Ticks!

I have been having trouble with ticks this year, no fleas just ticks. Maybe because it's been so dry. I'm told you can bring them in on your clothes or shoes. I have a very big yard and am out there often. I guess I might have carried them in. Once they get into your house it's all-out war to get rid of them. I've been spraying, fogging, dipping and cursing. In my experience, Siphotrol Area Treatment and Siphotrol Room Fogger work the best for me. I do one area at a time and move the dogs into another area of the house for 2 hours rather than have to leave the house which is such a hassle. After the spraying and fogging, vacuum everywhere. Use the crevice tool and vacuum the edges where the wall meets the floor, dog's bedding area and naturally the whole floor. Ticks climb up the wall so check the door frames and lower part of the wall for black spots that might be ticks. While you treat the premises you also have to make sure you remove any ticks there might be on the dogs.

I have mostly Bichons which, as you know, are white dogs. The fact that they are white makes it much easier to find ticks, which are black, in their coat. I have devised a system which works really well. I stand the dog up on the grooming table and put the hair drier on cool and blow the coat in a pattern all over their body looking for ticks. Naturally this system will work with any dog, not just Bichons. The black ticks are easy to spot when you part the hair with the blower. When I find one, I pick it off with tweezers and put it in alcohol to kill it. I go over each dog every day while I am treating the premises to make sure I get them all. One very interesting side note I must mention: the ticks seem to have a strong host preference. Out of five Bichons, while looking for ticks, I found one on one dog, none on three dogs and a whopping six on one dog. Wow, why is that? This dog is eating the same food, sleeping in the same bed and walking in the same yard. Why do the ticks single out one animal over another?? To further prove my point I have a litter of Havanese 10 week old puppies. When I bathed the puppies I found no ticks on three of them and several on one of them. Again they are all kept together so the ticks had ample opportunity to from one puppy to another. I find this phenomenon puzzling.

Lastly, a note on a tick collar that works; "Preventic" by Virbac. Buy the larger size so when you put the collar on your dog you can cut off the excess piece and put it in the vacuum bag to kill any ticks the vacuum picks up. I finally got mine under control. Good luck!