The American dog tick is a three-host tick. While the dog is the preferred host for the adult, many other mammals are attacked. Wild animal hosts include the deer, fox, coyote, rabbit, raccoon, skunk, squirrel, woodchuck, etc. It may also be found on the shoulders of small mammals and dogs. The American dog tick is a hard tick.
Eyes are present.
Toxins injected by this tick have also produced paralysis in humans. It is a vector of the protozoan, Babesia canis , causative agent of piroplasmosis in dogs. The ADT is a common pest of dogs in many Atlantic seaboard states from southern New Hampshire south. It may parasitize dogs to emaciation or paralyze them from toxins injected by the tick. This disease has been creeping northward from the mid-Atlantic states into southern New York and New England.