I don't like them either - I only use Advantix about 3x a year though so I'm not too worried about it (in the warmer months).
I use a spray if we're going to be walking through heavily wooded trails and I just spritz him all over just to attempt to keep any ticks off.
It's called "U Tick Me Off" by Mutt's Nose Best. Seems to work good!
Jackson came up limping 3yrs ago and it was due to Lyme's Disease test coming back positive. A small round of doxycycline and he was all better.
He's tested negative the last 2 years... but lymes is so tricky, you can get false positives, etc. Kind of confusing.