Is a great walk worth it??

[Lynda Kamrath]

I took my boys for a walk in a new area yesterday.  It is on Ft. Ord and in a horse access area from the road.  There is a large meadow and we walked behind and around the meadow and started back on another access road.  The boys loved it and were off leash most of the time and we did not run into another person or animal on our walk.  HOWEVER, when I got home I found 12 ticks on the dogs and two on me.  The dogs take Frontline this time of the year but I do not.  One of the dogs had ticks attached and the other had dead ticks.  This morning my ALD is obviously sick.  Maybe from eating poop on the trail?  Sometimes I have had them wear muzzles to keep them from eating stuff on the trail, but they were not using them yesterday.  Gads, I hate to stay home all the time, and I also hate giving the dogs insecticide, but I want them to be healthy.

[Deanna & Desi & Cori]

Sorry you had such a bad ending to such a great adventure.  Hope all three of you have no lasting repercussions from the ticks.  

[Adina P]

I've never knowingly seen a tick.  For me it would be NOT worth it, but I'm a bug-a-phobe!

[F, Calla & Luca]

IT is hard sometimes to know what's worth the hassle in life. I think it would be sad to avoid adventures altogether. I'm about to take the doodles out for a walk around by block and thereabouts, cause who needs to worry about traffic now?

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

The ticks have been terrible this year for us. I have pulled so many off the dogs, but I refuse to stop walking them for that reason. I hate them, though, but figure it comes along with having dogs.

[Moe]

I feel your pain. If I had to do it again, I might not get a dog because of all the ticks. My puppy is also on Frontline and has had tons of ticks. I've pulled a few off myself also. She gets them in our back yard - we have only pavers and mulch, no grass. I never leave her out there more than a few minutes and don't let her sit down outside. She still gets ticks. 

I live in NY about 15 minutes north of New York City. My neighbor just contracted Ehrlichiosis which is transmitted to humans by the lone star tick, found primarily in the southcentral and eastern U.S. So far there are only 300 cases in the US. They had trouble diagnosing her and she almost died. It has been weeks and she can hardly get around. Scary stuff.

Sometimes I wonder if I am putting my entire family at risk by having a dog. :(

[Lynda Kamrath]

The ticks are definitely not from our home.  They are from Ft. Ord.  I took Harpo to the vet this morning and she said he seems fine, but does have a low (below normal) temperature.  I am feeding him a little routisserie chicken and Happy Dog every few hours and he ate the first meal okay.  The vet felt it was probably something he ate on the trail.  Guess I will need to keep their muzzles on them for our walks.  They hate them, but they are better than staying home.  And, of course, continue with the Frontline.  It is really necessary during tick season.  So far, we have never had fleas, but tons of ticks every year.

[Nancie & Gracie Doodle]

What about trying the Advantix Tick Collar?  I have been putting that on Gracie Doodle when ever we go any place that might have ticks.  We made a quick trip up to San Jose in November but spent most of the time in Santa Rosa so no get together with you and the boys :(   The first day in San Jose it was pouring rain but we took the dogs to Los Gatos and did that walk that goes along an overflow stream.  The dogs were off leash and at the top of the hill there was an open field.  They had the best time.  No ticks!!!  Then on our way up to Santa Rosa we took the dogs to Point Isabel to romp and play.  I had Frontline Plus on Gracie and her tick collar.  We survived the trip with no ticks!!!

[Lynda Kamrath]

Yes, that is another idea.  The  vet recommended using the Advantix Tick Collar when we were out "in the wild" but to take it off otherwise.  We don't want that tick collar in our house or on our bed.  It is even more toxic than the Frontline.  And we use plastic gloves when we put it on and keep it in a sealed sandwich bag.  Seemed like a lot of trouble.  Ticks are such a pain.

[Nancie & Gracie Doodle]

Lynda...that is basically what I do.  I have the Dublin collars which Gracie wears most of the time because she is always wet.  They are for swimming and are a rubber type collar.  I cut strips of duct tape and tape the tick collar to the inside of her Dublin collar and cut the ends off the tick collar.  Then I am able to take her collar off and on and baggie it when in the house or sleeping...whenever we are not in the thick of possible ticks.  The only experience with ticks was that one time a few years ago when we took her up into the Santa Cruz Mountains and she got three of them!  I had never laid an eye on one before then and as it was, we didn't even discover the ticks until a week later when we were back home.  Prior to that, we had never use any protection against ticks...now it is the collar for sure!

[Moe]

I could replace the mulch with stones, that is a good idea but I think it is from the falling leaves. We have tons of chipmunks in our yard. I heard they attract ticks. In the spring I am going to try to trap and relocate all of them. Should be fun.

[F, Calla & Luca]

I live in your general vicinity and you will, I think, never get rid of all the chipmunks and squirrels. I never heard of chipmunks attracting ticks. The field mice are actuallly part of the life cycle of deer ticks and trust me, you will never eliminate them. They can fit into the tiniest openings. Ticks usually "hang out" in brush, grass etc. on the edges of a property so I doubt the mulch is a problem either. My dogs get Frontline and Lyme vaccine and I pull attached ticks off them on rare occasions but I often find tiny crawling ticks. That was one reason I got light colored doodles. My son's black standard poodle was a great camouflage for ticks.

[Sharon & Monty]

You dont need to own a dog to get ticks,  simply going outdoors, you are as good of a host for ticks as for a dog.,  they dont discriminate.  Outdoors, there they are.  We have terrible time with deer ticks, teeny, tiny little buggers, I hate them.  But I would never lock myself inside, I LOVE THE OUTDOORS, bugs and all.  Well, okay, I do not love the bear that keeps showing up on our deck.  :)