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Boundary Waters Quetico Forum :: Gear Forum :: Dogs & Ticks
 
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mjmkjun
04/13/2016 09:01AM
  
my 2 cents:
Have used Frontline (active ingredients: Fipronil 9.8% and
(S)-methoprene 8.8%) on my dogs for years and have only pulled three ticks off, in total. I live on a rural road with wooded acreage close on two side of the property. My dogs stay enclosed within perimeters of a very large fenced-in yard.
"Frontline remains effective even after bathing, water immersion, or exposure to sunlight."
Applied every 30 days only and is dosed according to weight ranges. Kills fleas, ticks, mites--and eggs with 30 day cycle usage. Kills all life stages of ticks: larva, nymph and adult--including ticks that cause lyme disease. If you chose to go with the Frontline apply so 30 day cycle occur before your trip
ONLY ON DOGS.

 
yellowcanoe
04/12/2016 03:55PM
  
This is supposed to be a really bad tick year with a mild winter.


My dog is 14. For 14 years each vet visit she tests positive for a tick borne disease. She has had Lyme three times but now I think its Erlichiosis.


She is happy bounding for her age walks 3 miles a day and hikes. She has always been Frontlined but I dont think that does squat. She is a Golden with a double coat and in the water a lot.
 
sunnybear09
04/12/2016 10:21AM
  
I have used all the various methods but have found none that are completely effective. Nor is the vaccination that prevents lymes after they get bitten. Like any pest or pathogen, some are always immune to what seems to work for most. I finger-comb my chessie every night after she's been exposed to ticks feeling for them--I find most but not all, then anguish when I find a "full" one that I missed. She's already been treated for Lyme's once. Natural resistance is bad in ticks, but good in the thought that if you are reading this your ancestors were probably resistant to smallpox, plague, etc. Depends on your perspective, I guess. Ticks are the only living thing I try to kill painfully.
 
CrookedPaddler1
04/12/2016 08:32AM
  
We just use the topical tick treatment that you pour down their spine. Should be good for a trip, even with the dogs going in and out of the water. We usually get about a month out of the treatment with our non-water dogs, and the lab about 2 1/2 - 3 weeks.


tick treatment
 
nojobro
04/12/2016 09:04AM
  
We're trying the Seresto collar this season. He just started wearing it three weeks ago. Our vet recommended it. We will see...


Lasts eight months unless your dog swims a lot. Mine does not, not even in the BW. But if you have a water hound and take your dog to the BW, the length of the effectiveness of the collar will be less.
 
neutroner
04/12/2016 09:22AM
  
The vet gives our dog a flee and tick shot. Lasts the year. Kills the vermin when they suck the blood. No idea what it is, but if I could I would get one too. Hate ticks.
 
jwartman59
04/12/2016 09:43AM
  
on a wisconsin trip last summer my dog had 100s of ticks. this was after using the topical treatment. he ended up with lymes, or so the vet said. expensive. we now use nexgard. not sure if it works. i used to have a nonchalant view of ticks and mosquitoes. i took pride in not letting the bugs bother me. this year i will be bathing in deet and permetherin.

 
Swampturtle
04/12/2016 11:20AM
  
I realize you are looking for prevention, but I always carry one of these tick keys. It allows you to pull the tick off by the head without squishing it. It works really well, directions are stamped right on it (this side up). $6. When you grab a tick to pull it off with your fingers, it may squish & regurgitate-not what you want. This pulls it off cleanly & easily and with minimal handling of the animal. Cabellas tick key
 
ObiWenonahKenobi
04/12/2016 07:29AM
  
I read where a lot of you take your dogs along. How do you deal with tick prevention?
 
orion64
04/12/2016 02:36PM
  
I honestly haven't been exposed to a lot of ticks in the BWCA. I have been on trips without a single tick on me or the dog. That said, in most of my other outdoor pursuits I do encounter plenty of ticks with both me and the dogs. For personal protection I find that clothing treated with permethrin is worth the effort. For the dogs until recently I have always used the Frontline topical and always felt it was a waste of time and money. Add to that the greasy spot always made me nervous. Last year my vet introduced me to Bravecto which is an oral chew that I give the dogs every 12 weeks. So far the results have been much better than that of the topical.


Bob
 
nctry
04/12/2016 04:44PM
  
My neighbor gets a pill from the vet that works very well. I used the topical on Bernie, worked good... But keeping her dry for that long was torture for her.
 
Pinetree
04/12/2016 09:53PM
  
Most people in north central use Front line or similar product for their dog to keep ticks off. I hear it has pretty good record but not perfect.
Read up on it and how it works. I think tick dries up after attachment?
 
Grouseguy1
04/16/2016 09:53AM
  
As a grouse hunter with hard and wide running cover dogs, ticks are a constant battle. I have had the best results with nexguard, followed by the topical frontline. The inexpensive stuff like biospot just doesn't measure up, althougn it's probably better than nothing.


A flea comb is my #1 line of defense, even the tiny deer ticks can't fit through the fine flea combs. Even with these precautions, all of my dogs have had lyme, anaplasmosis, or both.
 
Pinetree
04/16/2016 10:03AM
  
quote Grouseguy1: "As a grouse hunter with hard and wide running cover dogs, ticks are a constant battle. I have had the best results with nexguard, followed by the topical frontline. The inexpensive stuff like biospot just doesn't measure up, althougn it's probably better than nothing.



A flea comb is my #1 line of defense, even the tiny deer ticks can't fit through the fine flea combs. Even with these precautions, all of my dogs have had lyme, anaplasmosis, or both. "


deer ticks is one reason I do much less grouse hunting in early to mid season in north central Minnesota.
 
Alan Gage
04/16/2016 11:04AM
  
I've always used Frontline applied to the shoulder blades as a liquid and it's always worked well. I keep the dog out of the water for a few days until it's soaked is and then it doesn't seem to matter if he swims or not. For the past couple years I've been using the chewable Frontline tablets and so far so good with them too. I'm sure other brands work fine as well.


I used to spend a lot of time walking the prairie in spring time and my dog and I both picked up many many ticks. One day I started picking up dead ticks that had dropped off onto his bed and came up with about 80 of them. Who knows how many more were scattered around the house and car or that I'd picked off when I saw them crawling on his fur.


I got tired of waking up 6 times every night because ticks were crawling up my legs so now we tend to avoid tick friendly areas until mid-summer.


Alan
 
Jaywalker
04/15/2016 04:17PM
  
I don't believe any of the solutions out there are perfect, but most are pretty good. I think the main thing to do is stack the odds in your favor, then don't worry about it. To do that: 1 - get your dog vaccinated agains Lyme disease, 2- use one of the leading brands of tick prevention, and 3 - still check your dog at least daily and be ready to pull the little buggers out.


quote mjmkjun: "Glad for you and especially them. Keep an eye on'em, tho.
(Read reviews on Amazon.) "
I find the reviews currently on Amazon for the three of the major products mentioned in this thread - Seresto, K9 Advantix II, and Frontline Plus - to be remarkably consistent from one product to the next. Looking at the Large Dog products, which total over 7,000 reviews, all three score about 65% 5 star rating, and about 12-13% 1 star rating. Products for smaller dogs vary bit but mostly average out to the same place. To me this just says that most of these are pretty good, but none of them are perfect, just like Pinetree said. This squares with some academic articles I've read on the assorted products/pesticides as well.


Funny thing is here near downtown MPLS my dog will go through the tall grass and pick up an average of 10 wood ticks per day. In the BW I think I remember one wood tick ever, but am sure that won't be everyone's experience. My dog did pick up a deer tick last fall (first week of October) about 50 miles outside the BW, and it fed on him for 4-5 days before I noticed it. Glad he was vaccinated.
 
Pinetree
04/15/2016 05:03PM
  
North central and central Minnesota have more wood ticks and deer ticks than the BWCA.
Talk to various people and they say not that long ago they didn't even have wood ticks up the Gunflint and very few at Ely.
More deer and animals to attach to farther south and maybe harder winter for those species up north.
 
mjmkjun
04/15/2016 10:35AM
  
quote starman: "I have a lab and a jack russel all summer they stay outside from sunup to sundown on a heavily wooded property. After years of Frontline I tried the Seresto collar last year and never saw a single tick on either animal."


Glad for you and especially them. Keep an eye on'em, tho.
(Read reviews on Amazon.)
 
Ranger.
04/13/2016 10:15PM
  
K9 Advantix II.


I've seen it work first hand too. On a May Quetico trip years ago the ticks were terrible. I found a few crawling around on her, but I found more that appear to be "fried". Dead as a doornail. She had some apparent bite marks, but NO ticks had embedded. Seemed like every one that bit either died or dropped off quickly.


Don't forget the Sentinel or Heartguard as well.


Penny approves!

 
Pinetree
04/13/2016 10:23PM
  
By all means take your dog to the BWCA. As of now there is very few if any deer ticks in the BWCA. I think in a few spots just recently.
Just a reminder tho-check your dog completely before heading north. Modern transportation,pets etc. if they have deer ticks and they drop off while in the BWCA we might have instant 1000 of deer ticks in the BWCA.


Like I said take your dog and enjoy. Just like checking your boat of exotics before entering water. Do the same with pets and maybe certain equipment.
 
starman
04/13/2016 08:19PM
  
quote Pinetree: "quote starman: "I have a lab and a jack russel all summer they stay outside from sunup to sundown on a heavily wooded property. After years of Frontline I tried the Seresto collar last year and never saw a single tick on either animal."



How long was collar active for?"


We bought them in early spring and they were still working at freeze up, we actually put them back in the tins they came in and put them back on the mutts this year because I haven't gotten new ones yet, we haven't seen any ticks on them yet but none on me yet either.
 
starman
04/12/2016 08:49PM
  
I have a lab and a jack russel all summer they stay outside from sunup to sundown on a heavily wooded property. After years of Frontline I tried the Seresto collar last year and never saw a single tick on either animal.
 
Pinetree
04/12/2016 09:56PM
  
quote starman: "I have a lab and a jack russel all summer they stay outside from sunup to sundown on a heavily wooded property. After years of Frontline I tried the Seresto collar last year and never saw a single tick on either animal."


How long was collar active for?
 
iCallitMaize
05/22/2023 10:04AM
  
Simparico Trio for the parasites and Flys-Off ointment if the flys are bad.