WAUKESHA – Two sick dogs at the Waukesha County Humane Society are getting better.

The dogs have the same strep bacteria that killed seven other dogs.

The dogs were put on antibiotics.

The Waukesha County Humane Society kennel will be closed for three weeks to make sure everything is properly cleaned.

This, after seven dogs died last week from strep bacteria.

The same bacterial strain killed more than 1,000 dogs in outbreaks in Las Vegas and Miami.

The Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory in Madison says some dogs from the kennel had the strain of bacteria that rapidly attacks the respiratory system but is treatable with antibiotics in some cases.

The scientific name for this bacteria is "streptococcus zooepidemicus.”

The lab's associate director, Dr. Peter Vanderloo, says workers also identified a parainfluenza virus in at least one of the three dogs brought in so far. More tests are being done, and the lab should know more within a few days.

Lynn Olenik heads the Humane Animal Welfare Society in Waukesha.

She says seven dogs died since April 22. Two other dogs with early symptoms responded to antibiotics and she expects them to survive. No other dogs or other animals at the shelter seem to be affected.

The facility stopped taking new dogs or adopting dogs out last Monday. Olenik says it could be another two or three weeks before those activities resume.

Crews will do an intensive cleaning using ammonia and bleach, and the dog area of HAWS could reopen in a couple of weeks.

“Knowing gives us the opportunity to get out in front of this with the dogs we still have. We put together a preventative protocol and a treatment protocol,” Olenik said.

This is the same bacteria that caused similar outbreaks in Miami and Las Vegas, but scientists haven't been able to figure out how it got here.

“It spreads somehow. With the way animals move across the country, it's really hard to say,” Veterinarian Dr. Charles Castelein said.

Scientists will be in Waukesha trying to track down more about how the bacteria spread. The first dogs to get sick and die in Waukesha came from the Milwaukee Area Domestic Animal Control Commission, but MADACC hasn't seen any cases, and the outbreak is believed to be contained.

TODAY’S TMJ4’s Mick Trevey asked MADACC’S veterinarian what it means for people who have dogs.

Mick Trevey: “Should people in the community be worried about their dog coming down with this?”

“No. It would be so remote that it would be spread,” Dr. Castelein said.

(The Associated Press contributed to this report)