Review on Seresto Flea And Tick Collar For Large Dogs (Over 18 Pounds) - 8-Month Protection, 1 Pack by Keith Barra

I live in an extremely rural area in the south and during the spring and summer it gets very hot and very buggy here. For the past couple of seasons, we have had a really bad flea problem. The ticks haven't been as bad as I have seen them but the fleas have been awful. I currently have two dogs and two cats. My dogs, both rescues, are very large dogs. One is a 90lb German Shepherd Dog and the other is a 160 lb Golden Retriever/Leonberger mix. My German Shepherd Dog has a severe flea allergy and has been struggling with hair loss and extremely itchy skin because of the high flea population we've had the past couple of years triggering his allergies. I tried everything: natural flea killing remedies for inside the house and treating my lawn to help minimize the chance of one of the little buggers hitching a ride on him when he goes outside. I have him on just about every flea pill I can think of from my vet. Comfortis did OK during the winter and late fall/early spring. Once the season got into high gear, it didn't seem to make much of a dent into the fleas. Same with Trifexis. Frontline worked about as well as the others. Between flea and heartworm meds, I was spending $100 a month of preventative care for just my two dogs. Having used Advantage about 10 years or so back on another dog I had at the time when we had another serious flea year I thought I'd give it a try again.I had read about the Seresto collar and how it would take care of fleas and ticks for 8 months and since Advantage had worked for me in the past I thought it was definitely something I should be looking into. I couldn't buy it at my local vet as they don't carry it so I turned to amazon. I read through the reviews and liked what I was seeing. I ordered one of the collars and impatiently awaited its arrival.As soon as the mail carrier put it in the box I was on it and put it on my German Shepherd Dog since he is most severely affected by the fleas. Because of his size, I didn't even bother trimming the end of the collar. One of the reviews mentioned about a 10 day period for the collar to really start to work but my experience with it is a little different. I started seeing dead fleas later the same day I put the collar on the dog. The flea problem had gotten so bad in the house that I was ready to call an exterminator to try and eliminate them. Every living thing in the house was scratching thanks to the fleas. Within about a week of putting the collar on just one dog, all of that stopped. I still see a flea from time to time but that is usually after we come back inside after a walk or playing. There are no more fleas in the house. Even places the dogs and cats don't go, the fleas are gone. I had planned on buying another collar for my 160lb dog but with the way this one has worked, I don't really think that will be necessary. My German Shepherd Dog is getting his hair back slowly and he's not scratching all the time. He's sleeping better--everyone is sleeping better.I know with the economy being what it is right now, I understand completely that $50 for a flea and tick collar may seem like a lot to spend at one time (that is one of the reasons my local vet doesn't carry it because a lot of their customers can't afford it) but it is very well worth it if you have a flea and/or tick problem. My $100 a month preventative bills went down to $30 after purchasing this collar. This works out to around $6.25 a month for the best flea and tick protection I've ever found. There aren't any pills to con the pets into eating (no more fixing peanut butter sandwiches to get the pills eaten!) or no messy topicals to apply.I am absolutely sold on this flea collar and will not ever use another brand of flea and tick preventative again. This is the only solution for me. All of the positive reviews on this site for this collar, believe them. The praises they are singing are absolutely spot on.Edit, 4th September, 2014: I wanted to come back in and update my review since it's been a couple of months since I purchased this collar and put it on my dog.The collar has worked beautifully! It is still killing fleas and ticks like it promises, my dog has not had any allergic reactions to it (something I worried about as another reviewer commented their dog did react) and my home and surrounding area is completely flea-free. I wasn't expecting this one collar to kill all the fleas in the house with four animals running around in here, but it has. My GSD has almost all of his hair back and I can tell a huge difference in his personality. He's more playful and happy all the time like he used to be before he had his awful allergic reaction to a flea bite. The only chewing or scratching he does now is where his skin itches from the new growth, and that scratching/chewing is decreasing steadily. I haven't seen a single flea in well over a month and I don't even worry about picking up any buggy hitchhikers when we go for walks anymore as I know the collar will take care of them. My biggest worry now is my GSD playing in the poison ivy. :)