Let’s Talk Ticks

Let’s talk ticks. There are three things – OK, more than three thing – that I find
people won’t believe, even after you prove it to them:

1) Warming up your car on cold mornings is a waste of gas – just get in and drive,
staying under 35 mph for a mile or two;

2) Gas is gas – buying high octane gas is a waste of money unless your car is one of
the select few that specifically demands it; and

3) finding a tick on your dog does not signal the impending apocalypse.

I came by this last truth the hard way. Someone – i won’t say who, O.K. my
mother, brought me up to believe that a tick was nothing less than a miniature
Bradley Fighting Vehicle. Indestructable. Slain only by complete immersing in fire
or by driving a silver stake through its little heart.

I believed this until I pulled a tick off my dog one day, tossed her (it’s the
bloodthirsty females we worry about) on the desk and sliced and diced it with my x-
acto knife. Not that I would normally harm a fly, of course, but this was in the interest of science. In about 11 pieces, the tick didn’t seem likely to resume
foraging for a blood meal anytime soon.

This was the just first myth I would come to unravel about ticks.

I’ve already started at the end of a tick’s story so let’s work back from there
when you are out hiking with your dog.

TALL TICK TALE #1 – Removing Ticks From Your Dog (or yourself)

How many times have you heard that the proper method – the ONLY safe way
to remove ticks – is with tweezers. Smearing vaseline on the tick first is even better.
This is supposed to guarantee the tick’s head will not stay embedded in your dog.

Well, how many times do you have vaseline and tweezers at the ready when
you find a tick on your dog? The ONLY safe way to deal with a tick is to get it off as
quickly as possible. A tick (and we’re talking deer ticks, not the much more
common dog tick) cannot infect your dog with Lyme Disease until it is embedded for
some time (usually more than 24 hours). So don’t be shy about removing a tick
with your fingers. Get in there and get it out.

TALL TICK TALE #2 – Leave As Little Of Your Skin Exposed As Possible To Keep Ticks
Off You

It didn’t take many trips into the woods to realize that wearing long sleeves
and tucking long pants into socks to stave off ticks was just plain ridiculous. All
you do when you load up on clothes in the summer – besides sweat – is give your
tiny enemy a lifetime’s worth of hiding places.

When a tick hitches a ride on you or your dog it doesn’t settle in for a meal
immediately. It checks out the new digs by wandering around for awhile. Are you
more likely to detect a tick crawling on your bare leg or sneaking up your shirt
sleeve?

So you don’t need to dress like a beekeeper outdoors to detect ticks – just
check your skin and your dog regularly as you walk. Catching a tick at this time is
the easiest way to combat it.

TALL TICK TALE #3 – The Best Way To Avoid Ticks In The First Place Is To Stay Away
From Trees

What is it with irrational fears we harbor about our hair? Bats don’t fly into our
hair and ticks don’t lurk on tree limbs eyeing the tops of our heads like tycoons
checking out oceanfront property. Leave your tick-fighting hat at home.

Ticks spend most of their time clinging to wispy blades of long grass waiting
for a warm-blooded passerby to hitch a ride. The best place way to avoid ticks is to
keep your dog and yourself out in the middle of a trail as much as possible.

If you want to be outdoors, you aren’t going to avoid all ticks. But if you deal
with them a little more realistically, you don’t need to avoid the outdoors, either.

copyright 2006

I am the author of over 20 books, including 8 on hiking with your dog, including the
widely praised The Canine Hiker’s Bible. As publisher of Cruden Bay Books,
we produce the innovative A Bark In The Park series of canine hiking books found at
http://www.hikewithyourdog.com. During the warm months I lead canine hikes as tour
leader for hikewithyourdog.com tours, leading packs of dogs and humans on day
and overnight trips. My lead dog is Katie, a German Shepherd-Border Collie mix,
who has hiked in all of the Lower 48 states and is on a quest to swim in all the great
waters of North America – http://web.mac.com/crudbay/iWeb/Katies%20Blog/
Katies%20Quest.html. I am currently building a hikewithyourdog.com tours trailer
to use on our expeditions and its progress can be viewed at http://web.mac.com/crudbay/iWeb/Teardrop%20Trailer/Building%20A%20Tour%20Trailer.html.