Eely, My brother is getting our house ready for a german shepherd puppy hopefully soon. So we are making our home gsd friendly. I read about the ticks so I was thinking if it is better to tile up the front place with grooved non slip type or get carpet grass or artificial grass for the front part?
What about garden pond 10feet by 6 feet)? Do you think the dog will sit in it or just drink? At this moment, we can still move it if not safe for the dog.

Whts a GSD friendly place? Does it mean I should not hv a lawn? Cant hv water feature / koi pond? Wht about outdoor wood flooring? Shrubs and veg / spice patch? I'm considering having a showline with all the above mentioned for my house garden. Pls advice. Thx.

tick season everyone..please be aware

tick also got season ????

yes...everything has it season

Ermmm.... Usually i keep my pups in the house until he is big enough to stay outside within the porch compound.

I keep my pup in a small confine area with clean water, but bear in mind they might be quite naughty n mess up the whole area, therefore cleaning is needed pn daily basis if possible.

My pup used to eat n shit n urine on his sleeping area and i have to train him to shit n urine separately on a matt. Its best to have a bigger area for a gsd, as they need to run n play as well as exercising in a large area when they have grown up.

I dont know if pond is a good idea not as they might be too naughty n might even get drowned if they were to jump into it, but as we all know dogs can swim however im not too sure with pups i have no experience with ponds. Grasses or gardens are good for them at least it will help them strengthen their joints n muscles by running on a grass area instead of slippery tiles. Tiles r not a good choice for pups especially gsd. Coz their hind legs especially showline might cause hips displacia.

One thing to bear in mind, gsd loves to play with water, my pup even until now at the age of 2, still plays with water, he will put his whole face n both front legs into the pail whenever he could. So will have to clean n wipe dry him from time to time to prevent tangled hair n smelly body.

Honestly speaking i never had such a naughty dog until i had this gsd pup, so its my first challenge in my whole life experience so far. But its under controlled and i love him for who he is, he is such a naughty but protective lovely dog. He will walk with me everywhere i go n is quite obedient when i bring him out. When i wash my car or clean d porch he will sit just next to me n watch me do work. Unfortunately he has some digestive problem, which is quite common in gsd's i think or maybe my batch is just the unlucky one.

yeah it happens from time to time

right now, I just kill the tick everyday....but it seem everyday also got...
really sien leh....put frontline also can't help much....house also have...jia lat....

Frontline isn't so effective at the moment as a lot of people have been using it and not ensuring all the ticks are dead causing reccuring infestations with ticks more resistant to the poision in Frontline. Try using Advantix or Revolution (remember Revolution doubles up as Heartworm prevention as well so can't be used if you are also feeding Heartgard or have the yearly/bi-yearly heartworm injections). You can also mix a small amount of Bayticol into your mop bucket to treat the general area (Bleach also works to help deter ticks).
Often if ticks keep coming back over and over again after you clear them off your dog, it is because there is a dog in the area that is infested with ticks. It is often worth mentioning to your neighbors with dogs that it is tick season and that you have spotted a few around, check that they have been using some kind of prevention (of course do this in a friendly manner and don't accuse them of giving your dog ticks lol).

I sprayed bayticol mixture all over my home n mopped the whole house with it and the very next day all ticks appeared n i killed em all. Those babies super mini's one are dead but not those smaller ones, i hv to kill em all myself n repeat the whole procedure from time to time.

Ticks can live without food for 6-12 months in the surrounding. U gotta constantly apply bayticol on the dogs n spray all over the surrounding corners n kill all the ticks immediately continuosly for weeks until u see zero ticks...

Clorox shud help too but i havent try it out myself though. But pls dont spray clorox onto ur dogs.

I find a preventative measure such as the 'Spot-on' products are more effective than bathing with Bayticol all the time. Although using Bayticol often is not harmful to your dog (as long as it is used correctly, used incorrectly it can be extremely dangerous which is why i never recommend pet owners use Bayticol to bath their dogs themselves), a Spot-on product gives a longer barrier to ticks.

Although yes, Ticks can hibernate for a long period if there is no food present, generally if you find that there are constantly ticks in your compound despite treating both your pets and the surroundings, it is most likely because there is an infested dog somewhere in the area (Ticks can also travel an alarmingly long distance in not a long period of time, if there is a large infestation on a dog, many of the ticks will go off in search of a new host). I have seen multiple situations where there is 1 dog within a housing area which is not treated for ticks and has a severe infestation. Despite continual treatment and preventative methods, other dogs in the area will constantly be under attack until the dog with the infestation is controlled.

Of course tick season is also a thing as mentioned earlier and generally everyone will find 1 or 2 floating around, however quick dose of spot-on as soon as you notice the little suckers will be enough to deter them.

Finally I think it was quite clear that i was suggesting treating the house and compound with bleach and not your dog, sorry if it wasn't .

Haha yea it was clear to me .

Btw im wondering if ticks can live on human host , inside d body? Maybe by crawling into the ears or nose or we accidentally swallowed it in? Its kinda scary though, ticks r all over my living hall n room even on my legs n body sometimes i found it on my mattress as my dogs live indoor.

I hate it so much whenever i see them in my room. Yucks!!!

Grose

Eely, So natural/artificial grass is more suitable than floor tiles?
The pond is 10 x 6 feet and 1 ft deep. The filterpump is concealed and water flowing back through a 4ft high seahorse statue. Small koi, plecos and molly fish inside. No rocks except in corner only.

For the toilet, my brother want to build in the corner of the front yard, a 4 x 3 feet and 6 inch high mosaic section for the gsd to poo there with a covered drainage to clean afterwards with water hose. Good idea or impossible for gsd to be trained?
Do you think sending the dog to a training school is a good idea?
Is it the dried food that affect gsd digestive system?
I read about some owners claiming success by using cockroach (4 week lasting spay) to prevent ticks flea and cockroach from entering their homes. This is assuming the dog are prevented from entering inside the home.

A tick will definitely not survive if you manage to swallow one...but that is pretty unlikely to happen. It is possible for a tick to crawl into a body cavity (such as ear or nose) but this also is pretty rare...ticks will generally avoid humans unless they are really really desperate for food in which case they might bite you. I wouldn't worry too much and if a tick does happen to bite you, just pick it off like you would on your dog.

I found that adding a small amount of bayticol to my washing machine when washing bed sheets and stuff seems to help deter ticks from the house. When i had a really bad infestation, we sprayed the mattress with frontline and left it in the sun for a couple of days.
I also find that wiping bayticol around the door frames (in every room) seems to really help. When we were having big problems i would use a small paintbrush and just spread diluted bayticol around the door frames once a week (open all the windows for a couple of hours after and you won't even notice). I also found that de cluttering as much as possible and packing everything unnecessary in plastic wrap in the store room helped end the infestation as there were fewer places for the ticks to hide. However ultimately we had a constant battle to keep ticks out of our house due to our neighbor having a very very lax attitude to tick control (as in they just didn't bother).

This post has been edited by Divas: Jun 11 2014, 08:34 PM

HI, thanks for your advise, at the moment, I'm using frontline combo spot for my dog, spray bayticol surrounding my house area, but, still everyday I found few ticks... and I just fire on it.
So, have you try advantix before? is it works?

I've been reading up on dogs of late. I had a mongrel when I was a child. She was the gentlest thing ever and such a great companion. The only problem with dogs is that, for some of us who are not calloused internally -- for those of us who are of sensitive disposition -- they become very much part of you, a partner, a loved one, and parting from them is emotionally devastating. There are humans who, OTOH, are like those Thai soldiers who would bang the heads of monks repeatedly against a wall till their skulls crack and they die. Or those Chinese soldiers who persecuted Tibetian monks. People who are inexplicably dead on the inside. Who cage their dogs their entire lives. Who regard them as nearly inanimate and certainly not sentient and who keep them ... for what? Their bark? There are so many such people amongst us, barely aware of their own humanity.

Anyway, to get back to the topic. For me, the choice came down to either a Labrador or a GSD.

I don't think that many people in this thread understand this breed. They think they do, but if they really did, it is impossible for GSDs to be so popular in this subforum. Because GSDs were bred as war dogs. They may have come from shepherd stock, but they were bred for war. For aggression against enemies. They should be called Prussian War Dogs, PWDs.

http://www.netplaces.com/german-shepherd/a...ero/war-dog.htm

They were bred at the turn of the century in Germany, a time when Germany was the most militant country in the world, by a captain of the Prussian army. Subsequently, they were widely used in both WW1 and WW2.

I don't think there is a place in a gentle society for such dogs.

The protective nature and the aggressiveness of the GSD does not come about via K9-style training. It is genetic to the dog. The training merely accentuates it.

Here you see 2 GSDs (rightfully) mauling a man who threw stones at them. I don't think those dogs were trained to attack. The owner was completely unsuccessful at restraining them.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eOydTKeMzk

A GSD, when provoked, cannot actually be restrained by a human. They propel themselves explosively. Either the leash will escape your grasp, or if you are both tied together by the least, you will be dragged along by the dog. Here you see professional dog handlers with the London police losing control of the dogs under their command. The dogs then ran to and started attacking the crowd. These are expensively, continuously trained dogs under the command of professional handlers. If these dogs cannot be controlled, you guys/girls have zero chance at controlling your GSDs when sufficiently provoked.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDiqhkK_ucw

Here you see another case of an unexpected attack. IMO, the reporter deserved it because his body language was very hostile to the dog. But many people do not understand the effect their body language have on an inherently aggressive breed like the GSD. They think they are petting a nice dog.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHLnjiISsOo

Having said all that, GSDs are the absolute coolest breed. They are like the perfect soldier. Completely fearless. Which was what they were bred for.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRWj-aAnHsY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCZevHRLiEo

I particularly love this vid. At 4:28, you see what appears to be a pet GSD immediately attacking an aggressor without requiring the owner to give any command. The owner then helped push the dog over the counter to pursue the aggressor. So cool.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-7N1oocmD4

So yeah, I'm going with a Labrador. I don't need a lethal weapon I can't control as a pet.

This post has been edited by kotmj: Jun 14 2014, 06:29 PM

I am using use Bayer K9 advantix II. The instructions does recommend to wash your dogs more regularly in very humid/hot condition or garden. (Cannot be use for cats!)
For my home, I use (anti-Roach/bug) Fumakila or Blacktop once a week on the wall and door. My dog sniffed before but scoffed, avoid never lick it.

Isn't hairy grass an attraction for ticks? Why not use those football field type grass? They are usually short with flat wider leaves not hairy at all.

Advantix works well from what i have seen so far. It was a bit iffy for a while but seems to be back on track the last year or so. I always advise switching between tick prevention brands in the same way you should for intestinal worm pills, if everyone rotates the tick prevention they are using (and ensures that all the ticks in the area are dead and not simply hibernating/moved to another animal) the tick situation would be much less serious than it is in some areas.

We are unlucky that we do not have cold winter weather once a year to kill of a large portion of the tick population, so it is up to us a dog owners to try and keep tick populations under control through proper management, something that a lot of people fail to take care of until there is already a massive infestation (usually due to lack of information rather than a lack of caring, although sometimes more the latter).


As far as what kind of garden surfacing holds more ticks. I honestly never pay too much attention to that side of things, as long as your dog is treated regularly, ticks will stay away as there is no food and therefore no desire for them to be there in the first place. While you technically could tailor your garden and house to be as un-tick-friendly as possible...if your neighbor has ticks, they are still going to be close enough to come over to your dog anyway.