Wasps attacking my dog.

karen paul

Two days in a row now my dog has been stung by a wasp, totally unprovoked, she was just walking at the side of me. This wasn't in my garden, it was in 2 different very local locations. First on one eyebrow, and also got her paw (must have hurt, she was limping badly)as she tried to swipe it off and then today she got stung on the other eyebrow which swelled up and the sting is stuck in (I know bees lose their stinger but not usually wasps, but it was definitely a wasp, it tried to land on my son's tshirt) These were tiny wasps (I even thought it was just a big grass seed stuck to her brow at first) and alone, no apparent nest nearby. Why would they attack her for no apparent reason? She wasn't even sniffing at anything to annoy them. Being a Rottweiler she does have little brown eyebrows but it seems ludicrous that they would mistake them for something purely on colour surely? Her face seems a little better now but she won't let us get the stinger out. I'm afraid of it keep happening, I've a good mind to put some tape over her brows, lol. Can anybody shed any light?

karen paul

Just to show you what I mean about her little eyebrows Why would a wasp want to attack those?

Purplerain

She is a lovely girl. I have been stung for no reason too. I use ant powder to stop them building nests. Could you smear something like Vic on her? That contains Thymol and should deter them.

RaspberryKiller

Wasps dislike Eucalyptus and Peppermint, so perhaps rubbing some oil on the collar might help? Doubt that should cause her any discomfort.

DyersEnd

If it was a small wasp it may have been a european wasp. They are very aggressive and persistent.  I had a nest in my dalek compost bin a couple of years ago and I couldn't go anywhere near it or I'd get stung. I got rid of the bin when they'd gone.

debs64

Perhaps Brexit will solve the problem I find it's a European wasp? 
On a serious note what about a drop of tea tree oil or citronella if you could safely massage that into her fur? 

Posy

The wasps perceive the dog as a potential threat and attack to drive her away. I have never heard of any selecting the eye area but the head is vulnerable, so perhaps they do. It's really difficult to avoid them until you know where they are but you have to be very watchful at this time of year.

Dovefromabove

I've no idea what a wasp's vision is like, but perhaps they see the 'orange' eyebrows as an invading wasp? 

kathie51d

Just what I was thinking Dove, they do look a lot like little orangey bees. We had a wasp nest last month in the brick mortar by the front door, very aggressive and would chase you, could hear tapping and a hum in the dining room wall, made one feel very itchy. Got the pest people in, nice man turns up to look, gets chased across the garden, asks for his £50 goes to van, returns looking like an alien invasion. It took about 3 minutes to spray the holes, I should not laugh but £50 was worth watching him dance and run across the garden banging his head and shoulders and trying to get his head gear off, last seen running to his van. Obviously he had a gap in his suit and mean wasp got in. Anyway he’s ok and the wasps have gone and OH plugged every hole in the mortar he could find. Why are wasps on this earth I believe they have no value in the scheme of things whatsoever.

Fire

"Why are wasps on this earth I believe they have no value in the scheme of things whatsoever."

I'm sure they feel the same about us. They might be right.

karen paul

Thankyou for all your comments and ideas. I'll give peppermint a try first I think as I have some vaporub somewhere and i'll rub it on top of her head. Apart from anything else I suppose she's going to smell nice Kathie51d, it must have been very funny seeing the pest control man do a 'wasp dance', I once saw a man trying to defend his picnic-ing family from one, doing high kicks, throwing lots of shapes, lol. It did look very comical. Maybe that's what wasps exist for-to keep us nimble! Lol. Thanks again everyone.