Tucker visit and request

At the end of May we had a visit from Lisa and Tom with Tucker. Tucker is from Casper and Blottie's litter of nine little Blenheim pups born March 2019.
Whilst on the visit we spoke about the last two litters leaving us and starting up a WhatsApp group for each litter. Lisa mentioned that she would be interested in being in contact with Tucker's litter siblings or even any Poundlane pup past or present. Maybe even one day having some sort of get together. Lisa lives in the London area. So if anyone who has one of our dogs, would be interested in getting in contact with Lisa drop me a line first at [email protected] and I will get you in contact with each other. 

"Hi Jane,
How are you?
It was lovely to get to stop by during our holiday. My thanks to you and your family for hosting us, and for the scone and tea.
We enjoyed the rest of our time in the area, visiting Heddon's Mouth / Woody Bay, walking around the area by the Tarr Steps, and the woods near the cottage we stayed at by Minehead.
The only downer to our otherwise pleasant holiday was having to remove ticks from Tucker's coat during and after our walks. Luckily he's good at tolerating us fussing over him to check we've got them all. The vast majority were removed before they could bite, but they did get him a few times (all removed within a short time, I think, so hopefully minimal risk).
I am curious to know what you think the best removal method is, as there seems to be quite the debate about twisting them versus a slow and steady pull on the attachment point? We have some specialised tweezers that work well.
Also curious if you, or anyone with a Poundlane dog, has had particular success with any given anti-tick treatment? We use NexGard Spectra every month, but clearly that didn't work as any sort of repellant. We tried a Soresto collar when Tucker was a teen, but it irritated him so we stopped after a month or two.
Hopefully back in London now, it won't be as much of an issue, though we do countryside walks on the weekend. It'd be helpful to know your thoughts, and anyone else's if they've had a good experience with a particular product or strategy.
Thank you again for making time for us during your weekend. (And I do hope the grass is already growing back!)
Best wishes,
Lisa, Tom and Tucker"

"Hello Lisa,
It was really good to see you both and catch up with you and Tucker. He is a lovely dog and I was pleased to see how he has developed into a nicely balanced spaniel structurally. 
Have attached a photo (taken from the internet) of the tool I have found best for removing ticks. I find the twisting method less likely to leave the head of the tick still in the dog, even with the smallest ticks you might find attached. A vet gave me a couple of these hooks several years ago.
As for best treatments to put on your dog to stop ticks. Unfortunately, the more effective treatments often are more likely to cause a reaction because these are pesticides we are putting on our pets, most are pesticides that started off being used to control pest infestations on crops and are now banned for that use. 
Whatever you use, if you take a dog into long grass etc in times when there are a lot of ticks around. They are going to get a few ticks on them. That will mostly either jump off or die in a few hours after getting on a dog that is treated. Nothing instantly kills them. The level of pesticide you would have to put on your dog to discourage ticks totally would not be good for the dog. 
A more gentler way of trying to stop ticks alighting on your dog can be by using things that the smell of them is known to be repellent to ticks. Lavender, peppermint, citronella, lemongrass, cedar, rose geranium and citrus have all been shown to be repellent to ticks. You can get most of these in a spray form, which you can either spray on a cloth and rub over Tucker or directly spray him before you go for a walk in an area you know he is likely to pick ticks up from. Also using a dog shampoo with one or more of these natural repellants in them might help.
Might be an idea to invest in a human nit comb. They are ideal for running over a dog after a walk to remove any unwanted passengers before they get attached.
Hope this is of some help.
Kind regards
Jane"

Hook for removing ticks