I adopted my Golden Retriever, Sandy, in March 1999, from the local Humane Society, at the age of approx. 6 or 7 mos. When he came home, he brought ticks with him. I don't know why they didn't find them on him. Not well versed in ticks at the time, I just picked them off and bathed him.

Three weeks later he was very depressed looking, started vomiting and was running a high fever. The vet said he had gotten a disease from ticks. He was medicated, cuddled a lot, and got well after several days.

Right after we got him my mother became very ill. We then had to keep him in the yard because the situation became grave and because my mother was at home, she had to be the priority. Sadly, she passed away two months after we got him. With our home situation so intense, my only respite during that time was to sit out in the yard with Sandy on a lawn lounge chair and love him up.

On occasion I would find a few other ones on him. Not realizing the result of just a few, my yard suddenly became a raging tick factory, and I ended up spraying him all the time. Being on a oral preventitive and picking them off did no good, the problem had become too big. By the next day he would be covered again.

Luckily, our kitty Jasper never got any, nor did they get into the house.

After being in the yard, I would have to check myself. Often I would feel a little tickle as they crawled around on me. Yikes! Only once did one attach on, after we had been doing yard work. It didn't freak me out much because when you live in Hawaii, you get used to bugs of all kinds.

The two month period gave the ticks a good head start. About the same time my next door neighbor complained about a massive invasion of ticks too and I feared it had probably come from my yard. She hired a professional exterminator.

Other neighbors complained of the terrible summer of ticks too. I felt reassured they didn't all come from me when one day at the park near my house, a man, two kids and two dogs got out of a car. One a lab mix and one a small Golden Retriever mix. The dogs came running up to me, friendly as anything, and I petted them. Feeling bumpies on them both, I checked and they too were covered in ticks, many big FULL ones. The owner knew about the ticks, said they were hard to get rid of, and that they were from a distant neighborhood. Whew! Not guilty this time. So glad my pup was at the beach with my son. I felt sorry for those two dogs. Ever see a really big and full tick with little babies piggybacking on its back? Well I did.

We de-ticked Sandy and started keeping him in the house. We got tick yard spray from the vet, using a hose sprayer on the whole back yard. At the recommended time we resprayed. We would occasionally find one, but after the last spray we never had another problem. Last summer was almost tick free, as it is now. My dogs are on the oral preventitive Frontline, and the occasional tick is usually after a visit somewhere else.

I wish you lots of luck in getting rid of them. It takes a lot of work but is worth it when they're gone.

***P.S. Thanks Logan for the link to the Golden Retriever site. Don't remember which question you posted it on. My youngest son complained that I was online too much this weekend. They all think I have gone doggone nuts. They're right! Thanks again. ***