I just ended my solo trip really because Booker (my dog) was so plagued by black flies. He had giant welts (2x the size of what I get from them) and was constantly scratching and biting himself. He was miserable. I did not think the black flies were particularly terrible myself...But they just loved him. On top of good being miserable I worried her would scratch them into open wounds.ent sure how I could wrap his entire belly or keep it clean and dry if that were to happen.

Anyone else have this problem? I can't see taking him along ever again. The first trip he took there weren't black flies out then. And by now the season should be done...But it's not.

Anyway...He needed to end the trip so that's what we did...not upset about it....just feel so bad for him. It's been a few days now and he's happier every day. I feel bad that I didn't realize until the third day how bad it was for him. He is a furry dog.

i do have a cute video of him chasing dragonflies that I'll post soon. This was before the bites were really kicking in. By the third day he no longer cared about dragonflies, and also didn't care about chipmunks and red squirrels.

That's too bad. I wouldn't give up on bringing him though. September is the magic month. No bugs, less people, not so much heat. Doggie weather!

My dog gets bothered by the black flies as well. He's got a very short coat so you can easily see the raised welts.

We bring benedryl for him to help fight the reaction and we'll also have him spend some time in the cold water to help with the swelling.

We never thought to end a trip early because of the flies bothering him. He tends to take it in stride as he's more focused on other stuff while he's up there. I suspect that he'd rather deal with the bites than miss out on the trip.

Booker's bites are so bad that he now is wearing a cone to keep him from bothering them. It's super, super bad. He has worn off fur from his forelegs. The stomach is not as bad, even though it looked worse. Glad I left when I did; looks like I should have left even sooner, but I really had no idea before hand.

They are getting better every day but he's still thinking about it, I guess...

That's too bad. I generally trip later in the season to avoid the bugs; both for the sake of me and my dog. But last summer even into early and mid-September the bugs were very bad around WCPP with a small resurgence of black flies. They didn't bother me much but instead went after Sadie; especially her belly and inner thighs where the fur is thinnest. Thankfully they were localized so it wasn't a big problem but when I looked it was starting to get pretty raw down there for a couple days.

She really hates flies. Even if they aren't biting it drives her nuts when they land on her. Mosquitoes don't seem to bother her much although they certainly do bite her. I'd love to do a far northern trip into the barren lands but the biggest thing holding me back is how Sadie could possibly deal with all those bugs. At night she'd be ok in the tent but during the day while paddling and portaging I'm sure it would be too much for her. So while she's still tripping we'll stick farther south and trip in the later part of the season.

Last year Sadie had to sleep outside every night since I was in my hammock so I covered her with bug spray each evening and that seemed to do the trick with the mosquitoes. Not so easy with black flies though unless you have a repellent that works on them.

In a few weeks we will be heading pretty far north and hope to reach the edge of the tree line. But I'm hoping it will be late enough in the season that bugs won't be much of an issue.

Alan

On the McEwen River in Quetico my girl was snapping at a fly that wouldn't leave her alone. Finally she got it. She then laid down and took a nap. I was so happy to see her get it after about 10 tries failed.

I'm so sorry, that sounds horrible!

We were out last week and our dog was plagued by black flies and deer flies. He chose to swim some of the lakes instead of ride in the canoe, I'm fairly sure to avoid the bugs. He spent a lot of time in the tent too, I think it's funny when he sits at the door of the tent barking while we're cooking or swimming or whatever, we let him in and he looks at us like we're nuts for being outside.

I have had good luck with Benadryl both cream and oral when he get's bitten. We also bought an essential oil based spray for dogs that was supposed to help with itching and coat problems, and my daughter ended up using it for her bites too! I can't remember what it was called though.

quote TomT: "On the McEwen River in Quetico my girl was snapping at a fly that wouldn't leave her alone. Finally she got it. "

Sadie does that too but one day on our trip last year it turned out to be a bee that she got. She couldn't get that thing out of her mouth fast enough. Took her 4 days to work up the courage to snap at another fly.

Alan

My dog used to snap at flies and bees all the time. Until one day he got lucky and snapped up 2 bees at once. Those bees where none to happy and then both stung him on the inside of his lips. They stings swelled up and he looked like he had 2 golf balls inside his lip. While he was snapping at the bees he also grabbed a couple flowers off the hibiscus plant the bees were on and at them. Apparently they are toxic to dogs and create an upset stomach.

Had to take him to the vet because we didn't know what was wrong with him right away. He was lethargic, wouldn't walk or drink water. He ended up being fine after some fluids but he leaves the bees alone now. He did finally learn to distinguish between bees and flies so the flies are fair game now. He gets his fare share as he's prefected his sneak attack. First he locks on point (he's a pointing breed) then he stalks up on them and then pounces.

Booker was constantly snapping at flies, too, which was part of the problem because he couldn't rest. It just made him grumpier.

My dog was getting eaten up on my trip at the end of May.
I used a Citronella/herbal blend of repellant on her...and it kept them off of her

Echo's first trip was a June trip and his belly was covered with welts. Since then most of his trips have been in the fall, 1 in August, and 1 in early May and he hasn't had a problem with bugs for him on any of those trips.

We were fortunate to miss black fly season this year. However, part way through our August trip, a different type of smallish biting fly had a hatching. They mostly went after Daisy's paws while she was in the canoe. To ease her agitation, I put a set of thin booties on her paws (dogbooties.com). Happy dog; happy me.

Black flies were moderately bad on our long trip this summer, they bothered Sadie more than me. Wiping her down with bug repellent resolved the issue. I took standard repellent (Deep Woods OFF) and also one of those "all natural" repellents. The all natural stuff sure smelled better to my nose and worked well on the black flies but didn't last as long as the OFF.

Alan

quote Alan Gage: "Black flies were moderately bad on our long trip this summer, they bothered Sadie more than me. Wiping her down with bug repellent resolved the issue. I took standard repellent (Deep Woods OFF) and also one of those "all natural" repellents.
Alan"

I hope you checked with your vet before using OFF on/near your dog. My understanding is that it is not safe to use on pets and can cause neurological and other health issues. Humans are only supposed to apply it to their clothing and not the skin. Applying it to a dog's fur can expose them through their skin, through inhalation, and also ingestion when they lick their fur.