My first suggestion would be to get her on something like Frontline. We don't have a big flea and tick problem here, but all our dogs are on it anyway. I have a sticky on my wall calendar to do their Frontline and Heartgard on the first day of each month.
Their are lawn treatments you can do, but those are best done by professionals, some of whom will rip you off, so shop around. Your dogs wouldn't be able to go out for a couple of days afterward, but it's ostensibly safe once it absorbs into the lawn. You may also want to discuss Lyme disease shots with your vet. My vets don't recommend them as a normal course of shots, but my dogs have never had a tick, either.
It sounds like your biggest problem is your neighbor. I'd talk to him and explain that the overgrown lawn is hazardous to the surrouding properties. You have a legitimate complaint. Snakes really do live in tall grass, so he'd have no reason to say you're whacked out. I'd just be very polite with him, and if he wasn't cooperative, I'd tell him I had no choice but to go to the township. If he didn't comply within a week, I'd go to the township raising any kind of hell that wouldn't get me put in jail, but that's just me. |