Diatomaceous Earth(food grade)and Neem oil. Use it according to directions on both and you'll find you most likely won't need anything else.

Doesn't Advantage and Frontline Plus take care of it, with application between the shoulders?

I also vote for Frontline +. I rarely find ticks on my dogs & if I do, they're dead. Never find fleas, on them or in the house.

I wholeheartedly agree with cindyxeus. We have had tremendous results with diatomaceous earth. We live in an area extremely prone to terrible flea infestations, and nothing has come remotely close to being as effective as DE.

As cindy mentioned, it is very important to get food grade. Pool grade is ineffective against fleas, but even more important, it is very dangerous. Food grade DE is completely non-toxic and will keep fleas away for years. It is challenging to apply it properly, but if you do, it will be effective. Applying properly requires tedious work on your hands and knees to get it everywhere. For a treatment that is very effective and completely safe for your pets and family, DE can't be beat.

holligator, while I agree that diatomaceous earth applied properly and with safety precautions in [lace is highly effective it is not without ingerent dangers. DE inhaled can cause serious and prolonged resperatory problems which are hard to control and less likely to cure. ALWAYS wear a mask when applying DE and make certain your pet does not inhale it either.

Hands and knees? Please explain. I've used DE for decades and never got on hands and knees to apply it. I've just sprinkled it on the carpet from my hands, or from the box. Just don't breathe it in while it's airborne. Best to shoo the critters into another room while applying. No biggie!

I like DE for flea control especially out in the yard, but have found it completely useless against ticks, which carry diseases such as lyme disease, ehlrichia, rocky mountain spotted fever, and babesia. I have hard surface flooring (no carpet) so DE in the house is not practical for me.

For ticks I have been so far lucky with Frontline Plus on a monthly basis, but in this area we have been seeing some resistance. I may have to add the PrevenTic collar which is amitraz for when we walk in more tick-infested areas. I don't particularly like that idea because amitraz is not without side effects, but since I will only have the collars on for a short time it shouldn't cause a problem unless I do something stupid like mix it with other medications (certain antidepressants especially). You also have to be careful about accidental ingestion with kids and other pets if that applies to you. But I may have to do it of the ticks keep winning against the Frontline.

Foodgrade DE is something to use for control to get rid of existing tics/ fleas on your dog and or in any area in which the dog is kept. It is not a preventive days after application on the dog, and it needs to be re-applied to outside areas after heavy rainstorms, grass watering etc. It's something I keep around all the time and I even take it with me when we go camping, as well as a fresh application prior to any vet office visits. The safe way to use DE is to always wear a face mask yourself and when putting it on the dog use an Elizabethian collar ( for the dog..LOL) will keep the dust from going near the dogs face.
Honestly I have many breeder friends as well as rescue foster homes that use DE for entire kennels and swear by it. You just need to know exactly what it does and how to apply-reapply to make it capable of doing it's intended job. It's also a good de-wormer BTW for anyone who didn't know that.
However it's not a prevenative that you can apply once a month and it will keep the dog from getting tics or fleas in non treated areas. It's a joint effort in keeping the dogs out of infested areas while keeping the area it is kept in flea and tic free.

mazer, yes, as with any dust particles that size, inhaling can be irritating to the lungs. Wearing a mask when applying it is a good precaution to prevent this. However, food grade DE poses no more danger than any other household dust and far less danger than most toxic flea treatments. Pool grade DE is extremely dangerous to inhale, because the crystalline silica produced by the process to make it filter-ready can do serious lung damage. Also, the same process that makes pool-grade DE useful for pools, makes it useless against fleas, so it's very important to get the right kind.

oceanna, the "hands and knees" suggestion is for treating a flea infestation. In every instance where someone has told me that DE didn't work on their flea problem, a bit of probing revealed that their application consisted of a sprinkling much like what you might do with some carpet freshener. DE works via contact with the fleas, so careful application to ensure that there are no areas where fleas can escape the DE is important. I find that the easiest way to get complete coverage is getting on my hands and knees. When others have followed this advice, they have had pretty close to 100% success. It may not be essential, but it does ensure that it will work.

The first time I used DE was about 20 years ago, when I moved into a house with a horrible flea infestation. The first time I walked in, no less than 100 fleas jumped onto my white socks. I did, in fact, get on my hands and knees and sprinkled about one square foot of carpet at a time. I then scrubbed the powder into the carpet with a scrub brush to ensure it didn't get tracked away or vacuumed up right away. Despite being surrounded by homes with flea-ridden dogs and yards, I never had to reapply the DE in the six years I lived in that house.

cindyxeus, I have not had to reapply nearly as frequently as you have. In fact, the only area inside that I have ever re-treated was on and around the dogs' bedding. Outside, I have reapplied about once per year. To clarify, I was under the impression for a long time that becoming wet rendered DE ineffective. I was wrong. Well, it only makes it ineffective until it dries again. In fact, many folks use a water/DE mixture to spray outside to get a more even distribution. A hard rain will wash it away or concentrate it in certain areas, so it may need to be reapplied under those circumstances.

meghane, my current house has almost no carpeting, but I have successfully used DE on my hardwood floors. The process is just a little different. Rather than scrubbing to get the powder down into the carpet, you have to sweep it into the cracks between the boards. Of course, all area rugs can be treated just like any other carpet. I have only needed to use it once in the 11 years we have been in this house.

Finally, I have had great success using DE for ticks, as well as fleas, but it did require treating the yard pretty thoroughly.

cindyxeus, I have not had to reapply nearly as frequently as you have

Hi hollygator...yes I do use it more here as I live in the sticks surrounded by wetlands and have all kinds of wildlife on my back yard daily so I make sure the kennel area has a very good perimeter of DE applied at all times.

Nematodes are also effective against fleas in your yard. They're small worms that will eat larva and eggs without toxins.

Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.beyondfleas.com/natural-flea-control