I'm sorry to hear about your poor dogs; I hope they get better soon! My yard/garden doesn't have any mushrooms (that I know of), but recently I've seen a plethora of them in neighbors' yards. I remember thinking to myself how unusual it is to see so many. I don't think it's just you.

I could be way wrong, but I don't think the visible fungi you are seeing outside would be causing the fungus that has infected your dogs. That would be a skin fungus similar to athletes foot. They two have different growing needs.

I'm interested to hear what others know about this one as well.

I've seen quite a few mushrooms around but it could be the dogs just have had wetter feet longer this summer. Regular mushrooms won't hurt anyone unless you ingest them. (At least I don't think so.) Did the vet say what caused it or what he treated it with?

OK, this makes me feel better. To me, I was just thinking fungus is fungus...but I am comforted to know the growing needs are different. I wish I knew more about fungus and their life cycle...

I don't think the vet really knows what caused it. He said it was yeast when I brought the first dog (Angus) in. Then Simon got it four days later, and he seemed really puzzled...took a deeper sample and is sending it off for analysis. Confusing, because he said they usually don't catch it from each other. Which is why we both went the "has to be environmental" line of thinking.

Thanks for the well wishes you guys. I hate for my boys to be not feeling well! I thought Angus' feet looked bad, but Simon has caught and surpassed him today. He has no hair at all on top of one of his feet. It's horrible.

Well, at least now I don't feel like I have to get two tons of mulch out of the backyard. :D

Oh...the vet prescribed an antifungal spray, as well as oral antifungal. So far, doesn't really seem to be doing much. :( But they say these things can really take their time clearing out of their system.

Fungus thrives in moisture. Sorry to hear about your dogs. Fungus is hard to completely get rid of. What kind of dogs do you have?

Hey ladybug! :)

I have two retrievers. The vet is also telling me fungus is hard to get rid of, on feet as well. :( I'm going to call him today and see if the lab can ID the particular fungus that is on their feet. Then maybe I can look it up and figure out if it really did originate in the soil or mulch.

Then...?? I don't know what next! I guess just cry! :D

Just make sure they change their socks often.

The Mekong can eat the feet right off a grunt.

Connie, I'm having the same problem!!! Well, no dogs, just an inside cat.
I have this weird fungus- not mushrooms- growing in my garden. I've never seen anything like it. It starts growing in clusters of cylinder of kinda funnel shaped white "things." Then the tops come off, and it's full of black seeds! It's spreading like wildfire, and taking up my space to plant late summer lettuce, kale, spinach, and such. I dont' know how to kill it without damaging soil and surrounding plants.

I've had that stuff for a while. So far I see no harm being done to any of my plants by that particular fungus. Then too mine is in mulch beds. Those "seeds" are spore cases and they seem to cast them pretty far. Like something out of a Sci Fi Horror flick.

This is the closest thing I have found so far. Didn't notice that this was from Australia right away. But it is VERY similar.

I've had a lot of weird looking greyish/blackish mushrooms that collapse when touched growing in my garden this year, and also some kink of black fungus growing in our gravel driveway this summer. The fungus was sort of flat & almost resembled cow piles and were very slick. When they dried they were very crumbly. Someone asked me if it was deer droppings. lol Never saw anything like it before. Rained here the last 2 nights, tonight, and a good chance of rain all week & weekend. No telling what will pop up next. lol

Wow, so freaky! It sounds like fungus is widespread this year.

The vet said he couldn't ID the particular fungus, but if I could find a lab he would be glad to prepare a slide. I'm not sure if UT Ag Extension could do something like this.

Does anyone have any idea how to eliminate fungi? Mom suggested picking them out with a plastic bag, then turning inside out and tying (like when you pick up dog poo) to keep the spores from spreading.

Picking mushrooms won't make them go away. They also live below the ground and the spores are there, even if you pick the above ground parts. When the conditions are right for that particular fungus, it will appear. Since the yard fungi grow on dacaying plant material, they aren't a dog problem.
Novice described something that isn't a mushroom because it has seeds. I've heard it call elf caps and its a saprophyte- that is a plant that lives on dead plants, and it's not competing with lettuce, it's just there.

If you want to kill all the spores from all the fungi in your yard, you could soak the area in concentrated bleach...this will do great harm to the fungi and all other living things there. Don't do it. The spores are about five microns in size...you can't pick them up, you can't vacuum them up. You can live with them.

As to the dog's paws, have your county extension agent email the UT ag department for a lead on what might the problem be.

Update: I actually broke down and called UT Knoxville Veterinary College, Dermatology Dept. Heard back from them today. According to them, it could be environmental...either from the mulch, or also potentially the grass. She said she had seen cases of this previously.

We also talked to Derry (can't think of last name). Local mushroom/fungi expert. Featured on Tennessee Gardener a few weeks ago, if you're a fan of that show. He did not seem to think plant fungi could be harmful to dogs.

Stalemate. What I need here is a veterinary dermatologist with a minor in mycology. :)

I thought it was actually mycelium/hyphae that live below ground, and spores came from the fruiting bodies above ground. Am I mistaken?

I think the recommendation I'm going with for attempting to rid myself of fungi is aerating the mulch, and perhaps adding thick chips of pine bark. I'm going to work that in this weekend. Other than that, I'll start praying for dry weather.

FYI, an interesting fact picked up from a past president of the master gardeners: Horsetail grass is one of the most effective natural antifungals. He suggested boiling it and pouring the water in affected areas.

For what it's worth, here's a picture illustrating why I am so concerned about this:

This happened in a span of 36 hours, and I'm told it will take one to two months to clear up. If at all possible, I would really love to pinpoint and eliminate the cause to avoid this ever happening again.

Connie,
There are some questions that might help with figuring out what the problem is:
How high on the dog's legs is the problem?
Is it a problem where the dog ...sits...as well?
Is it front AND back legs?
Is it all around the legs, or just in front? (This would be a Running through problem rather than a moseying slowly problem).

Is it anywhere else on the dog? Did the dog chew on his/her feet and then have a similar outbreak on around his mouth?
How high was your grass cut when this happened? Does the dog run through newly cut hay fields?

And out in left field, does the dog stand in the toilet to try to drink out of the toilet?