In reply to Flinticus:
We use scaribor collars on both of our dogs (border collie and German SH Pointer). Work well - they spend a lot of time on the hill, snuffling about in woods etc and can count the number of ticks they've had between them in the past couple of years on 1 hand.
Easier than monthly treatments as you don't forget, and we find a single collar will last from Spring to start of winter.
They cost about £13-£15 I think.
Cheers!
Stu