To the left is an actual tick I picked off my CAT!!

UPDATE FOR 2010 - So ticks really ARE everywhere now in the HRM - and lyme disease IS on ticks in some areas - if you didn't know before, you should know now that ticks in Bedford - specifically Admiral's Cove Park have been found to have lyme disease in them for quite a while now - as they have also had in Lunenburg and Gunning Cove, and area near Shelburne. 

It's believed that lyme disease entered Nova Scotia via Lunenburg years ago.  Lyme disease may cause a rash, fever, fatigue, muscle aches and headaches. If untreated, it can lead to facial palsy as well as chronic joint and heart problems.   

from the Chronicle Herald:

TICKS TIPS: How to protect yourself when in an area known to have ticks:

•Dress in appropriate clothing, including closed shoes, long sleeves and pants tucked into your socks; •Apply an insect repellent with DEET to skin and clothing; Wear light-coloured clothing, which makes it easier to spot ticks;

•Check your clothes and body for ticks after spending time outdoors. Do an initial check when you return home and another several hours later;

•Don’t forget to check your pets as they can pass a tick along to their owners;

•If you find a tick, pull it off right away (a tick must be attached to your body for more than 24 hours to contract the disease).  

GROSS!  I used to find ticks on the dogs about once a year - and it was only when we went for walks way outside the city.  I used to completely freak out and call all my friends and my parents and holler and cry and say "what am I going to do! I don't know how to take a tick off the dogs!  I've never seen a tick!  I'm a girl!  Girl's shouldn't have to deal with this stuff!"

But then in recent years - starting in about 2008 - I started seeing more ticks on the dogs - until recently I'm getting almost one tick a week on them. 

Personally - I've seen ticks in Spryfield, Point Pleasant Park, Prospect Bay (has a ton of ticks), - they're all over the place - So I've been researching around and have discovered that ticks have infiltrated the whole of the Halifax Regional Municipality.  Instead of paraphrasing what the professionals have been telling me - I'm just going to paste the relevant parts of the emails that they sent me.  

When you find a tick on your dog you should:   The basic procedure it to remove the tick (intact), place it in a suitable container (film cannister, pill bottle etc), and include who you are, from what was the tick removed, where you found it (geographic location/ address etc), if picked up while walking, where the walking trail etc was.

Then send , or drop off the tick the nearest office of NSDNR, the Nova Scotia Museum of Natural History, or mail it either to:

Jeffrey Ogden Integrated Pest Management Field Entomologist

The Insectary

Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources

P.O. Box 130 Hants County

Shubenacadie, NS

B0N 2H0

ph-1 902 758 7015

fx- 1 902 758 3210

email ogdenjb@gov.ns.ca

Andrew Hebda

Nova Scotia Museum

1747 Summer Street

Halifax NS

B3H 3A6

Local websites of interest about ticks are:

As for links, your first point of entry should be http://www.gov.ns.ca/health /ocmoh/lyme.htm  

and there is a recent press release on this fall's sampling at http://www.gov.ns.ca/news /details.asp?id=20061025002 as well - there's the Canadian Lyme Disease Foundation at http://www.canlyme.com/  which has a whole section on Lyme Disease and dogs