Does Your Dog Have Fleas?

Unless your dog’s flea infestation is really bad, you likely won’t see the fleas themselves—only about 10 percent of the fleas will actually be on your dog. The rest are in your dog’s area—usually concentrated in his bed—or are in the egg or larval stage.

The White Paper Towel Flea Test

Here’s how to tell if your dog has fleas 
Take two paper towels and lay them on the counter. Using a fine-toothed flea comb like the Andis comb pictured, comb through your dog’s fur. The base of the tail or behind the ears is a good place to comb. Pluck the collected hair and debris from the comb and lay it on one of the paper towels. Dampen the other and press it on top with the hair sandwiched between. Wait a minute then separate the paper towels—if there are flecks of rust or red on the paper towel, your dog has fleas. The rust colour leaching from black specks is your dog’s blood digested by the fleas and then excreted as those black flecks.

Try the Andis Flea Comb (right). andis.com