According to The Minnesota Pollution and Control Agency last summer this algae was spotted from lakes at the Iowa border to the Canadian border and the prime time it seems to thrive is June, but it depends on the weather patterns. The appearance of this Blue Green algal is usually accompanied by a really bad odor, which tends to keep people out of the water, but if you happen to run into this it could cause vomiting, diarrhea, rash, sore throat and more. The problem for dogs being exposed to this is they tend to wade in the water longer and swallow more of the lake water than humans and in some cases this has proved fatal for a few dogs.

So how do you keep you and your family safe? Not all blue green algae is toxic and in some cases it is hard to see any blooms in the algae, so the best thing to do according to the M.P.C. is if you see any pea soup kind of  algae on the lake and it has an odor KEEP OUT! But, If you are exposed to this wash off with fresh water immediately especially in the area of your swim suit, and wash off your dog with fresh water very thoroughly as well..

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