Flea & Tick Prevention For Dogs: Your How-To Guide

Spending more time outside with your favorite furry friend now that it’s warmer? Sweet. Coming home to find them scratching themselves to bits? Not so sweet! So here’s everything you’ve ever wanted to know about tick control and flea prevention for dogs – including how to mark out any “itch”-prone zones in your neighborhood to avoid. Let’s get started.

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What are ticks, fleas & mites? Is there even a difference?

There is! All three of these critters count as parasites – meaning they need to feed off another animal to survive.

• Ticks are small insects part of the spider family. They’re usually colored reddish brown, dark brown, or black. While only around a few millimeters along, a well-fed tick can swell to the size of a coffee bean once it’s done feeding!
• Mites are also related to spiders and are just a bit smaller than ticks. (These two are actually cousins!)
• Fleas are another species of flightless insects that are also reddish-brown or generally dark in color.

Importantly, all three of these little creatures usually come out in summer. When not latching on to and feeding from animals, some – like fleas – might even move on to humans!

From this latching and feeding, ticks can transmit diseases, like Rocky Mountain spotted fever, Lyme disease, and more.

Where do these parasites like to hang out?

Ticks, mites, and fleas all tend to hang out around grassy wooded areas outdoors, or even near bird’s nests. (Though some species of fleas and mites like the indoors too – including your furniture, floorboards, beds, and pillows!) So your dog is likely to run into them while on your walks, runs, or even hikes outdoors. They can end up biting and latching on to your dog’s skin without you spotting them. And left untreated, this can lead to a pretty nasty case of itching and pain.

These critters can’t jump or fly. Instead, they cling to you (or your dog) as you two pass by. Once they’ve found a host, they bury their teeth inside the skin and the feed for days. It typically takes 24 – 48 hours for a tick to transmit a disease to its host¹

💡That’s why it’s a good idea to figure out what spots your dog likes to hang out in best – so you can figure out any tick-, mite-, or flea-prone areas in your neighborhood and avoid them as best as you can. A dog GPS tracker can help you figure out how to do this with just a glance at your phone.

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How to check your dog for tick bites

So how do you check for a tick bite on dogs? After a day out in high tick risk areas – which unfortunately tend to be great places for walks:

• Be sure to carefully check your dog for ticks.
• They look and feel like a small bump on your dog’s skin.
• Search with both your eyes and your hands.
• Check between the toes, inside the ears, between the legs, and around the neck. (All itch-prone areas!)
• If you notice a small, unusual bump, pull the fur back to look closer.

But what exactly does a tick look like on a dog? Or more specifically, a tick bite on dogs? We’ve put an image below for reference. A warning; it might be a bit triggering.

How to remove a tick from a dog

As a dog parent, it’s a good idea to learn how to get a tick off a dog. It’s important to remove the tick as soon as possible, and make sure to remove the tick’s entire body. And the good news: you can find tick removal tools pretty easily at your local supermarket or drugstore.

The longer the tick stays attached to the dog, and the more of it is attached, the higher the chances of your dog getting infected by something the tick is carrying, such as Lyme disease.

• As soon as you find a tick, use tweezers to remove it as close to the body of your dog as possible.
• Then, continue checking for additional tick bites on your dog. Be as thorough as you can be and try to remove them all.

When to see a vet after a tick bite on dog

If your dog has had a tick bite, it’s a good idea to monitor them carefully afterwards to make sure they’re not showing any signs of illness. If they appear sick or unwell, take them to the vet as soon as possible. For example, your dog might have got Lyme disease, which can have the following symptoms:

• Fever
• Reduced appetite
• Decreased energy
• Difficulty walking
• Pain, discomfort or stiffness
• Swollen joints²

💉 Also, talk with your vet about vaccinating your pet against Lyme disease, and about the best way to prevent fleas and ticks from latching on to your your beloved pet.

Flea & tick prevention for dogs: Simple steps you can take

Keeping dogs out of grasses and woods would, of course, help reduce their exposure to ticks. But it’s not very realistic to keep dogs inside all through tick season, now, is it? Dogs love the outdoors – and it’s likely you do too, if you’re taking them out hiking, camping, or running with you.

But during these times – and not surprisingly – they might pick up a tick or two on the way. Even worse, it’s possible they might spread these on to you as well! (Especially if you two like to sleep close together.)

Luckily, you can prevent tick bites on dogs and any other infestations with a few practical steps.

Tick sprays

Tick spray kills ticks quickly and provides some short-term protection. You can use a spray if you’re planning on spending time out in wooded areas with your dog. Just be careful when using it around your dog’s face, and don’t use it on or around any other animals in the home. Tick sprays often contain Permethrin (meant for dogs only) or Pyrethrin. Watch out if you’ve got cats at home, since permethrin can be toxic to them!

You don’t have to soak your dog with the stuff, but be sure to spray all over so everything’s covered. Make sure to follow your vet’s advice and the manufacturer’s directions on how often to spray.

Tick shampoos

Bathing your dog with a shampoo that contains medicated ingredients will generally kill ticks on contact. This can be a low-cost way of protecting your dog during peak tick season. Just make sure to use a product that’s recommended to you by your vet.

• You will need to repeat the process about every two weeks, as its effects tend to wear off.
• To properly use a flea & tick shampoo, be sure to work the shampoo in over your dog’s entire body.
• Then, leave it on for at least 10 minutes before you rinse it off. 
• Again, remember to protect your dog’s face – especially the eyes and ears.

Other anti-tick products you could consider

• Anti-tick powders are generally easy to apply, but can create a mess. If your dog has asthma, powders may not be the best choice, since your dog might inhale some of it.
• With your vet’s approval, some oral flea and tick products can help kill parasites within 2 hours of them eating a meal.
• Other products include special flea dips and some combination products, which target multiple pests.

Tick collars

Collars that repel ticks are easy to use, though they are mainly useful for protecting the neck and head from ticks. The tick collar needs to make contact with your dog’s skin in order to transfer the chemicals onto the dog’s fur and skin. Which is why we’d always recommend you ask your vet before putting a tick collar on your dog.

• If you go for this option, make sure there’s just enough room to fit two fingers under your dog’s collar.
• Cut off any excess length of collar to prevent your dog from chewing on it.
• Check the package for information to see how long it offers protection
• Keep in mind that many tick collars become less effective when they get wet. (Not a good idea if you’ve got a dog that loves splashing around in lakes and ponds!)
• Watch carefully for any irritation under the collar. In case you see signs of irritation, you may need to use a different product.

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Figure out the “itch”-prone zones in your neighborhood

Now preventing ticks, fleas, and mites from getting on to your dog isn’t just good for their health and well-being. It’s also how you prevent them from infecting you as well! Which is why it’s smart to figure out which spots around town your buddy comes home extra itchy from.

So you can:

• Either avoid these areas altogether
• …or just make sure to check your dog extra thoroughly after coming home from these areas
• Warn other pet parents in your area about these parasite hotspots (because spending time with their dogs is a great way to spread these parasites around!)

💡All of which you can do with ease – if you’ve invested in a Tractive device. With your dog’s 24-hour Heat Map and Location History, you can quickly and easily figure out which areas around town your buddy spends most of their time in. (365 days on a Premium subscription.)

Which could be:

• Your neighbors’ backyards
• That one little spot in your backyard next to the part of your fence that needs fixing (and from where they can sneak out)
• The grassy patch of woodland near your property, which might contain ticks
• Or even the dog park where another dog could be transmitting some pesky critters to them.

And if they come back extra itchy from, say, the dog park – you’re now armed with the knowledge to take action and check them extra thoroughly after. (Preventing them from picking up an infectious disease.)

Follow your dog anywhere

Get real-time location information, wherever they go. And find out when they try to make an escape, or just when they go somewhere they shouldn’t, with Virtual Fences.

Shop Dog Trackers

Here’s a video covering some natural remedies for ticks you can try at home:

And if you’ve liked this post, share it with a fellow outdoorsy dog parent – and let’s help build a safer, kinder world for our furry friends together.

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Your furry friend’s health and wellbeing means as much as to us as it does to you. So we’ve made it a priority to only share medically-relevant content on our blog.

This post was checked, double-checked, and medically verified by Georgia-based vet, Dr. Dwight Alleyne.

Originally from Long Island, New York, Dr. Alleyne began his career at a no-kill animal shelter before becoming a licensed veterinary technician. He graduated from Cornell University Veterinary College in 2006 and completed an internship at Purdue University.

Now practicing in Georgia, Dr. Alleyne specializes in soft tissue surgery and ultrasounds. He also writes pet health articles on his website, “The Animal Doctor Blog” (www.anmldrblog.com).