Frontline is an absolute necessity, and some people double up and put on tick collars during time in the field and woods and then zip-loc them the rest of the time.
Regular SNAP4Dx tests are a must (we do them every 6 months). The SNAP tests for Lyme, Ehrlichiosis, and Anaplasmosis. All three are TBDs, and all three can be dangerous.
Lyme usually shows up in dogs with fever, lethargy, and intermittent lameness. It responds very well to treatment (usually Doxycycline), but untreated, it slowly progresses, and the dog can die of kidney failure (Lyme nephritis).
Lyme takes hours of embedding to be transmitted, so the slow kill time of Frontline still seems to prevent it well (we also do the vaccine, since the new one is safe and over 60% effective). I've never had a dog who tested Lyme positive. We also rarely get the ticks on ourselves, since they prefer the dogs and get poisoned on contact with them.
I have, however, have had two dogs test positive for Anaplasmosis. Comet came down with acute Anaplasmosis yesterday and is on doxy today. He was a little slower than normal for a couple of days, but nothing scary, and then yesterday, he became completely stiff and lethargic, to the point that I was pretty frightened. He's dramatically better this morning on the doxy, though still not himself.
If your dogs are mostly on your own property, there are things you can do to limit ticks. You can fence the deer out, put down pesticides, cut back brush, and keep the grass short in the areas the dogs frequent. Some people swear by diatomaceous earth, but I'm skeptical. My dad, who lives in NJ, catches squirrels in have-a-heart traps and flea powders them, since they're a major vector for the ticks. I find that hilarious but also totally logical.
Our dogs never get them in the yard, but they get literally dozens sometimes when we go out in the woods. We choose to go out with them anyway, all the time, and we manage the problem, rather than living in fear of the little buggers.
