I received a distress call from one of my clients at the grooming shop. These people have a couple of dogs and wanted my professional help with what was described to me as a "flea problem". My client wanted know how to get rid of fleas and needed a good dog flea killer.

We've all seen fleas. You know the pesky little fells, they get on your dog and make him scratch until you just want to scream. Fleas are sometimes hard to see on a dog. Fleas like to hide

• under the tummy
• near the tail
• under mats
• below the ears

Usually when someone calls complaining of fleas, it just means they have seen a flea and don't want to get the trouble started in the house. Flea spray for the house is usually a good dog flea killer.

That wasn't the case with this dog. This dog did have fleas. Lots of fleas. How to get rid of all these fleas?

I carried him into the grooming shop to give him a bath so I could see what was going on. I didn't recognize the dog and didn't think I had worked with him before. The dog I know is white this dog was nearly brown.

You will be able to see in this video when I started applying water to the dog all the blood (oh yeah, people call this "flea dirt"). Fleas were jumping! Fleas jumped from the tip of the dog's nose to his tail. Fleas were jumping into and onto the tub. Fleas were jumping on me!

• I wet the dog with water then applied flea dip to slow the jumping fleas and kill a thousand or so. I let the flea dip, an instant dog flea killer, remain on the dog for about five minutes before I started the bath.

I felt sorry for the dog and wanted to relieve some of his itching so I started the bath process with

• peroxide mix to sooth the skin. I gave the peroxide a little time to work
• applied shampoo. I had to shampoo this dog a number of times, maybe five or more before I could remove all the blood and odor.

Finally

• applied more flea dip, thoroughly covering the dog
• allowed him to air-dry

I expect these people to return in seven to 14 days for a re-dip (the dog will probably need more than one re-dip). I issue "complementary" re-dip cards for follow up care. How to get rid of fleas? This dog's owners should be at home treating everything in the house (this is a house dog), other pets, and their yard while the dog is in my shop receiving treatment.

One of my readers pointed out something I should have mentioned in this article. I don't feel any negative feelings towards this dog's owners. I feel like they are, very possibly, GOOD pet owners. You see, these people had an awful flea situation (which can happen over night), they were embarrased and upset. Even though they were ashamed they DID reach out for professional help to get the situation under control.

Ask Susan Peters Other Sites of Interest:

• Ask Susan Peters (click here)

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Flea and Tick Information (click here)

• Flea and Tick Prevention and Treatment
• Fleas In The House
• My Dog Wont Quit Scratching
• When Is Flea Season?
• Winter Flea Treatment