Dogs are like tick magnets.
Dog owners were more likely to be exposed to ticks*.
We ask the question: How is pet ownership related to tick prevention?
The Tick App provides lots of information about pet-ownership, outdoor activity and tick prevention. I presented Tick App enrollment survey data from 2018 at the Conference of the World Association for the Advancement of Veterinary Parasitology in the summer of 2019, showing that pet ownership and tick prevention on self was related, as was tick prevention on self and on a pet.
However, correlation is not causation. This year, a MPH student and I are recruiting new-pet owners in Wisconsin to evaluate this question. Let us know if you are interested!