Deer flies?

[Pat Barry]

Went for a walk with the pup this morning and the deer flies were horrible. The pooches nose and ears were relentlessly bombarded with multiple flies biting her. They were viscous. Anyone have anything that works as a deterrent? I resist spraying her with Deet products because of bad things I hear about Deet and dogs. Any good products for dogs that you know of? Thanks

[Keith Outten]

I read somewhere that if you place a dryer sheet under your hat it will help to deter mosquitoes and other flying pests. Some place the dryer sheet around the collar on their shirt so you might try tying one to your dogs collar. I can't confirm that this works, just something I read about recently.
.

[Mel Fulks]

We grow pennyroyal and rub in on skin and I put some in shirt pocket. It's been used hundreds ,if not thousands, of years. I know it works for mosquitoes and common flies. Besides rubbing it on dogs some roll it up in open weave cloth to make flea collars.

[Malcolm Schweizer]

Lots of folks here swear by "Skin So Soft" lotion as a mosquito repellant. It's worth a try.

[Andrew J. Coholic]

Before my last dog passed a year ago, I'd use a product from my vet made for horses and cows. Kept the flies off her pretty good but they still swarmed

Never wanted to to use deet on my dogs. This stuff smelt strong. My vet looked after farm animals so had it stocked always. Sorry I don't recall the name. But maybe try a general vet if yours is only for dogs and cats.

[Alan Rutherford]

12 gauge? Those things are vicious. According to the University of Florida you can make a deer fly trap from a blue cup and some sticky stuff. See http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/pestalert/deerfly.htm.

They especially seem to like moving mammals, e.g. my wife when she gets the paper in the morning. That's a 400-yard round trip and if she walks and is befriended by a deer fly, she's not happy when she gets back. I made her a trap from a blue cup attached to a stick and it works really well at sticking fingers but so far no deer flies. So I'd give that idea a solid "maybe".

Around here we use badminton racquets for carpenter bees and I'm real fond of those electric tennis-racquet flyswatters Harbor Freight has on sale all the time. You could try those but they won't work as well for the dog.

[Bradley Gray]

A friend of mine uses the blue cup method - he attaches a blue cup to a ball cap and applies "roost-no-more" a sticky product made to deter pigeon roosting - he catches a lot of deer flies!

[Jim Koepke]

I can't remember if garlic is bad for dogs.

I eat a lot of garlic and take a vitamin B complex every day. My wife and I were out walking the back 40 today. The mosquitos and gnats were coming after her. My only bug related problem was walking through spider webs. My wife doesn't eat as much garlic as me and she often skips her B vitamins.

You might be able to rub garlic on the dog. There is likely a B type vitamin for dogs. Not sure if it is a single B that has the smell bugs do not like or if it is all the Bs.

jtk

[Wade Lippman]

I can't remember if garlic is bad for dogs.

I eat a lot of garlic and take a vitamin B complex every day. My wife and I were out walking the back 40 today. The mosquitos and gnats were coming after her. My only bug related problem was walking through spider webs. My wife doesn't eat as much garlic as me and she often skips her B vitamins.

You might be able to rub garlic on the dog. There is likely a B type vitamin for dogs. Not sure if it is a single B that has the smell bugs do not like or if it is all the Bs.

jtk

Onions are poisonous (in large amounts) to dogs, so I presume garlic is also.

The fact that garlic seems to work for you doesn't necessarily mean anything. Attraction is highly variable; mosquitoes don't bother me much, even those around me are swarmed. Though deer flies love me.

[Mike Chance in Iowa]

You can mix up a concoction of fly repellent using essential oils and grain alcohol or distilled water or apple cider vinegar as the base. I've mixed up several different variations and depending upon the season, some worked better then others at different times of the year. This has worked well on our goats, horse, dogs and humans for both mosquitoes and flies.

You can also pick up several different pre-mixes at your local feed store. Absorbine makes different horse sprays. We had great success with the black, red and green bottles. Pyranha is also a good brand that worked well for us. I don't think we had as good of success with Bronco brand.

They make fly masks for horses. I wouldn't be surprised if someone makes them for dogs.

[Pat Barry]

I was actually thinking that some sort of mask might be the way to go since these deer flies are so nasty. Its mostly the face and ears they go after it seems - probably because of the temperature. I bet if there was something that would mask the body temperature they wouldn't be so attracted. At least the mask / netting is worth a try. Thanks

[ryan paulsen]

We get bad flies out when fishing on Lake Michigan, and a lot of people swear by using a "thermacell." Might be worth a try.

[Matt Marsh]

Pat, They're horrible up here around the Lake George/Bemidji area too. DEET doesn't faze them anyway. I hate the way they borough into your hair. Literally dousing my entire head with Deepwoods OFF has no effect on them. I've tried the dryer sheet thing too, and all it did was make me look like a dufus. The darned things can even keep up to the ATVs on the trails. The only thing I have found that has any effect at all, is the propane insect fogger, and even that only lasts a few minutes. Of course it doesn't work at all if there is a breeze. It is always worse this time of the summer, about the same time as the wild blueberries are ready. A long sleeve shirt and a beekeeper's veil is the only way I can stand it out there. Be pretty tough to keep a veil on a dog, but it might be worth a try.

[Robert Engel]

Nothing works short of long shirt/pants a hat and a bee net. ^^^

[John K Jordan]

I use fly predators (tiny wasps) from Spalding Labs to effectively control certain types of flies around my horses and other livestock. Unfortunately, according to Spalding they don't work on deer flies. Their response to a query about deer flies:

"Deer and horse flies are water breeders - around the edges of lakes, pond, or any other impoundment of water. The only thing that has proven effective for those species is a trap that is available to buy commercially. You can find those sources on the internet, as well plans that are available for building your on trap."

We do use fly masks on the horses but I don't know if anyone makes them to fit dogs. When mowing/bushhogging in the summer I use a net to keep yellow jackets and other hornets away from my face in the event of an encounter. One of these should be easy to adapt to dog head size. It's a camouflage head net marketed to bow hunters. I got it in the hunting section at Walmart. Very light weight.

JKJ