Chicago veterinarian Dr. Derek Landini begins to cough. He doesn't have the flu but is imitating dogs who do.

"It's a moist, congested sounding cough, not the very dry cough most often associated with kennel cough," he says between mock coughing episodes.

In Chicago, there's currently a serious outbreak of canine influenza. It's also "hot" in parts of the Denver and New York City areas. The bug is popping up sporadically in other urban and suburban regions across the country, and will probably continue to do so over the next several months.

Nearly all dogs exposed pick up the virus.

"The dogs are naive to this virus," Landini says. "Never being previously exposed, there's no immunity to it all. What's more, the virus is highly contagious, just as the human flu is contagious."

Canine influenza is thought to be a natural mutation of equine influenza, and was first identified among racing greyhounds in 2004. However, it wasn't long before the virus began to spread to the general canine population.

The good news is that, with early veterinary intervention, most dogs bounce back to health pretty quickly. However, some individual dogs do worsen and may develop potentially life-threatening pneumonia. Of the 60 or so suspected cases of suspected canine influenza treated by Landini at his practice on the north side of Chicago since April, five have lingered and transformed to pneumonia. Luckily, all those dogs in Landini's clinic survived. However, dog flu can be fatal; nationwide, one to five percent of dogs with canine influenza will die, according to the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine.

Dr. Cynda Crawford, veterinary immunologist from the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine, Gainesville, has been studying canine influenza since it was first identified. Human flu hits the youngest and oldest the hardest, but with dog flu, there's no predicting which pets will become the most ill. Generally, though, they tend to be otherwise healthy dogs from 1 to 6 years old.

So far, canine flu has turned up in 28 states. Be on the lookout for symptoms if you know the virus is already occurring where you live (though the virus can pop up anywhere). Since coughing is the most common symptom, Crawford advises visiting your vet if your dog develops a cough. Coughing is worth investigating anyway, since it may be a symptom of many other problems, even if turns out the dog doesn't have flu.

The onset of symptoms is amazingly fast. At 5 p.m. your dog can be perfectly fine, but at midnight symptoms begin to occur. And typically the coughing -- for whatever reason -- begins late at night or overnight. Other common symptoms are a high fever, decreased appetite and general lethargy.

Early intervention also allows vets to take a nasal swab (just as doctors do to check people for the flu) and run a lab test (polymerase chain reaction or PCR test) to confirm the dog flu. However, confirmation is most effective only two to four days after the virus begins to shed (replicates and spreads). Not only will early detection allow people to most effectively treat their dogs, but also -- since they know their dogs are highly contagious -- keep their pups away from others.

The virus spreads easily. In May, an animal shelter in Grand Rapids, Mich., suffered an outbreak and euthanized 11 dogs as a result. Dog day care centers, groomers and boarding facilities are also very susceptible. Aside from coughing, the virus is spread by dogs licking one another or sharing toys or food and water bowls.

The good news is that your dog can still slobber you with wet dog kisses; canine flu is not transmittable to people, cats or other animal species. However, you can unknowingly participate in spreading the virus. The virus can survive on human hands or even clothing. If you pet a dog that's shedding the virus outdoors, you can easily bring the bug back home to your own dog. Similarly, even if your dog is boarded in a kennel away from a sick dog, the staff can unknowingly spread the virus from sick animals to healthy ones.

Landini says the virus is so contagious that, at least among his clients, in multi-dog homes all the dogs are bound to get the virus. However, not all dogs with the virus become ill. Crawford says around 20 percent of dogs who get the virus never get sick. While that's good for these dogs, their owners have no clue their pets are carrying a virus and don't keep them away from other dogs. "This makes canine influenza harder yet to control," Crawford says.

Many pharmaceutical companies are working on a vaccine.

"Meanwhile, the best advice is to use common sense," Crawford says. "I certainly wouldn't avoid a puppy class or anything like that unless you know canine influenza is a real problem where you live."

If the virus is "hot" in your area, Landini says, think twice about going to the dog park.

"You should also be careful about allowing your pup to drink or eat from a shared water or food dish a well-meaning retailer leaves outside a store. If the canine flu has recently occurred at the dog day care center or groomer you use, you may want to hire a dog walker or allow your dog to get just a little shaggy."

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