My dogs rarely itched at all until I got a kitten from the humane society for them who had fleas. I religiously give my dogs a bath every week with puppy shampoo and I attempt to give the cat a bath about once a month. Normally, the dogs just lick her to death for me:) I'm sure that during the winter months that the fleas may get worse since it will be warmer inside my home :)

We're in Seattle. We use the Advantage(TM) insecticide -- the stuff you apply directly to their skin. It works. I handle it like toxic waste: I do NOT let it get on my skin and I wear nitrile (not latex) gloves to apply it. I don't let it get on the gloves, either. Then I try to keep the dogs away from small children for a few days.

We've used the Advantix(TM) stuff for tick season, which means when we're going to the east side of the Cascades. There don't seem to be ticks on the west (wet) side of the mountains.

These products seem to work well, but I would use them very, very carefully.

We do not have young children in the house anymore. I would hesitate to use such insecticides if we did. You can smell this stuff in the dogs' fur for days afterwards, so you do get some exposure. It's reasonable to assume that young children are much more susceptible to harm than adults. Remember: the corporations will sell you anything they can get away with, and when they say it's "safe", that means "safe enough that you'll have enough difficulty suing them". They have a proven track record of selling us stuff that turns out to be considerably more dangerous than expected or admitted. Just because I'm paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get me. ;-)

One thing we did once with great success when we had 1 cat in Seattle: "Fleabusters". They came to the house, dusted carpets and some furniture(?) with polyborate salts (borax?). I would not expect it to be particularly toxic; it's not a neurotoxin. Allegedly, it dehydrates the fleas. It was guaranteed for 1 year. It lasted about 5 years. We just forgot about fleas for a long time. Never tried it for the dogs.

No fleas in Wenatchee. Guess its too hot and dry here.