Tick Remover for Bearded Collies

A standard tick hook not reaching through a Bearded Collie's coat is a really common frustration — all that dense, shaggy fur makes the usual small plastic hooks almost useless. Tell me a bit more about what happened. Were you struggling to part the coat enough to get the hook flat against the skin, or was the hook itself just too short to manoeuvre properly once you'd found the tick?

That makes complete sense. With a young Beardie who isn't going to stand still, you need something that gives you a bit more reach and control so you're not wrestling with the tool and the dog at the same time. Is he generally fine once you've got him settled with a treat, or does any handling around his body make him anxious?

Right, so speed and a secure grip matter as much as anything else. The tool I'd point you to is the O'Tom Tick Twister Pro — it comes with two hook sizes on a longer, pen-style handle rather than the short flat hooks you've been using. The longer handle means you can hold the fur back with one hand and still have proper leverage with the other without your fingers getting in the way. The twisting action is smooth enough that once you've got it seated correctly it takes just a few rotations, so the whole removal is genuinely faster than trying to lever a standard hook through thick fur. It's widely available on Amazon UK and costs a few pounds — worth having two sets so one lives in your first aid kit and one goes in the car or your walking bag.

The aftercare is the same regardless of coat — check that the mouthparts haven't been left behind, clean the bite site with an antiseptic wipe, and monitor it for a few days for any redness or swelling. The coat does make that monitoring slightly harder, so it's worth making a mental note of exactly where on his body you removed it so you can part the fur and check the same spot over the following week. Keep the removed tick in a small sealed bag for a few days too, just in case your vet needs to identify it.