Brian,
A friend of mine trains English Springers professionally. I have spent years working with him two or three times a week. There are a couple dozen dogs in the kennel at any given time and unfortunatly here in NJ we have more ticks than we know what to do with. We keep Frontline Top Spot on all of the dogs Year round but ticks can still get on the dogs. When they do we simply pull the tick off. We would need to live at the vet if we went there every time a dog got a tick. I have not ever seen any serious infection from leaving part of the tick behind. That is not to say that you will not have a small skin sore that it would be wise to keep an eye on. A topical antibiotic should prevent any serious skin problem. Pull the tick low and close to the skin , use tweezers if it helps. You may want to comb thru the dogs coat with a tick comb to try and get any remaining ticks off before they latch on. A tough job on a Springer. I personally recomend that you vaccinate agains lyme and use tick repellents in the future. Use the tick comb after each hunt will prevent bites before they occur.
Bill G.
