Tick Removal Tips for Your Dog

If ticks are in the neighborhood, a casual walk through grass or shrubs can result in ticks latching onto your dog. Following are a few ways to treat your dog, home and yard to keep ticks from biting.

Tick check and removal
Ticks are easily picked up when outdoors. After outings, be sure to conduct a thorough “tick check” to ensure that no ticks have latched onto your dog. If you find one on your dog that has started to bite, quick tick removal is important. Follow these steps for removal:

  • Use tweezers to carefully grab the tick at the surface of the skin where it is attached.
  • It is best to use slow, steady pressure to pull the tick straight out.
  • Do not squeeze the body of the tick as this will push saliva into the bite wound. The less time a tick is attached to you or your dog, the less likely any disease organism it might carry will be transferred.
  • If a biting tick is removed, it is best to bring it to your veterinarian to make sure it was not carrying a disease.
  • If you see ticks walking around on a dog or in the home, flea and tick sprays and powders can be used.
  • Ticks that are killed should be placed in a small sealable and insecticide treated container before discarding.

Tick prevention
To prevent ticks from biting your dog, Hartz recommends topical drops or collars cycle such as the Hartz® UltraGuard PRO® and Hartz® UltraGuard Plus® lines, because they contain active ingredients that target killing all three stages of the tick life. However, you should always do routine inspections on your animal even with product application. You may find ticks that are imbedded even though they are dead. Follow the above instructions for removal. As a further measure of treatment, you can provide a barrier by using yard sprays to achieve residual control of ticks on your lawn, gardens and shrubs.