As the weather warms up, we are all spending more time outside with our pets – but we aren’t the only ones enjoying the trails.

Tick season is upon us. While the Department of Forestry notes that locally acquired Lyme disease hasn’t been reported here in Newfoundland and Labrador, black-legged ticks are still hitching rides into the province on migratory birds, and other tick species are already here.

Veterinarian Dr. Maggie Brown-Bury says they have been noticing an increase in the number of deer ticks.

“They are brought into the province in a variety of ways but may carry Lyme disease and we have had some test positive,” says Brown-Bury.

They wait in tall grass and bushes, ready to latch onto anyone – or anything – who brushes past.

“The number one places to check are between the toes, the leg pits or arm pits, under the collar, and the belly if you have a very furry dog. You have to look in the crevices because you’re not going to fid it if you are not looking.”