Flea Control for Dogs

In order to best eradicate fleas from your dog and home you must first understand the flea and its habitat and needs. The flea thrives in warm, dry climates. Wet, damp climates have less fleas. Keeping the area around your home damp during the warmest months will help cut down on the flea population. Fleas don't like it wet and cold so if you live in an area that is wet and cold most of the year then your flea population will be limited to the hottest and driest months of your area.

California is known to have a rampant flea population most of the year. They even have a few place names that were named after fleas, like Alameda De Las Polgas, "Avenue of the Fleas", which is a road on the San Fransisco peninsula.

Since fleas don't like moisture the first line of defense for your dog is simply to give it a bath. Even letting your dog take a daily dip in the lake everyday will help keep fleas under control. Not everyone would be willing to wash or wet down their dog everyday so other forms of flea control would be necessary. Some people would even take offense to the idea of daily bathing of a dog. Those people have not talked to a vet or even a professional dog groomer before becoming unglued at the notion of bathing a dog more frequently than once a month. I have several working dogs that often need a bath after their "jobs" each day of traveling through creeks, mud and dust. So take it from me the dog and their skin will not suffer from bathing - do you?

After bathing you can spray the dog down with a good quality flea spray like Adams flea control and the product will work for about a week killing and repelling fleas. Letting the dog get wet again will of course wash off the spray. I prefer the spot on types of flea control like Frontline or Advantage. If you use those types of products then just be aware that they come color coded to match the weight of the dog it is used on. For example blue Advantage is for dogs that weigh 50 lbs and up. They have other colors for smaller and bigger dogs. Frontline is the same way. The spot on products will last for about 20-30 days and will also attract fleas that are not on your pet to your pet and kill them too. Those products too can be washed off unless you get the type that is resistant to water.

To get your flea problems under control you must always be on top of the situation from the beginning of the flea season in your area.