Best tick collar for Irish Wolfhound

Three ticks in a short period is a real flag — your vet is right to push for something more consistent than spot-ons alone. For a dog that size, a collar makes a lot of sense because it provides continuous protection rather than relying on monthly top-ups. The key thing with Irish Wolfhounds is making sure you're using a product rated for large or giant breeds — dosing and collar length both matter. Can I ask: is he picking up ticks mainly on walks in woodland or grassland, and has he had any skin sensitivities or reactions to flea and tick products in the past?

That's exactly the profile where a collar outperforms a spot-on — woodland and dense undergrowth means frequent high-exposure contact, and if you're not hitting every four-week window with a spot-on, there are gaps. A collar just sits there doing its job. What's his weight roughly? Irish Wolfhounds vary a lot — anywhere from 50kg to over 70kg — and I want to make sure the recommendation fits him properly.

Perfect, that's well within range for the large dog version of the Seresto collar by Elanco — that's my clear recommendation here. It's the collar your vet almost certainly had in mind: it's been through proper clinical trials, it's the most widely vet-recommended collar in the UK, and it works via slow-release imidacloprid and flumethrin which repels and kills ticks on contact before they have a chance to attach and feed. For a woodland dog getting regular tick exposure, the eight-month duration is a genuine advantage — no monthly admin, no gaps. It fits necks up to 70cm, so you'll want to measure his neck before ordering to confirm, but a 60kg Wolfhound will almost certainly fit the large version.

The Seresto collar covers fleas as well as ticks — imidacloprid is a flea active — so in most cases you won't need a separate flea product at all once it's on. If you do want to use an additional product for any reason, check with your vet first, but for the majority of dogs the collar handles both. One practical note: put it on snugly but with two fingers of slack, and give it two to three days to reach full distribution across his coat before his next big woodland walk.

Good call — it should make a real difference for him. Just check the neck measurement before it arrives so you're not waiting if you need to exchange sizes. Given he's been picking up ticks regularly, it's also worth doing a quick check after every woodland walk for the first few weeks even with the collar on, just to see how well it's working for him. Should be a much calmer tick season once it's settled in.