The short answer
Slide your hands slowly through your dog’s coat after every walk, feeling for any small bump. Pay particular attention to the head, ears, neck, armpits, groin, between the toes, and around the tail. A daily 60-second check is the standard. A lint roller picks up unattached crawling ticks before they bite.
Why a daily check matters in Halton
Tick prevention products kill ticks, but most require the tick to bite first to ingest the drug. Borrelia burgdorferi (Lyme) typically transmits 24–48 hours after attachment. A tick caught and removed the same day a walk happens is much less likely to transmit anything.
In Halton in 2026, that math matters more than ever. Roughly 38% of blacklegged ticks tested in spring 2025 were Borrelia-positive — up from 0% in 2018. A daily check is your second line of defence after preventive medication.
The 60-second method
- Start at the head. Feel inside the ears (and just inside the ear canal entrance), around the muzzle and lips, under the chin, around the eyes.
- Move down the neck and under the collar. Slip the collar off if you can — ticks love to attach where the collar sits.
- Down the chest, into the armpits. Lift each front leg and check the armpit fold.
- Across the belly and into the groin. Inner thighs, belly, and around the genitals — ticks like warm, thin-skin areas.
- Down each leg, between the toes, and on the pads. Spread the toes gently. Mud and grass debris hide ticks here.
- Up the back to the base of the tail. Around the anus and the underside of the tail.
- Through the coat. Run hands slowly through the fur on the back, sides, and rump, feeling for any small bump that doesn’t belong.
A bump the size of a sesame seed or smaller is usually a nymph (juvenile) tick. A bump the size of a pencil eraser or larger is usually an adult tick that’s already been feeding for hours. Both need to come out.
The body zones that matter most
If you’re short on time, focus here:
| Zone | Why ticks like it |
|---|---|
| Inside the ears | Warm, thin-skin, hidden by hair |
| Under the collar / around the neck | Hidden, less-disturbed |
| Between toes and on pads | Where ticks crawl up after walking through grass |
| Armpits and groin | Warm, thin skin, easy to bite |
| Around the muzzle and lips | Where the dog’s nose lands when sniffing |
| Around the anus and under the tail | Easy to miss, ticks crawl upward |
These zones account for the vast majority of attachment sites we see in clinic.
The lint roller trick
Most ticks crawl on a dog for several hours before attaching. A standard sticky lint roller, run quickly over the dog’s short coat after a walk, catches a surprising number of unattached ticks before they ever bite. It’s not a substitute for a hands-on check, but it’s a fast first pass — particularly useful for dogs that have been off-leash in tall grass.
For longer-coated dogs, a comb-out over a white sheet or towel is the equivalent. Dropped ticks and debris show up against the white background.
When to do the check
- After every walk — particularly walks in known hotspots (Bronte Creek, Iroquois Shoreline Woods, Lions Valley, Conservation Halton parks).
- Daily during peak season (May–July and September–November in Halton) regardless of where the dog has been — yards count.
- Anytime your dog has been in tall grass, leaf litter, or off-leash brushy areas.
What to do if you find one
- Don’t panic. Most tick bites do not result in disease.
- Remove the tick with fine-tipped tweezers or a Tick Twister.
- Save the tick and submit to eTick.ca.
- Book a 4DX blood test 6–8 weeks later — that’s how long antibodies take to show up reliably.
- See the full action plan here.
Daily checks for cats
Cats are tricker — most won’t tolerate a hand-comb. Pair the check with petting, brushing, or treat sessions. Focus on the face, whiskers, chin, around the eyes, ears (and inside the pinna fold), neck, shoulders, armpits, abdomen, groin, between toes, and the base of the tail. Cats often groom unattached ticks off, so the ones you find are sometimes already crawling — those drop off in the home and can bite humans, so save and submit them too.
For more on the cat side, see our post on tick exposure in cats.
Key takeaways
- Daily 60-second tick check after every walk — head, ears, neck, armpits, groin, between toes, around tail.
- A lint roller catches unattached crawling ticks before they bite. Comb-out over a white towel works for longer coats.
- Most disease transmission needs 24–48 hours of attachment, so same-day removal matters.
- If you find one, remove it properly, save it for eTick.ca, and book a 4DX 6–8 weeks later.
- Pair tick checks for cats with petting or brushing — most cats won’t tolerate a thorough hand-comb.
References
- Companion Animal Parasite Council. “CAPC Recommendations.” capcvet.org
- Paws Canada. “You, Your Pet and Ticks.” pawscanada.ca
- Halton Region Public Health. “Lyme Disease and Other Tick-Borne Diseases.” halton.ca
- Public Health Ontario. “Vector-Borne Disease Tool.” publichealthontario.ca