A quick way to rid your dog or puppy of fleas is cheap and simple — blue Dawn dishwashing soap works wonders. Use the old version of Dawn that doesn’t have the extra cleaning ingredients — just plain old blue version of Dawn.

Gently get the animal wet, apply a small amount of Dawn, lather into suds, then rinse off and towel dry. The soap traps the fleas and kills them while this version of Dawn is gentle enough to not irritate most dogs’ skin. There may be many dead fleas in your tub/sink/baby pool — that will show it was effective. Most dogs enjoy a gentle fluffing with a towel afterward — try not to let them mouth-play or chew on any towels or you will have trouble breaking that habit later. I use an old plastic baby pool when treating animals and puppies I have found/rescued.

After this, I take them for a check up at my vet where I am usually prescribed a quick-killing pill (like Capstar) to finish off any fleas that survived the Dawn bath, and I start them on a long term prevention program. Ask your vet which prevention methods work best for your locale — Bravecto and Seresto collars work great in my area of the US. You can buy Capstar from WalMart and get the collars from any pet store if you want to skip the vet (I do not recommend skipping the vet if this is a stray or new-to-you animal as it is best to get them checked and vaccinated before exposing your current animals to them). Bravecto will need a prescription. I do not recommend any other flea collar except Seresto as the others have never worked well for my pets, and I only buy the collars from my vet or via a large pet store like PetSmart.

Happy Dogging!