Removing Ticks From Dogs

One of the best pieces of advice anyone can have about removing ticks from dogs is to not let the problem get tho that point. This means treating your canine friend with a product meant to keep fleas and ticks from attaching themselves to them in the first place. Most of these products are a topical solution that's applied to your animals coat and spreads over your pet's entire body via the dogs natural skin oils. This is a 100% effective way to rid yourself of fleas, ticks and their eggs forever.

Getting ticks off

If you haven't pretreated your dog and find yourself having to get rid of ticks for the first time, look below for things you should do and shouldn't do when removing these pests.

Don'ts

Please don't feed excessive amounts of garlic to your dog. Not only is garlic merely an old wives tale -- there is a chance your dog will have a fatal reaction to it (dogs are sensitive to garlic).

Tweezers aren't an effective tool for removing ticks from dogs, so don't use them. You may feel squeamish about handling the tick with your fingers, but it will be much safer for your dog and you can handle the ticks in a more delicate manner. If you burst the tick while it's attached to your dog it may poison them.

Dos

Treat your dog with a preventative (yes it was mentioned already, but it's the safest and easiest way to avoid removing ticks from dogs in the first place.)

Use your fingers and grip the tick very lightly (don't worry they won't bite -- they're more interested in your dog). Once your lightly gripping the tick: Pull it away with your dog, while lightly twisting it. Once it's detached from the dog: Place the tick in between your thumbnails and squish it (any two hard surfaces will work, just make sure you apply lots of pressure since they have a hard outer shell.