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Flours of sulpher. Just sprinkle it on your dog, works best out of something like a baby powder bottle. Works on you too, just mix it 50/50 with baby powder to cut the stench a bit.

Wear higher top 8in plus boots that you can tuck your pants into. Keep your tee-shirt tucked into your pants. Treat your pants and shirts with permethrin, the soak method is better than the spray, works all year. Sawyer is one brand, but if you look up the percentage, you can buy it in bulk at a pest control supply house and dilute it yourself.

If you get a tick that stays on more than a couple of hours, pop ONE 200mg Doxycycline pill. There is a study that proves this is 100% effective at preventing Rocky Mtn Spotted Fever and Lyme. You have to be careful with out-of date Doxy, so check it.

Yep...
The dogs and I spend quite a bit of time in the timber this time of year looking for morel mushrooms.
I have yet to find the "holy grail" in tick meds for the dogs, but this year I switched to Advantix II from Frontline.
Frontline does work well at killing the ticks, but it doesn't repel them.
I treated them on Easter Sunday, and I've pulled off 5 ticks that had actually attached. All of them were on the chest area of my Draht, and all 5 were dead.
So, that's 6 days of running through the timber every day.
Not great, but I can only imagine the thousands of ticks that have hit his chest area! I think I'm going to try some of the Adams flea and tick spray.
If I'm remembering right, you can treat with that twice a month.
I really hate putting any of that crap on the dogs! It's expensive, and can be dangerous, but the tick born illnesses are dangerous too!
But, I know way more people that have had dogs with tick born illnesses, than have had any serious reactions to the chemicals.

I buy the Sawyer clothing treatment mentioned above. I keep a couple pair treated so I have one set ready while the others are being washed.
And, even though it's supposed to last through washing, I always retreat after they've been washed.
I HATE ticks!! It really surprises me that someone hasn't "officially" addressed the issue. I don't know how,...but it's just gotten rediculous.

A buddy of mine actually started treating his local deer population!
He had a tick PLAGUE!! You could literally watch them swarm his front porch!

Anyway, he set up deer feeders, with permethrin treated back rubs that the deer had to pass through before they could reach the feeders.
Kind of like a cattle rub. He said it helped his immediate area a lot.
I don't know...seems like something could be done on a large scale.

Ticks (and Lyme) is getting to be a major issue over here also. I took the dog out with me hiking in some local mountains last week and found three on him a few days later. Its very unusual for ticks to be this active this early as we are still getting the odd over night frost here.

I was talking to the owner of a local pet shop and apart from the usual treatment with Frontline ect, he recommended trying Teatree oil from the Chemist. He said a few drops applied regularly to the dogs coat acts as a repellent, although again, its not 100% effective..

Pete,

I don't know what you have available there, but see if you can get some straight pyrethrin spray. It is very, very low toxicity to mammals, but produces an instant kill on insects. It won't harm you or the dog unless you decide to drink the whole damn bottle, and even then it wouldn't likely do more than make you puke.

It's hard to get locally, so I just have a Veterinarian order me a case at a time. Any of the lipid layer stuff like Front Line will still allow ticks on the dog and they can wind up in the vehicle and on you when you go home. Pyrethrin will kill 'em. Most of what I see stinks. Bad. Adams spray is a little less offensive.

Permethrin can be dangerous. It's a synthetic pyrethrin and it does kill cats. I've seen it make a few dogs sick too, especially when used repeatedly over as little as a few days.

I always used Anvantix. My dog would still carry ticks on her, but they wouldn't bite. I used a Seresto collar on her this year. Scalibor is the same thing. I haven't found any on her this year so far. The Seresto collar is good for 8 months. Not that it matters, but it's cheaper in the long run too...

Miles,

Thanks for that..I am pretty sure I've come across this stuff in RSA being used by the local hunters who sprayed their clothes, but I could never recall which was the safe version and which wasn't..

Just mentioned this too a friend, and he thinks pyrethrin is used in over the counter "fly sprays" meant for horses, so I shall check whats available locally..

Regards,

Peter

Pete,

I think I've seen it in horse spray too. Your best be is probably just to ask a vet to order some though. I hunt birds in the fall in an area where the dog might come out of the woods with hundreds of the little beggars on the them. I spray my clothes and I don't get them on me. Spraying the dog thoroughly while rolling the fur backwards will prevent them on the dog too.

A pretty high percentage of Ixodes ticks here carry Lyme. A tick bite from them means a course of antibiotics, so preventon is well worth the PITA that comes with it. Lyme can be a real bitch. It kills dogs often enough through renal failure based in the damage to tissues by the animal's immune system.

I hope it doesn't get this bad over there. Quite literally every day I go into the woods or fields I have to take precautions and then carefully check for ticks afterwards.

ticks certainly ca'nt be taken lightly. in 1990 or so a tick bite nearly cashed my ticket, doctors were baffled & had me in quaratine with 3 kinds of antibiotics. i left hospital in july weighing in the 140s [down from 170].texas dept of health informed me that georgia had done a platelet study & thought it was erichoious caffensis like spotted fever w/o spots. i totaaly spray before hitting the woods & do a body check at home. if i find a tick i note the date & keep that tick in a vial with alchol. cranky72

We never had them around here until 10, 12 years ago. Now they're all over. Seldom shoot a deer without some. I treat the dogs with advantix, not much problem there. They're also vaccinated against Lyme. FIL got it a few years ago, brother's dog got it. I take them off the kids once in a while, also off me. (Last one I had on me was in a spot where, if it caused swelling, might have done me some good. ) Damn things. Sprays keep them off pretty well.