I have been battling this problem since June. I have a Golden Retriever who acquired ticks while at a ranch for 11 days while my husband and I were on vacation. I applied Frontline Plus on him before he went but it obviously didnt work. I probably should have clipped him so that his long hairs wouldnt become a tick trap but I was very new to this and wasnt thinking. I had never seen a tick before all of this happened.

Anyway we got him back after our vacation and started finding ticks on him from day 1. I starting doing a thorough search every night for about two weeks, finding 5-10 ticks at a time. The numbers started to reduce as the weeks went on but I made sure to keep applying the Frontline Plus for the next 2 months (until the pack was done – even though it didnt work in the first place). Around week 2 we found some in our bed. I freaked out and did a major cleaning of our room/sheets/carpet and sprayed EcoSmart Organic Pest Control everywhere that my dog goes. Ticks are at number. 2 on the list of pests on the bottle so I thought it would work. I made sure to get all the cracks, carpet, etc of where my dog lays.

About a month ago I started noticing teeny baby ticks crawling around on our bathroom tile (my dog usually sleeps on the tile at night since its cool). I freaked AGAIN at the thought of my house being taken over by these things. My husband brought out some Bayer heavy duty pest control and got the entire house.

Shortly after that I clipped his entire body and got Adams Plus Flea and Tick dip and started soaking him once a week. I also got tea tree oil and have been dripping some on his collar every week or so (since I read that helps repel them) By this point the amounts and sizes were definitely getting smaller.

As of early this week I hadnt seen a full grown tick in weeks and I was only finding a couple little ones on him MAYBE during my searches. I thought I had this thing licked…I definitely thought wrong.

Two days ago my husband found a full grown set (male and female)…yesterday I found about 5 or 6 full grown. Today I did a thorough search and found like 15!? and one dropped off while I was searching and it was super swollen (the biggest I’ve seen yet) and now he’s got a sore from where it was latched for so long.

I am just so frustrated and angry. My next step is to get another 3 months of Frontline Plus (since the last time I applied was late July so maybe it does work?!), a tick collar, continue with the weekly dips, thorough cleaning of my house every week…anything else??

Side note: I’ve tried to give him garlic but he hates the stuff. He is an ‘oh so pleasing’ golden so he really tries to eat it because he knows I want him to but he just cant do it. I also did a mini experiment to see if we had them infested in our yard by taking a white pillowcase and dragging it along every inch of the grass to see if any would catch. Didnt find a single one…so they’ve got to just be in my house right?

Hey all, I’m looking for a good (and preferably cheap) way to treat my yard for fleas. My poor dog keeps getting re-infested despite applying monthly flea control. I know it’s not the house because I have all wood and tile, and every time I treat her I sweep and mop the floors, vacuum all furniture, wash her bedding, wash MY bedding, etc.

I think the fleas may be coming from my yard, since we have a lot of squirrels and I know they are notorious fleabags. Short of cutting down all of my trees and erecting a 6 foot electric fence, though, I don’t see how I can keep the squirrels out. So instead, I’m looking for a way to kill any fleas that might be living in the yard, waiting to accost my dog when she goes outside.

All suggestions are welcome, but I’m looking in particular for something that won’t break the bank, and preferably something all-natural. I don’t like the idea of dousing my yard with chemicals. I have heard that salt kills fleas, but will salt also kill my grass? If it’s the dog or the grass I’ll let the grass die, it’ll grow back in the spring, but I’d rather not destroy my yard if possible.

Thanks for your help!
Roxy – Unfortunately it doesn’t snow here so we don’t really get a period of time where the fleas die off during the cold! It’s a year-round struggle.

As for your carpet, I have heard that for carpet, you can spread iodized salt over the rugs and leave it for 24 hours, then vacuum it up. It supposedly kills the fleas and their eggs. I’ve never used it before because like I said, I have no carpet here, but I’ve heard other people say it works. It’s safe and relatively cheap (they say to use a lot of salt, but you can buy it in big boxes for cheap) so maybe it’s worth a shot for you?

Oh, and I love Skin so Soft! Use it all the time.

I have found a NATUAL way to get rid of fleas!
Go to the store and buy 20 mule team borax (it’s in the soap area) sprinkle it all over on carpet, sofa, chairs, wood floors, bedding yours and pets. Then Vaccume it off.
It coats the fleas and when they hatch they are deformed and don’t live to reproduce! you have to repeat it 1 or 2x to get all eggs in the cycle.
It is a natural product w/o additives that comes from rock. (like talcum)
Then use some flea killer on your pet and that should do it!
Or use a flea comb (head lice comb) then kill the buggers with dish soap or alcohol.
Hope this helps some of you with the problem that is posted a LOT!
Thanks emhinsda for the added info.

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My boyfriend’s almost-3-year-old dog has become a maniac when he and I aren’t home. She went from scratching the carpet in front of the door to getting into the garbage, and after preventing these things from occurring again, she has now moved on to pulling things off of the kitchen counter, bookshelves, stove, bed stand, etc.

A red flag is that she is also anxious when we are at home. She paces from room to room, sits and gets up hundreds of times when we are hanging out. On more than one occasion she has chewed the fur off of her butt and tail from shear nervousness.

All of the responses talk about exercising, proper food, not making a production of leaving/returning, etc. We do all of these things, to no avail. It’s not possible to leave her outside, put her in a better room, or gate off rooms. We’ve tried these things too, which either leads to more destruction and/or isn’t practical. We’ve tried a metal crate, and she injures herself and the floor trying to get out of it.

In short, we are running out of options and are becoming more and more frustrated each day. As the weeks pass, her "outbursts" are becoming more and more destructive. She’s otherwise healthy, up to date on shots, etc.

I think we should start investigating medications, natural or prescribed, to calm her down. My boyfriend thinks its extreme and wants to try a plastic crate (she’d be in it for 9+ hours a day).
By the way, she is a shelter dog, adopted at 12 weeks. She’s allegedly a boxer/whippet mix, but I’m not so sure about that.

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Okay…I have an 8 year old, female Doberman. She has been leaking urine for a few years now! She was on meds (Proin) from her vet. Recently they stopped working. After many trips to the vet, i am being told either to deal with it, or put her to sleep. I am told there is NO other medicine that will help her! I went online & found another all natural product called "leaks no more" ~ well, it doesn’t work either! I have tried dog diapers & human diapers….but they don’t stay on, they fall off right away when she sits down & stands up! I am desperate to find something to help her!! I do NOT want to put her to sleep! I mean if my son was "leaking" in bed, I wouldn’t put him to sleep!! If anyone has any suggestions….PLEASE let me hear them!! I am already in the process of having all the carpet removed from my house (which is not even a year old), to have flooring that won’t absorb the urine & odor! So as you can tell, I am desperate!! PLEASE HELP ME & MY LOVING POOCH!!
oKAY…JUST CALLED A LOCAL ANIMAL HOSPITAL, THEY REASSURED ME THAT THERE IS OTHER OPTIONS FOR MY POOCH! SO SHE IS GOING TO A NEW VET AT 2:30 TODAY!! THANKS FOR ALL YOUR HELP!!

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