Keeping your dog safe during tick season

Ticks. Almost everyone and anyone has heard about them, even if they’ve never seen them.

Tiny, eight-legged parasites that thrive in warm, humid environments, ticks feed on the blood of animals because they need it to grow and reproduce. Many of the different types of ticks don’t have eyes, and even the ones with eyes don’t really use them to find a host. Instead, they use their other senses – detecting prey through smell, vibrations, warmth, and even carbon dioxide⎯ to find a host that they can bite.

And, while the bites can be irritating, it’s not the actual damage they do to you or your pet’s skin that is the issue. The main problem is the vast number of diseases they carry.

We like to imagine they aren’t in our area, but research shows that they are. In fact, there is nowhere in the United States where ticks don’t live⎯ even Alaska has them from the introduction of pets from other places in the U.S. and the world.

Four-legged friends, often host to eight-legged foes

While ticks are definitely a serious issue for people, they’re often an even bigger problem for man’s best friend.

Dogs are, naturally, an easier host to find and attach to for ticks. They’re lower to the ground and often find themselves sniffing around in bushes and trees⎯ the places where ticks hide in waiting for their host.

Dogs often pick up ticks when exploring tall grass, wooded trails or leaf litter, but ticks are also found just as often in their home’s backyard.

They are most active in spring through fall, though warmer winters mean many remain a risk year-round. There are several types that bite dogs and can spread serious infections. Some of the most common include:

• Lone star tick – common in the South and Midwest, and easy to spot by the white dot on their back, they’re aggressive biters of humans and can carry several different diseases.
• American dog tick – found east of the Rockies in grassy or wooded areas, this tick is a main carrier of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever.
• Black-legged (deer) tick – widespread in the Northeast, Midwest and Pacific Coast, these ticks track with deer and can spread Lyme disease.
• Brown dog tick – prefer to feed on dogs and are a common cause of infestations in kennels, dog parks and grooming facilities.

You can read more about canine tick-borne diseases on the AKC Canine Health Foundation’s website.

So, what do we do to protect our dogs?

When it comes to ticks, prevention is much more effective than treating a disease the tick has transmitted to your dog. In fact, one of the easiest ways to protect your pup is to do regular tick checks after they’ve been outside.

It usually takes a couple of hours to a day for the tick to spread harmful bacteria and other pathogens into its host, so removing them early from your dog’s skin can be incredibly important.

Another bit of good news: There are more products on the veterinary market that prevent fleas, ticks and other parasites than ever before. They vary widely, treating different parasites or covering different lengths of time between doses (sometimes one month, three months, or even up to a year).

How do you choose which product for your pup? The best answer is to consult with your veterinarian. Things change, from you and your dog’s lifestyle to the ticks that live in your region, so talking with a professional who knows your dog and the area well is always your best bet.

And always remember that being a wise consumer, especially when it comes to the health of the dogs you love, should be a priority. With the vast number of products available, it can be easy to go with a brand of preventative that makes the boldest claims. But just because companies make claims that it works better than other products or that it uses more natural ingredients, that does not mean it’s always true or that it’s the best choice for your dog.

Science offering a better future for all dogs

It can be scary, as a dog owner, when you learn about the risk of ticks. They’re everywhere and not going anywhere it seems. If your area has a warmer summer than usual, you might even get new ticks that migrate from somewhere south and pose a new problem altogether. Or, there’s the threat of ticks and the diseases they carry growing resistant to the preventatives we use or therapies to treat them.

But, just as there are human health researchers working to improve human health, there are canine health researchers doing the same for our dogs.

The AKC Canine Health Foundation is proud to support research improving the lives of all dogs, everywhere. This includes research into tick-borne diseases, like a study into a newly discovered tick-borne disease variant, or even a researcher hoping to develop a vaccine for one of the most common serious tick-borne diseases.

Learn more about how science is creating a world where dogs can lead healthier, more vibrant lives at akcchf.org.

Copyright 2026 Tribune Content Agency. All Rights Reserved.