I don't know - my dogs have never gotten worms except for one that was kept at a friend's house and her dog had worms and didn't know it. We didn't realize it either and it died because of them which really upset me. But our house dogs (that one was an outside dog) have never gotten worms so I'm not sure how many "varieties" we have on our side of the pond.

well, we are a very small country with loads of people and loads of dogs, so I suppose the chances of contamination are a lot larger here... and we do have a lot of different kinds of worms... some obvious as they lead to irritation and discomfort, some you don't notice until the dog dies.... so... better safe then sorry... I de-worm 4 times a year regardless, and fortunately the insurance does cover some of the costs.... but if I was living in the middle of nowhere and my dogs didn't come into contact with other dogs... I too would happily do the one time a year test.... and drive the poop to my vet smiling all the way

So do you worm yourself 4 times a year then?

I guess I just don't agree with filling my dog full of chemicals unnecessarily (sp), 'just incase'. If a problem is spotted by my vet or I notice my dogs loosing weight or condition for any reason then I would consider worming again, but worming once a year suits my dogs very well.

May be too late now but no you don't need to refridgerate the poo.
I have taken in samples of poo for dogs being exported and I did not have to put it in the fridge.

No, I didn't refrigerate it (also asked hubby when he got home in case I was wrong) and the only dogs my dog comes into contact with are my son's dog and that very rarely. So she's pretty safe unless she gets into something.

But I've never had a dog have that problem except that one time with an outside dog that stayed in a dirty place (it was my, then, best friend - and no, we didn't lose our friendship because of it, they moved away and are now in Moscow as missionaries - I didn't realize how dirty her basement was (from her dogs) and also filthy and we'd had a cold snap while we were away and so she kept her down there and didn't know that her dogs had worms so didn't tell us that OUR dog had worms) and we didn't have the $$ at the time to find out what was wrong so we kept her in a warm chicken coup but nothing we did for her helped her.

Another friend who was studying to be a vet did an "autopsy" for us and told it she was infested with worms and that was what killed her and told us how she probably got them. Since then, we don't own outside dogs, although Ginger goes out to use the bathroom, and we only have 1 dog at a time. Which is ok for the dog because I'm basically home-bound although I can get out when necessary

I'm gonna shut up now - man I can get more verbose than necessary sometimes - I need a "verbosity off/on" switch

Nope, I don't, but then I don't go around sticking my nose in dog's poop either... there is a difference!

The so called "****" (yes, this is the official name) worms do however also thrive in sandpit sand, so little kids do generally get at least one case of the worms when they are small due to cats getting into the sandpit at school or at playgrounds... not a nice thing! But next to these fairly normal worms there are also tapeworms, heart worms etc etc... very nasty for dogs, cats and humans.... and often not diagnosed until it is too late... so no, I don't have a problem "filling" my pets with these chemicals 4 times a year in order to keep them and my family safe, and to try and help control the outbreaks... personally I feel that people who don't in such a densely populated area are pretty irresponsible...

so lets agree to disagree.. you do it your way, I'll do it mine...

I'm assuming you typed "s h i t" worms?? Gotta love censoring. I'm surprised I could spell cockapoo - other forums I have to put spacing between the letters to spell it out LOL. I agree with densely populated places. I'd be safe than sorry as well.

actually it was a r s e .... thanx for the tip about the spacing....

ROTFL - oops so I swore without needing too - dang - I don't swear LOL ahem.

and now back to the original thread....