Definitely—mostly the ticks; depending on which tick it is and where you live, you will see Lyme ticks even in January, even in the snow. Certain ticks, deer ticks, brown dog ticks, lone star tick, they do live in different parts of the country, and they like different environments. So we will see them at different times of the year, but certainly in the winter.

And fleas, they like it up until the grass dies and it's wholly browned out, which takes a long time, not just one frost. And then they'll be back as soon as the weather gets warm and the grass starts to grow. So it’s a very long season for fleas and ticks, especially here in Maryland.

Certainly if they go outdoors it increases the risk because your dog is going to get it there. If you go to parks, boarding, grooming, obedience school, and anytime they're around other dogs or they go inside someone else's house. But what can prevent it is just having dog flea and tick preventatives, either a special collar that you can get through your veterinarian, a topical product that we might want to put on once a month, or some of our new oral products that the dogs would eat. Those things will prevent either the flea or tick from biting them, getting on them, or, if they do, they'll be killed immediately, so they can't bring them into the house and spread them around.

Any dog - short or long-haired - can get fleas and ticks. It might be a little easier to see them on a short-coated dog, but long-coated dogs, it's even-steven. They can all get it.