I have had a blight of the horrid things recently and seems to be just from our garden. I have a pregnant girl so don't want to use anything on the big dogs but have used frontline on the little ones (did not want to really). Been told to try advocate, has anyone used this on a pregnant bitch and would they recommend treating all 5 dogs with this? I didn't mind picking them off to start with but they have left a nasty wound on mason from a bite getting infected? (we hadn't noticed any one him just the girls)  And after reading the frontline packet they should die but may or may not fall off so what's the point? My poor little frenchie had one on his balls and my they are really painful for them.

What does your vet recommend?  Is it your vet who has told you to try Advocate?  Bayer states no tests have been carried out to determine safety in pregnant in pregnant or lactating dogs and cats.  Your vet is the best person to speak to.

I would rather take advice from an experienced breeder than a vet tbh. Having had a vet ill advise in the past, my other dogs breeder advised advocate but she doesn't yet know my dogue is pregnant. Chemicals and pregnancy is it taking a risk?

We've had a lot lately too.  The longer the tick stays on, the more likely it is to leave a lump behind BUT it does go down.  I don't think chemical treatments are necessary or indeed very desirable so my advice is to remove with a tick remover tool (I use an O'Tom) then daub the area with an antiseptic (I like Ultrasalve from PetNat but any pet safe antiseptic cream will do).  If like me you have trouble finding exactly where the tick was then use a felt tip pen (or sticky label) to mark the hairs before removal so you can find the spot again!  Don't cover the tick with anything before removal as you want to minimise the risk of it disgorging it's stomach contents back into the dog.

After removal I spray the dogs undersides and neck region with garlic juice which seems to deter the ticks from landing.  Your dog will smell like an italian restaurant but that's preferable to ticks in my view :)

dogs a babe, where do you get the garlic juice? can you make your own?

I buy it from Dorwest Herbs - pricey but lasts ages and is very effective as a quick wound spray too.  I shared the large bottle with a friend which was more cost effective.  I have considered making my own using the dried garlic you can buy for horses but I suspect I'm too lazy to experiment and feel I might just make bacteria rather than kill it!!

Apparently, Frontline are about to launch a new tick treatment that will kill the pesky vermin on contact. If my vet is right, it will be launched in the very near future. Let's hope that it works !!

I have got some tick tools now as we never had them before so no need. I was using my eyebrow tweezers before but i left some mouth parts in with one try. Not had chance to use the new tool yet, typical but the dogues are covered in bumps and scabs now :-( Horrid little things they are

lol, wait till your like me!  We walk on sheep land so my dogs get infested with ticks.  I try to ping them off when we get back to the car but I usually miss some.  I have a new party piece where I can pull them off cleanly with my fingers(then I panic incase it becomes infested into my finger and eats me alive!lol).  You just need more practise!  I don't like to use chemicals unless we have a flea outbreak!

We always worry about our dogs getting Lyme disease but we need to be very careful too: Lyme Disease In Humans

When we went to the Isle of Man David found a tick on his stomach and one on his leg after going out for a walk.  Didn't know what to use so just sprayed them with hair lacquor which worked and they came off. Luckly no infection.

Bet his stomach & leg were a bit stiff though . . .

In Spain I used Frontline but used it  much more than they recommend .I trust Frontline. Before going out for walks I spray to soak on piece kitchen roll and wipe over sensitive areas , face ,ears where I don't want to spray . Later we used Advantix,(some dogs react ) or Preventic  collars. I have always used alcohol (surgical spirit , ) before tweezering a tick out as the cold liquid always gets a tick pincers out and I drop them into a small capful of it as I am going along doing others..Although on one rescue bitch we couldn't as they were all along her eyelashes , so it took  a lot of time and patience and she didn't make any objections ....there is plenty of info online about what various ones contain and about use on certain dogs (Ivermectin /collie types) and contraindications.

My daughter got ticks in several places on her legs even though she was wearing jeans. The tick hooks works on humans as well, wasn't sure what to use afterwards so tried a splash of hibiscrub, dettol and surgical spirit in the hope that at least one of them would work to prevent infection. She seems fine now, with no lumps thank goodness.