What do you do to keep your dog flea and tick free during the spring and summer?

You have to treat three areas to get rid of the fleas and ticks: the dog, the inside of your house and the yard. If you neglect to treat one of these areas the problem will persist. For the dog, get a topical flea/tick treatment like Frontline. Don't opt for one of the cheapy brands like BioSpot as have been known to cause seizures. Get a vet recommended, trusted brand like Advantage, K9 Advantix or Frontline. For the house, flea bombs, carpet powders and sprays all work well. Make sure you treat the dog's bedding, as well as your carpets and upholstery. Fleas lay their eggs in carpeting and uphostery so you have to stop the lifecycle there. Lastly for the yard you can get a pesticide that attaches to your hose and give the yard a good douse with that to kill the insects outside. This one has to be done the most often. . I de-flea my yard every other week during the summer because I live in a hot, damp environment (right on the beach) so fleas are BAD during the summer, but are a yearlong battle. The best thing I ever did for my flea problem was to get rid of my carpet and install hardwood floors. It makes a HUGE difference, but its not the most economical flea treatment I know of. It makes a huge difference though, and this is coming from someone with a house full of long hair dogs and a Persian.

Many people think I'm crazy when I tell them my flea/tick remedy, but I know for a fact that it works. Several years ago, I had a massive flea problem. At the time I had 7 dogs, and I was dipping them all the time, treating the house, yard- you name it. The Cocker Spaniel I had at the time literally lost all the hair on his back right above the base of his tail. To help him grow his hair back, I bought some brewers yeast & garlic tablets- it was supposed to help his coat. Still fighting the flea battle, I went and started bathing all my dogs again... when I got to Ozzie (the Cocker), he was the only dog that was flea free. I put all of my dogs on the brewers yeast and garlic, and I haven't seen a flea here in over 5 years now. My brother got a Lab a couple years ago, and I told him to put "Ed" on it. He did. My other brother (Ray) was taking care of Ed while Rob was out of town, and Ray had a massive tick problem-Ed stayed there for a week, and not one tick was on him. I made the mistake of going out in his yard and got 2 of them on me within minutes. All the dogs in my family are now on this, and no one has flea problems now. My vet thought I was totally nuts when I told him, and he really didn't believe me- so I loaded up my dogs and took them all in and told the vet to check them over- he was amazed. Not one flea, and all have incredible coats.

Ok ask the vet for a Lyme Disease Vaccine. I got one for my pup. Now we dont have to worry about that. Also I use Revolution for her. It takes care of Fleas, Ticks,and Heartworm. Its a once a month dose you put on the back of the neck. It has worked very well for us. She has never had a flea so far. Hope this Helps!

I ues to use Advantage for my dog, it takes care of feas, ticks, and worms including heart worms. You get it from the vet. It really worked and kept the dog from bringing ticks and fleas into the house to the cats. I now live in two and have a bug guy who sprays the yard once a year for fleas. I do not have that problem. I feel shampoo only kills the fleas that are on the pet at the present time and does nothing to take care of the porblem once the dog goes outside.

I buy those drops that you put between their shoulder blades and between their hips and it works wonders! We live in the country with thick woods and my dog has no ticks or fleas! They are only $5-$10 depending on how big your dog is (bigger dogs require bigger drops)

Well in my house we spray the dogs with form of tick and flee killing device. However we understand that this alone is not enough. Much like a disease my dogs have like been to the vet to get vaccinated (I think my mum handles this) and so the filthy bugs? insects? ok parasites don't get to nibble their flesh without sucking in a whole load of toxins!

yeah ticks and fleas are pretty bad around here to, i wash my dogs soaking them in the flea shampoo then when they are completely dried off i put a flea collar on them it only last for a couple of months then have to replace it. but i have also tried to stop my dogs going in long grass they seem to get the fleas that bad like u couldnt believe when going in the long grass (usually long real green moist grass) i check them for ticks regularly not much you can do to keep them off, so just have to pull them off makig sure u get the head of the tick. my sister also said other day theres a tablet all in 1 that treats worms and fleas all together but its fairly expensive she said.

You can use Frontline, Drontal any of those products. Keep the grass low and give him garlic in his food, its a great natural repellant.

We use a product called Frontline on our dogs every month. It seems to work really well. You just have to remember not to touch it for at least 30 minutes while it soaks in and you have to be sure to put it in between their shoulders so they can't reach it and lick it off. There is also a product like this called Advantix.

AS others have said, brewer's yeast and garlic mixed with their food does help. Another way to halp cut down is to place an uncut amethyst inot the water bowl. You can uaually get these at flea markets or some natural shops. I know it sounds crazy, but it does work and doesn't hurt the animals. Good luck.

Personally, I give both my dogs a once a month pill that prevents infestation of fleas, ticks, heartworm, etc. This is the only real way to prevent infestation. However, if you are looking for natural remedies, you can use a teatree oil based soap to bathe your dog on a regular basis and follow-up with a teatree oil based flea and tick powder which is available in some health food and/or pet stores. Teatree oil is very effective and naturally soothing to your dog's skin. http://www.jefferspet.com/ssc/products.asp?CID=0&mscssid=67FHXCB95N539GM0JJURWHV20UA7488B&area=dog&dept_id=890

We use Frontline Plus on both our cats and our dogs. It prevents fleas from staying on the dogs and even kills flea eggs. It also prevents ticks from attaching. It's a once a month application and we use it April-November (I live in WI, so fleas and ticks don't stick around much for the winter!) I don't use home remedies because they often don't work and a lot of the really cheap stuff you can buy at Wal-mart for flea and tick prevention often causes allergic reactions, so we pay a bit more for something safe that works!