Since we left school, I have been lucky enough to walk on Ashdown Forest with my dogs. We have had amazing weather and since the beginning of April I have been very careful to check the dogs for ticks. If you see one up close, you may think that it is a spider (they are related and do have eight legs.) However, they do feed on blood and can carry disease, so it is better to remove them from your dogs before they start to suck. If they have attached, your parents will need to twist them out with a special gadget. There are about 20 species of tick in England and until recent years we never found any in this area. These are called sheep ticks but they are carried by deer and are now found all over the area, so it is sensible to wear long trousers if you are walking through long vegetation. Both dogs have had a number of ticks over the past few weeks, but here is one that I took off Rue this morning!
