When we got our first pup a year ago we were keen to protect her from everything. We took her to see our vet the day we got her and when asked aobut flea prevention were told "no point in pumping chemicals into her if she doesn't need them - she hasn't got fleas".

We weren't too impressed by this at the time, but went along with it. Our dog is out and about all over the country mixing with loads of dogs and running free in all sorts of countryside. She's not had fleas yet. The second pup is only 15 weeks old and also not treated for fleas.

We have some Johnsons flea killing tablets on hand and would give them one if we saw any sign of fleas. I've been told that these are the safest simply because Johsons do the most testing - don't know if it's true.

I have been giving them garlic fairly regularly, but it's impossible to tell whether it's this that's keeping them flea free. My gut feeling is that they're just not catching fleas because there are none about. And to be fair this is probably because most people are using flea prevention treatment on their dogs!