Sure mice may look cute and innocent and domestic rats may make for some intelligent pets but let's not forget one important factor... They are disease carrying, pest infested menaces and you must keep them out of your kennel! Same goes for chipmunks and other small rodents.

Their feces and urine are super transmitters of all sorts of diseases that can affect you and your dogs.

However, if they find no food source, they likely won't be bothering you or your kennel. For this reason the most important strategy is just common sense. Keep your dog food and treats in containers which are not easily or impossible for rodents to get into. Metal trash cans are usually your best bet. Make sure you have a secure lid. I knew of one kennel owner who used a couple of old discarded chest freezers.

Other than a food source, you will need to be wary of leaving out any potential bedding sources. This is more challenging as the smallest bit of paper or loose insulation is fair game to mice or rats. Keep your kennel in good repair and tidy. Keep all papers inside a metal cabinet or similar protection.

Just the weather changing may be enough to bring these pests to live inside your dog kennel. Once it starts getting cold out, they will seek shelter. Be ready for them.
You may wish to lay some traps. There are many varieties on the market today. I would recommend you avoid poisons as there is always a chance one of your dogs could get a hold of it.. or the mouse who eats it. And for heaven's sake, don't use cheese for bait. It doesn't work. However, I've found that peanut butter works wonders as a bait.

Lay your traps along walls. Mice and rats very rarely scoot across an open floor but instead run along baseboards and such. Vary the location of your traps as they will eventually learn to avoid them otherwise.

Cats are wonderful assets as well if your dogs will tolerate them being around. And if this is the route you choose to go, may I suggest you get a grown cat (who's not been declawed) from your local pound or kill shelter. Many times, these cats are used to being on their own and killing rodents and why not save a life? Adult cats have a hard time making it out of a kill shelter. If you do get a mouse patrol cat, be sure to feed them! So many people think if they are hungry, they will hunt better. Not true. Cats hunt by instinct and desire, not hunger. A healthy, well fed kitty is a frisky kitty... a frisky kitty is a deadly kitty. :) Be sure to keep your cat vaccinated and wormed - and altered please, you don't need your mouse patrol taking time off for maternity leave now do you?

A friend of mine, Kathy Reed of Kaylar Newfoundlands, gives this tip: "Put out a dish of Pepsi for mice or rats. They can't burp and will explode from the gas. Have done this in my own kennel and it worked beautifully."

This cat shown here is one of my rescue boys - Pookie.

Mosquitoes are the nasty insect that harbor the parasite which causes heartworm.

No matter how healthy your dog may be, if they are exposed to heartworm larvae infected mosquitoes and not covered by a preventative medication, your dog is nearly guaranteed a heartworm invasion.

Adult male heartworms are 4-6 inches and female up to 10 inches in length. They live in the heart and lungs of infected dogs and their offspring can often be detected in the bloodstream. It's no wonder that, if left untreated, heartworm is so deadly.

Some mosquitoes are also capable of transmitting diseases such as malaria, yellow fever, dengue, filariasis and encephalitis [St. Louis encephalitis (SLE), Western Equine encephalitis (WEE), LaCrosse encephalitis (LAC), Japanese encephalitis (JE), Eastern Equine encephalitis (EEE) and West Nile virus (WNV)] to humans and animals.

In addition to protecting your dogs, it's important to also prevent mosquitoes in the first place. Mosquitoes lay their young in standing bodies of water. They prefer stagnant, shallow water. Be watchful of potential places for such water. If you have small ponds and such and can't realistically keep it drained, place either the commercial mosquito repellent drops/floaters in there or break off pieces of a rabon block to the appropriate size for your amount of water. Rabon blocks are sold at livestock supply stores. Their purpose is for livestock to lick and then prevent flies from being attracted to their feces as well as providing minerals. I learned of this mosquito repellent trick when one of our cows, Mae Belle pushed a brand new block into our large pond. Presto! Like magic it was our first year without mosquitoes carrying us away!

Every dog owner's nightmare, especially if they live in wooded areas.

The ticks I am going to refer to are the American Dog Tick, Deer Tick and the Rocky Mountain Tick. There are no doubt thousands of tick species and I can't possibly cover them all.

Before ticks can breed, they must feed. Once they have mated, the male dies. The female continues to totally engorge herself with blood until she is swollen many times her normal size. She then falls off the victim she's been feeding on and lays up to 4,000 - 6,000 eggs. Once she has laid all her eggs, she also dies.

The newly hatched ticks usually feed on small animals such as mice until they have developed into a nymph. Once this happens, they will find a new host, usually a small mammal. Then they either winter over in dormancy if it's getting cold out or find their 3rd host - where they will then mate and carry on the cycle of the species.

Control of ticks is difficult at best but in understanding that ticks must have warm, humid conditions to survive, there are things you can do. For instance; keep your grass mowed helps immensely as does keeping down the level of useless brush and wooded and lawn type debris. In our area, they love to cover old dead stumps so be wary of them or remove them, if possible.

Always check your dogs over really well when coming back from walks or romps, as well as checking yourself. I removed two from my husband which had already buried their heads in his flesh in a matter of 2 short hours outside - one inside his ear! Check your dogs from head to tail and even between their toes.

To remove ticks, there are some simple, yet good tick removers out on the market. I suggest you keep one on hand.

Do not remove the tick with your hands. This increases your risk of tick borne human diseases as does squashing or causing the tick to regurgitate (vomit) so utmost care must be taken in proper removal. If the head is buried, you must carefully, and slowly remove the head without squashing the body. Do not burn or smother the tick. This does not help but instead only increases the health risks to the victim.

1 - Sprinkle Diatomaceous Earth in areas you feel ants are gathering or traveling through. Diatomaceas Earth, also known simply as DE is a fossilized remains of a hard shelled algae. When an insect comes into contact with it, it works as shards of glass breaking open the body of the insect and causing it to dehydrate and die. Use food grade DE.

2 - Sprinkle common black pepper in areas ants are entering/exiting to prevent them from crossing.

3 - Sprinkle talcum (baby) powder around areas that are infected with ants or where you feel ants may be drawn such as sugar bowls, pet foods and pantry shelves. Even after you wipe it away, the talcum powder will still have some effect so no need to lay it on thick at all. Best of all, it sure smells better than insect sprays!

4 - Place bay leaves in key areas around your pantry, storage areas and any other place in your home ants are/could be a problem.

5 - Homemade Ant Spray: Mix equal parts Windex glass cleaner and Ivory soap. Simply spray onto problem areas.

6 - Anti Ant Recipe: Mix 1/2 cup of white sugar with 1 cup of warm water. Add 2 tablespoons of borax household cleaner to this mixture. The sugar is the bait, the borax is the killer. Soak the mixture up with cotton balls or makeup sponges and place in ant infested areas. You could even place it in shallow dishes to entice the ants to have a few slurps.

7 - Feed them! Cream of wheat that is. They eat it and it expands greatly, killing them.

8 - Plant mint plants around your exterior windows and doors and basement entrances. Ants hate the smell of peppermint.

9 - Keep things clean! Especially of crumbs, sugar and grease.