My wife and I were on our way to JFK to catch a flight to Paris for a romantic vacation. We were going to drop the dog off at the kennel on the way. We had just started using this kennel after friends had recommended it highly.

    Our dog had been boarded here about two weeks earlier and, although the owners were a pain to deal with, they boasted about how they really cared about dogs. So, what if it was more expensive than the plain country kennel we had used before. Our dog deserved it, right? So what if it was expensive!

    We were already running late and the kennel was backloged -- and slow -- about checking dogs in. We waited, what else could we do? Then the surprise. Flea Inspection!

    We had never experienced a flea inspection at a kennel before. And our dog had never had a flea problem. Amazingly, because he had run loose on 250 acres of country real estate for the last 8 years. Yet in all that time I had only plucked one flea from his hairy back.

    Of course he saw a vet regularly, was bathed regularly and used whatever preventatives the vet was recommending at the time.

    So now my wife and I are rushing to catch an Air France flight -- that is NOT going to wait for us -- and my dog, who had just been to this kennel two weeks earlier, is being given "flea inspection" and, guess what? Almost immediately a flea is found!

    "You can take him home and give him a bath," the owner is telling us.

    When I give her a really dirty look she softens and says, "Or you can give him a bath here."

    I have already guessed that the is one of HER fleas! A Flea my dog got at HER kennel! But time is running out, the plane won't wait, so I roll up my sleeves and give the dog a flea bath, right then and there!

    We make the flight and I sit for seven hours on a crowded plane smelling of flea treatment. (Not very romantic!) When we get home, the first thing we do is to give the dog a very thorough flea bath. Then we visit the vet to get a flea bomb and we proceed to bomb the house, hoping we have managed to kill all the eggs, larvae and pupae. We have no idea where they might be!

    You never know when your dog is going to be exposed to fleas. It can happen in the (supposed!) best of places. You can bet we make a special point of keeping up with our flea treatments now. And, yes, we've gone back to that plain old country kennel!

    Please withhold my name. I don't want to get sued! We've had enough trouble with that fancy kennel already!

PS -- We never had another problem with fleas!     ##