Lupe's second season backpacking

Our 2 year border collie "graduated" to carrying her own pack this year. At first we put her dog food inside, then because she loves to swim so much, we had to instead load her pack with stuff that could get wet - mainly our water-crossing shoes. Although heavy, we brought her brush this time, and were really happy with that. A good grooming before getting inside the tent really kept it cleaner.

One unexpected problem we had were black flies. We happened to camp exactly during the short black fly hatch. She is a black haired dog, with thick fur- all we noticed was that black flies were on the tent ceiling and when squished they were full of blood. We finally looked under her fur and the poor dog had nearly a hundred black fly bites. The ones under her arms were getting raw due to the pack rubbing. We confined her to the tent but she would not eat. We left next morning and were out of black flies, and from then on she was fine.

Do any of you who live in black fly country know how to protect a dog from black flies?

Lupe's just beautiful W_D.

I really want to take one of my dogs with me this year. Just me and the dog. Annie and Rubie are both great dogs and they're ready now.

I just vaguely remember running into black flies out there. I'm sorry, I really can't offer anything positive to help with that.

You might a bug repellant like BioUD. I know it's safe for pets, and it should work on those flies, but I don't know anyone who's tried it.

There's a product that popped up a few years ago around here - made locally and within a very short time the whole area swears by it for warding off gnats. It isn't as effective with mosquitoes, but also somewhat works on them.

Don't know if it would work for black flies, but it is safe for dogs and I 100% recommend trying some.

http://simplysoothing.net/bug-soother/bug-soother-product/

I do know (from my own experience as well as careful label reading) that flies are not affected by permethrin, so K9 Advantix treatments won't help with those, although they do help with mosquitoes and work well for ticks.

The one time I had a really bad black fly experience was car-camping in Michigan's Porcupine Mountains in mid-June. It was a hot day, and the flies came in clouds! I finally put Hysson in the car, headed for the highway, drove fast with the windows open for 10-15 minutes to blow out the flies, then closed up, put on the A/C and didn't return to camp until dark. We left at dawn the next morning and didn't stop for the night until Fargo, ND.

I understand that there are repellents (not DEET) that will work specifically for biting flies, but make sure they are safe for dogs. Most repellents can only be used on places that the dog can't reach with her tongue, which severely limits their effectiveness. Talk to your veterinarian and read the labels. Please, let us know what works!