Barley our 5 month old Golden retriever has developed a bit of a cough.
He has had all vaccinations.
It is a dry cough that appears irregularly three or four times an hour.
He has had it for two days.
He is eating well, is lively and active.
Instinct says to not worry about it unless it hangs around for more than about 7 days as there is little that can be done for a mild virus.
It does not seem to worry him too much.
Is this a reasonable course of action?

Is it like a hacking cough...like he has something stuck in his throat?
Emily :)

Yes a bit like that, though rubbing his throat does not seem to cause a reaction.

I would think Kennel cough is likely the cause, but you should be aware that coughing can be a symptom of other conditions such as heart disease.  With the latter you would expect to see excersise intolerance.

I am sure you are aware that you should keep him away from any other dogs or plces that they will be for the duration of the coughing at least.

Also try giving him CHILDS BENYLIN 2-3 times a day.

seven years ago i rescued a puppy from a bad situation she was a tiny little terrier type dog
after fighting off sickness and dhiorrea we thought we were in the clear then when she was
a year old she developed a cough we took her to the vets who gave her antibiotics
she would cough mainly in the morning and at bedtime she used to rule the house and all my other
dogs one day i came home from shopping and found her collapsed took her straight to the vets
who tried to save her but it was too late a massive heart attack to this day i never ignore a cough in my
dogs we still miss our sophie

Ive got a 6 month golden who does the same thing, it was a warning sign that he is about to be sick! a couple of weeks ago he had a rawhide chew and started coughing, just over a day later he threw it all back up, turned out he'd tried to eat the thing without chewing. Wont make that mistake again!

We had this with our Springer x a while ago - we thought kennel cough, vet said no, lung worm, no heart disease, no - totally baffled until it dawned on us that it only happened in the house so we stopped using carpet freshner, sprays of any kind (air freshners, deodorants, polish...) took him up the vets and got a shot of anti histamines and amazingly enough it stopped.
We now don't use any powder / sprays around him and apart form the fact that he has also developed hayfever (which also starts him coughing again aparantly due to his scarred lungs from the previous problem) which is kept under control with piriton he is fine.