are a little bit more complicated for the male ! In females, you remember that there are

preferred times to test, when you have more chances to detect the presence of the virus (heats,

gestation). This is because that, at those moments, the immune system is a little bit depressed, allowing

herpesvirus reactivation. But what about the male ? If everything is ok with him and he is not submitted

to any stress, you might definitely never found out that it has been exposed to herpes !

And remember, the shedding is intermittent. Which means if you would like to make sure the male is

not transmitting herpes when you use it for breeding, you would need to test its semen each time you

breed him ! In real life, simply unfeasible !

As I said we don’t have much data on herpesvirus transmission via the male dog’s semen. Keep in mind

however that in bovine, herpesviruses will survive semen freezing process. So if you use frozen semen,

or even fresh-chilled semen, this might not decrease the risk of herpes transmission.

For the record, herpes is NOT described as a cause of infertility in male dogs.

You now have a better understanding of how herpesvirus can cause infertility in female dogs.

Be reassured however : this is – fortunately ! – not frequent, and only happen in very specific situations.

Especially when the bitch was infected for the first time during her gestation !

At-risk situations do exist then, and fortunately, there are simple things you could put in place in terms

of prevention.

Now let’s focus on the last part of our discussion : how herpesvirus can affect newborns.

A Jack Russel breeder contacted us at CERCA, because of a problem they were having inside their

kennel. They had bred a bitch which gave birth to 5 apparently healthy puppies. Everything looked fine

until during the first week after parturition, they started encountering problems with their puppies. 3

out of 5 died in a couple of days. They were obviously sad and were wondering what could have

happened. And again, during the discussion on potential causes, we touched on herpes.

On Internet, I found several blogs stating that : “ Canine Herpesvirus is the NUMBER 1 cause of neonatal

mortality in puppies.” Let’s put things straight : this is ABSOLUTELY not the case.

Puppies are indeed predisposed, and herpes is always something to consider. However, all studies done

on this topic agree : it is NOT common, and certainly NOT the most common cause of neonatal death.

Let’s elaborate a little bit then.

There is one thing we know for sure concerning clinical signs of herpesvirus infection in newborn

puppies : there are absolutely NOT specific !

Infected puppies appear dull and depressed, lose interest in nursing, lose body weight and pass soft,

yellow-green feces, some of them may develop rhinitis, neurological signs as well… And the list could go

on and on.

Plenty of other diseases could eventually lead to the same kind of clinical expressions, which in fact are

summarized in the expression we often hear : “fading puppy syndrome”.

More about this in our blog here :

http://royalcaninbreedersclub.ning.com/profiles/blogs/fading-puppy-kitten-syndrome-what-does-this-

even-mean

One important thing you need to know however : Canine Herpesvirus is a slow-growing pathogen.

This means that, after puppies are contaminated, it usually takes 3-4 days before any clinical symptom

becomes visible.

That basically means that if you have a newborn that dies after 1 or 2 days after parturition, it is unlikely

that it was cause by the Canine Herpesvirus.

Puppies less than 3 weeks are definitely predisposed… because of one of the herpesvirus specificity !

Remember, I told you it is a virus of “the cold mucosas”. Herpesvirus replicates faster at temperatures

below 36°C (97°F).

And this is usually the normal temperature of puppies right after birth. Moreover, newborn puppies are

predisposed to hypothermia. Unlike adults, they cannot shiver to increase their body temperatures until

3 weeks of age. If they are cold, they are going to get colder. Which will create a perfect ground for

herpesviruses to spread.

It is therefore important to focus on prevention of hypothermia in puppies, and this starts right after

they are born.

More information on this topic here in our e-book on Canine Neonatalogy :

http://royalcaninbreedersclub.ning.com/profiles/blogs/canine-neonatology-our-tips-inside-our-e-book-

on-the-topic

To prevent hypothermia, we usually recommend that the temperature at the nest level be :

- 30°C (86°F) during the first week after parturition

- 28°C (82°F) during the second week

- 25°C (77°F) during the third week

NB: This is essentially a preventive measure. If herpes starts to replicate in a puppy and causes lesions,

warming it up will not stop the progression of the disease unfortunately.

We already discussed what could happen if there is an intra-uterine contamination during gestation

(which again fortunately is really not common). So typically in puppies that are normally born, there are

two main ways they can be contamined by the herpesvirus :

- During their passage through the birth canal at the time of parturition : herpes can eventually

replicate at this location and if this is the case during parturition, puppies will be exposed and

contaminated.

- Via oro-nasal contamination when their mother that is shedding herpes is licking them (and you

want her to lick her puppies because it is essential to stimulate defecation and miction). Or if

other dogs shedding herpes are in contact with the newborn puppies. That is definitely why we

would not recommend mixing newborn puppies with other individuals than their mother before

they are more than three weeks of age. After this time, they have better control on the internal

temperature and herpesvirus infection will no more be a concern.

Because puppies can be exposed when they go through the birth canal at the time of parturition, C-

sections had been proposed as a solution to by-pass the birth canal and therefore eliminate this risk for

transmission.

However this is no more something that is recommended. The mother can indeed still transmit herpes

after parturition by licking her puppies.

Performing an elective C-section does not seem to bring any benefits in this regard.

The best way for puppies to be protected after birth ? Make sure they receive antibodies against

herpesvirus. Where could they eventually get those ? Via the colostrum of their mother !

Part of the things you therefore need to focus on right after birth is to make sure that puppies will drink

the colostrum from their mother.

We give lots of details on dog colostrum in our e-book here, please give it a look to learn more about the

things you can do inside your kennel :

http://royalcaninbreedersclub.ning.com/profiles/blogs/canine-neonatology-our-tips-inside-our-e-book-

on-the-topic

In Europe, a vaccine against Canine Herpesvirus is available, and this is essentially its goal: boost the

antibody production of the mother for herpes so that puppies will receive more anti-herpes antibodies

via the colostrum and will therefore be better protected right after birth.

This vaccine is however currently not available in North America.

This is also where the serology tests we mentioned earlier can be of great help. If you remember what I

wrote at the very beginning of this e-book antibobies for herpesvirus usually persist for 1-2 months. So if

you ask for a serology during mid-gestation in a bitch and you find that she has a high antibody titer, you

can presumably assume that those antibodies will also be found in her colostrum and therefore, be

passed onto the puppies right after birth. The risk of neonatal herpesvirus infection in this case will

therefore be limited, as long as the puppies properly drink the colostrum.

If at mid-gestation however, the mother has no antibodies for herpes, the puppies will probably not

received any protection for herpes from their mother’s colostrum. This will be identified as an at-risk

situation, in which you know you will need to focus on temperature and on limiting contacts with other

dogs from your kennel.

There are mentions of oral administration of adult serum from dogs that have high herpes antibodies

titers in at-risk puppies right after birth. Recent published data however showed that oral serum

administration in puppies right after birth does not provide the systemic effect we find with the

mother’s colostrum, and do not decrease the risk of neonatal mortality/morbidity in those individuals.

If unfortunately you end up dealing with neonatal mortality problems, and if you suspect herpes, I think

it is always important to try to reach a definitive diagnosis. Neonatal mortality cases can be frustrating in

breeding kennels, but if no test is performed, lots of doubt remain… which is never good when you try

to elaborate a prevention plan.

Today the best way to confirm neonatal herpesvirus infection would be to perform a necropsy that will

help visualize the typical lesions of canine herpesvirus infection, as you can see on the kidneys in the

picture above.

Herpes is a cytocidal virus that causes local hemorraghes that turn into those patchy lesions you can see,

which are very typical.

It is important to keep in mind that in some cases, those lesions are not found but herpes can still be

isolated (could be by PCR or viral culture). Recent publications raise questions : maybe in those cases,

even if present, herpes would not be the cause of the problem, but could have simply act as a co-factor

favouring other types of infections (like bacterial ones for instance, which seem way more common in

newborns).

So you better understand now why newborn puppies less than 3 weeks old are so predisposed for

herpesvirus infection. As usual in dog breeding, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. And

you could see there are simple things you can do to support those newborn puppies !

There is good news however : neonatal herpesvirus infection is NOT something common. All studies

performed on canine neonatal mortality agree on that. Herpes usually counts for less than 10% of the

cases of neonatal mortality. And this despite its huge prevalence in adult dog populations.

I just walked you through what I consider the essential things dog breeders need to know about Canine

Herpesvirus. As I said at the beginning, it can impact the canine reproductive function, and eventually

cause infertility and neonatal mortality. However I hope it is clear for you now that this is not something

common… despite its huge prevalence in dog populations !

So I think we should not be scared about herpes. It’s here, certainly in many kennels worldwide thanks

to its unique pathogenic mechanisms. We cannot eradicate it, we need to learn to live with it.

And I hope that via this e-book I gave you some clues on how to better deal with it, and how to better

prevent its related risks.

Hope you enjoyed the reading and do not hesitate if you have any question ! You will find below my

contact information !