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The most common canine pest, the flea, is actually a remarkable being of adaptability that would be much admired if they weren't so pesky. Since they often carry tapeworms, can cause extreme severe itching and allergies, often bite humans, and because of their jumping and survival talents are reviled instead of revered.

An adult flea mates shortly after emergence and begins laying eggs within 36 hours. In her brief 50-day lifespan, a single female flea can lay more than 2000 eggs. Female fleas need blood to complete their reproductive cycle. Baby fleas need blood to grow. Although fleas prefer dog and cat blood, human blood will do in a pinch.

The female lays eggs on the host animal, but the eggs fall to the ground, carpet, sofa, dog bed, owner's bed, or easy chair where they hatch in two-to-five days. The flea larva feeds on organic debris in the environment. Within a week or two, depending on temperature and humidity, the larva spins a pupa (or cocoon) to protect it during metamorphosis to the adulthood.

In the hard-shelled pupa, the larva transforms from a tiny maggot-like creature into a six-legged blood-thirsty super-jumper able to leap 100 times its own height, and the cycle begins anew.

Humidity is critical to flea survival. Eggs need relative humidity of 70-75 percent to hatch, and larvae need at least 50 percent humidity to survive. In humid areas, about 20 percent of the eggs survive to adulthood; in arid areas, less than five percent complete the cycle.

If your dog scratches, he may have been bitten, but he may also have dry skin, an allergy, or mange mites. If he bites at his rear end especially around his tail or the inside or outside of his thighs, fleas are a possibility.

Flea dirt looks like sprinkled pepper on the dog. If you drop some of this "pepper" onto a damp paper towel and it turns reddish, it's fleas, not seasoning.

Treatment

Dog owners have access to a variety of flea control products from herbs and electronics to biological controls. Powerful chemicals and systemic insecticides seem to be on the way out. The systemic insecticides can build to toxic levels in the dog if not used extremely carefully. Some products repel fleas, some kill adult fleas, some kill larva or eggs, and some prevent fleas from growing and reproducing.

Garlic and brewer's yeast are popular flea repellents with the natural crowd, but there are no tests that indicate these diet supplements are effective. Many dog owners believe they work, however.

Electronic flea traps are sometimes used to attract and kill the pests before they attack the dog, but they do nothing about fleas in the yard or flea eggs or larvae in the house.

Flea collars have mixed results depending on the chemical involved, the size of the dog, and the density of the dog's coat.

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