You apply Frontline to the back of the neck, parting the fur so that it soaks into the skin. It's a small amount and it all gets absorbed pretty much in a minute. If you have concerns about the dogs licking each other, you could put a bandanna over the application for the day.

Frontline is the best.

Honestly, those herbal things do nothing, same with the collars and the sprays. and frankly, all of those things have chemicals in them.

You might as well not do anything if you're going to use the herbal things (not trying to be snarky, just realistic).

I don't know how much your dogs lick each other, but you could always keep them apart for a few hours after applying. After that it soaks into their skin. My dogs lick their paws, legs, and they've never had an issue with toxicity.

but if you want to avoid ticks, Frontline is really the most effective way.

Anonymous wrote:We use Frontline, and no, it is not toxic to the dog. You can get it at Costco for a bit cheaper, but it does truly work.

A small deer tick is very difficult to spot until it has grown. At that point, the possibility of lyme disease increases as they have probably been attached for over 24 hours.

Vaccinate your dog against lyme and get Frontline. They dry up and fall off. We live in a very wooded area with many deer and Frontline works great.

I agree. I was leery of Frontline and tried various alternatives but my dog developed Lyme disease (asymptomatic but Lyme nonetheless) and had a miserable course of antibiotics for a month.

My naturopathic doctor uses Frontline (which says a lot). After my dog's month of antibiotics I put her on Frontline and have not found a single tick since.

We use Frontline, and no, it is not toxic to the dog. You can get it at Costco for a bit cheaper, but it does truly work.

A small deer tick is very difficult to spot until it has grown. At that point, the possibility of lyme disease increases as they have probably been attached for over 24 hours.

Vaccinate your dog against lyme and get Frontline. They dry up and fall off. We live in a very wooded area with many deer and Frontline works great.

We use one of those herbal thingies. It could very well be that those are less effective but I worry about Frontline being toxic when the dogs ingest it (by cleaning each other...).

Anonymous wrote:Yes, we use a flea preventative, a tick collar and a spray to keep those biests at bay.... Which makes it even stranger that the dogs get any ticks at all!

That also makes us wonder whether it's possible that the ticks are already bloated before getting onto our dog? They're usually loose and not attatched to the dog when we find them. Is it possible that they never actually bite the dog and only crawl around there once they're already full?

hmmm, I don't think ticks are very mobile once they're engorged, so I would assume that they are biting the dog. But I'm not a tick expert.

I thought ticks were kind of out of control last summer. But honestly, I was having more of a problem with my partner and I picking them up while doing yard work.

Which preventative do you use? We use Frontline (I think it's actually Frontline plus). And I think, personally, it's the most effective. I don't think the collars work well. Same with the spray.

Some of the other preventatives only prevent fleas. If you don't use Frontline, maybe you should ditch the collar and spray, switch to Frontline for a month and see if that works. It's expensive for multiple dogs (that is why I suggest not getting the collar and spray, to save some money). If it is cost-prohibitive, just use Frontline from spring until fall and then use a less expensive preventative in the winter.

But my best advice is to try Frontline. I have two large dogs who go outside *a lot*, run through all kinds of bushes/flowers/grass, and last year, when ticks were horrible, the main problem I had was finding them on my partner after he mowed the lawn. I even actually joked that I was going to start putting Frontline on him... Too bad it's not approved for use on humans.

And no, I don't work from nor do I profit off of Frontline. But I do really, really, really dislike ticks...

Yes, we use a flea preventative, a tick collar and a spray to keep those biests at bay.... Which makes it even stranger that the dogs get any ticks at all!

That also makes us wonder whether it's possible that the ticks are already bloated before getting onto our dog? They're usually loose and not attatched to the dog when we find them. Is it possible that they never actually bite the dog and only crawl around there once they're already full?

Are you using a monthly flea preventative that also prevents ticks?

It really does work wonders.

Calling out to the dog people!

We have three dogs and this year especially we're having a huge issue with ticks.

The two smaller (and older) dogs usually "only" bring home a tick or two every month, which isn't that weird. But the youngest who's also the largest is FULL of ticks. He carries at least three ticks home every day!

What makes us wonder most though is not how many there are - we're fully aware that the youngest likes to run in high grass and is very susceptible to the parasites - but how many of them go unnoticed!

We do a full tick check every morning, evening and after each walk and we also wash and disinfect their rugs and pillows frequently. The dogs are also trimmed, so despite the dark fur it shouldn't be that hard to detect smaller ticks. However it happens more often than not that the ticks are already completely bloated and falling off by the time we find them! No matter how thorough we check (which is very thorough, we check ALL the hiding spots), we're sure there are no ticks on their bodies and from one moment to the next completely full ones fall off them.

So our question is: shouldn't we be able to spot the ticks before they get that big? Is it really possible for them to grow in a matter of a few hours tops?!

Somebody please enlighten us on how the life cycle of these annoying little parasites works so that we can get an idea of how to notice them in advance and what we're doing wrong for them to actually have a chance to get that large!

Thanks!!! We really appreciate any and all insight!