Fly Strike

No...no, I was just playing

After applying a product called Swat to Price's ears, head and nose to ward off the biting flies that love him so, he tries to rub it off and ends up looking like this. Yet another challenge for the white-headed dogs of the world. How to rub off the stinky ointment without your mom finding out. Ummm, Price, I know what you've been up to, and if you don't cut it out I'm going to give you a b a t h! There, that should do it. Playing in the hose is fun, fun, fun, but make him stand still, hose and soap, and he's not so happy.

Price is the only one of my boys that gets fly strike. Maybe it's the way he smells, or his white head, I don't know, but they attack the tops and edges of his ears and bridge of his nose. The nasty pests choose these areas, because dogs can't defend them as well as other areas, and these bites hurt. They also draw blood, which is what the flies are after, and if not controlled, the bleeding can lead to infection or worse.

Prevention is the best method to control fly strike, so I clean my kennels daily, use fly predators (I highly recommend them,) around my horse pen and wash Price's ears and nose with Betadine, (you can imagine how much he likes that,) before applying Swat to repel the nasty biters. A little slick of Aloe cream now and again is good for him too. Click here for more information and watch for flies swirling around your dog's head in the heat of the day. That's the first sign of a problem.