Tick Info (Dogs)

Ticks only breathe a couple of times an hour so, They are not easy to drown. But they're even more talented than that.

Ticks breathe through tiny openings on the underside of their bodies and near their hind legs. These openings are called spiracles. Ticks can close these spiracles for several hours without any difficulty. In fact, since ticks are very susceptible to drying out, they regularly close their spiracles to reduce water loss during hot periods of the day."

http://extension.missouri.edu/explore/qa/entomology0001.htm

Obviously, if they can hold their breath for hours, it would be practically impossible to smother them with petroleum jelly either.

Ticks cement themselves to the wound they create and that's why you often see little bits of skin attached to the mouth parts if you're lucky enough to get them off whole. On top of that, those mouth parts have barbs something like fishhooks on them, so ticks can't back out easily even if they want to. It takes them a long time to disengage on their own.

A flea comb won't do any good.