On one hand it's been an easy winter. Almost no snow on the Connecticut shore except for that weird October storm that caught us all by surprise. The flip side of the mild weather is that it's been an easy winter for ticks too.
When the weather's warm enough to be outside it's also warm enough for ticks to be active - and as we all know, a significant proportion of ticks (and we never know which) carry Lyme disease and other tick borne infections like babesiosis and anaplasmosis which can be even more serious than Lyme.
This piece from the Boston CBS affiliate provides more information.
Sorry to hear that but you're doing the right thing by staying on top of it. A fine-tooth metal comb is a helpful tool for checking dogs. When a deer tick hops on your dog, both you and the dog could be at risk; they will feed on either host. My wonderful corgi Zoe died of ehrlichiosis contracted through a tick bite, a couple of years back; it's that serious.