Tick species identification

Brown dog tick

What to look for

Uniform reddish-brown without ornate markings; has a narrow, elongated body and is strongly associated with dogs and kennels.

Brown dog tick photo

Compare more than color alone. Sex, life stage, feeding, angle, and lighting can change what the markings look like.

Non-engorged adult brown dog tick with a reddish-brown body on a green stem — Adult. Reddish-brown without the ornate pale markings of an American dog tick. Resized and converted to WebP. Photo: @dineshphotography7797, CC BY 4.0.

Known disease associations

— Rocky Mountain spotted fever in parts of the southwestern United States and Mexico

Finding this species does not mean the tick carried a pathogen or that transmission occurred.

Photos need context

Feeding, life stage, image angle, and damage can change how a tick looks. A useful identification weighs several visible traits together and states uncertainty when the photo does not show enough detail.

Found one on a pet? Follow the dog tick removal, check, and encounter-record guide.

References: CDC tick information.