Hi,
Because of the quantity of flies you're describing, be wary of something called fly strike, especially if your dog gets sick at all or has diarrhea.
My dog growing up was a 13 year old Airedale terrier, we kept her trimmed down during the summer, but one summer about two years before she passed on, she got really really sick - we took her to the vet and she was on meds.
We cleaned her thoroughly after every time she made a mess but it still wasn't enough.
She got fly strike.
Fly strike occurs when flies are attracted to sick/dirty/dying or slow (too slow to avoid or bite the flies away) animals, the flies lay their eggs in the dogs fur. When the maggots hatch, at first they just eat whatever dirt they find in the fur (feces, debris that gets caught, old skin etc) eventually though, they start attacking the dog. It is very hard to see them in dogs with thick fur, you have to dig down past the surface layer.
With our Airedale, she had a traditional Airedale trim - longer fur on the hind legs - and we didn't see them at first.
To make a long story short, we ended up with her at the vets, on a strong dose of antibiotics and her butt was trimmed right down. The vet did not have knowledge of fly strike in dogs until my mum who had researched it, told her about it.
We found out after the vet did more research that we were lucky to have caught it so soon, as often there is the potential for the maggots to enter the dogs body and travel along the spine under the skin - causing paralysis/death.
Because we were not informed of this hazard for long fur dogs, I think it is very important for dog owners to know that this can happen - especially during periods of large populations of flies.
Don't panic or anything! (sorry for the dramatic story!)
Just keep an eye on your dogs health and check it's fur once in a while - especially when sick.
Blue
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