Tick Prevention in the bush all over the world

Some of my regular readers must be saying: "Welcome back and we have missed your updates." I must apologize for not posting for ages. I don't even have any valid reasons or excuses - life and training have been continuing as normal. To be honest, I have just not made the time to post.
Much has happened over the last 18 months. The Munchkin has been involved in some real life action over the last 6 months. People go missing, their loved ones worry about them and we get called out to look for them. It sounds very simple... and in essence, it is. In practice, people don't want to be found, or they are deceased or are not where their family thinks they are. But theses are stories for another day.

Snow training - "are there ticks in the snow Mom? Where's my toy? I want to play!"

Before I get into what has happened and what the plans for the future are, I'd like to mention the importance of regular tick control.It is critical that working dog owners and handlers keep their dogs' tick and flea free. Not only does tick bite fever in all its variants keep the dog from working, long courses of medication are often required to clear up the parasites in the dog's body.

I have just learned of a new form of "tick bite fever." It's known as tick paralysis. In a nutshell, the "toxin [contained in the tick's saliva] directly affects the [dog's] nervous system...caus[ing] lower motor neuron paralysis." Ouch...this is serious. In my opinion, the age-old adage: "Prevention is better than cure", is relevant here. 

Here is a wonderful infographic that explains the ins and outs of tick paralysis. 

Click here to view bigger image
Courtesy of gordonvet.com.au