- Recently, it's been announced
that our area is at an estimated risk
for Lyme disease, so today, I thought I'd talk to you guys
about having a systematic approach to checking your dogs
for ticks, as well as some of the unusual places
that ticks might hide on your dog.
I'm Ken Steepe.
This is our 10-year-old Border Collie, Mac.
Welcome back to McCann Dogs.
At McCann professional dog trainers'
we've helped over 80,000 dog owners
to have well-behaved four-legged family members,
and we've heard lots of stories
of students, you know, finding a tick
on their dog.
As well, we travel all over the world
with our dogs, and all of our instructors do,
you know, activities, sports, exercises,
training, outdoors with their dogs,
so we need to have a very structured approach
to, for assessing our dog.
To make sure that they didn't come home
with any ticks on them.
Now, Mac is my 10-year-old sheep herding dog,
and you know, working on stock
as well as being out, you know,
in the farm fields with the long grass,
Mac is especially likely to get,
have an encounter with ticks.
So I thought he'd be a great dog
to demonstrate for you guys how I would do a tick assessment
with him.
Now, not only have I been a professional dog trainer
for over 10 years, but for the past 20 years,
I've also been a firefighter paramedic,
and I can tell you one thing about physical assessments,
and lighting is your friend.
You know, it's really, really nice,
and if you find any irregularities
or anything you're not really sure what it is,
it's so nice to have light there so
that you can visualize it
and really know what you're feeling.
So if, I have the light tree today,
I have studio lighting.
We're in a video studio.
But if you're at home, maybe your kitchen's a bright area
or your bathroom.
Find a light room in the house
or something that has great natural lighting
as you're doing this assessment.
Now, the reason for having such a structured approach
to this assessment is pretty straightforward.
I wouldn't wanna miss any part of Mac's body
where a tick might be hiding.
You know, they can find, you know,
a really tiny dark spot, especially,
you know, near mucous membrane,
they really, really like to hang out
in those areas.
So I need to make sure that I cover 100% of his body
as I'm doing this assessment.
So let's start with the face.
We're gonna go from the tip of Mac's nose
all the way to the tip of his tail,
but we're gonna start with his face.
So the first thing I want you to really take a look at
is underneath their eyes, in and around their eyelids
'cause ticks have a tendency to, you know,
join right in and around their eyes.
As well, take a good look inside their ears.
Now, you know, sometimes it's really hard to visualize
in that ear, and this is where the light really helps out.
But I want you to really open up your dog's ears
and have a good look inside.
The next important area to check is
underneath your dog's collar.
Now I want you to at least feel around
and try to visualize as much as you can
underneath your dog's collar, but when you're exposing
underneath that collar, pull the fur back.
You know, push the fur backwards
to see if you can see right down to the skin,
and anywhere that you can't see,
you can probably feel, so make sure
that you do a nice thorough feel all the way around.
Now, what you're feeling for is, like,
a little bump.
You'll see it, find that little irregularity in there,
and if you do feel any bumps along the way,
I want you to stop the assessment
and really inspect what's going on under there.
Don't forget to check in and around your dog's mouth
as you're making your way down their neck.
Again, I'm gonna go over that collar area again.
Just because I know that's, you know,
pretty likely place for a tick to hide.
And as I make my way down the front of Mac's body,
I'm gonna go up into his armpits.
Right into, you know, where his front leg joins
his chest and torso, and I'm gonna feel all the way down.
Now, as I'm assessing, you can see I'm sort of,
I've got sort of this little ring grip
around his leg, and I'm gonna make sure
that I feel each and every part
of his leg all the way down.
Now comes a really important place
that I want you guys to check thoroughly.
In between your dog's toes can be a great hiding spot
for a tick.
So really pull each toe apart,
and have a look in between.
Try not to get kissed too much.
But really check in between.
We're also gonna check in the dog's pads,
so I'm gonna expose Mac's pads,
and check in between each one of his pads
because that's also a really, really great spot
for a tick to get wedged up in.
And it would be hard to see if we didn't do a thorough
inspection.
So now that we've cleared his front paws,
we're gonna make our way down his chest,
feeling as much as we can.
And Mac's likely going to lean against me.
Good boy.
And I'm gonna get him just to lie on his back a little bit
'cause I want need to check in and around his groin.
In and around his hind legs.
And in and around his belly.
You know, ticks really like this spot they can tuck
themselves up and underneath the dog,
and it's hard for the dog to get out
of so really expose that belly skin
and really have a good look in there.
You know, while I was doing this,
I did see a little discoloration
on Mac, and I wanted to bring you guys
up close and take a look at it,
but it's actually just a freckle
that sort of may look like a tick,
but this is exactly why we do this
kind of thing because now that I've discovered this
little discoloration on his abdomen,
I need to keep tabs on it and just make sure
that it's not changing in size
or color or anything like that.
So now that we've cleared Mac's abdomen,
I'm gonna follow the exact same process
as I did for the front legs with the back legs,
visualizing as much as I can,
really feeling all the way down his leg.
And then separating each one of the toes
so I can get a really good look in between.
And don't forget those pads on the bottom
of your dog's feet.
You really wanna have a look in there as well 'cause
that's a great hiding spot for a tick.
Now that we've made our way all the way
to the back end of our dog, we need to feel that tail.
This is where we get to the tip of the tail,
and I take a quick look and make sure
that there aren't any ticks underneath his tail.
That would be a great spot for a tick to hide.
It could easily be overlooked.
Now, if you find a tick during any part
of your assessment, you need to stop right there.
There's all kinds of great tick removal tools available
from your veterinarian, from your local pet store,
and there's also lots of great resources here
on YouTube that come to tick removal.
We're not going to talk about it today,
but I will offer some word of warning
to you.
If you're using something like a pair of tweezers,
be careful that you get the tick in its entirety.
And be careful you don't manipulate the tick too much.
Those tools are great for, you know,
scooping the entire tick up, and then pulling them out.
What you don't wanna do is manipulate the tick a bunch
and then have it release those toxins
back into your dog.
So, you know, quickly, carefully,
and cleanly remove that tick.
And if you don't feel comfortable doing so,
make sure to head to your local veterinarian.
I hope you found this video helpful.
I know Mac enjoys every time I do these tick checks
on him, he really enjoys the extra attention
that he gets, but it's really, vitally important,
especially with his elevated risk condition
that we're in now.
That you're checking your dog for ticks
to avoid disease, specifically Lyme disease.
Now, if this is your first time on the channel,
make sure you hit that subscribe button.
We publish new videos every single week
to help you spend some quality time
with your four-legged family member.
Check out that video beside us.
It's actually a video from our channel,
the YouTube things you'll wanna watch next.
And on that note, I'm Ken.
This is Mac.
Happy training.
(whimsical music)