Posts Tagged ‘dog bath’

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The importance of winter grooming: follow our four tips!

Friday, January 6th, 2012
a happy winter dog is a healthy groomed winter dog

Raindrops on roses and snowflakes on noses... keep your dog happily groomed this winter!

There’s a common misconception that dogs don’t need to be groomed, or only groomed minimally, over the winter months. The (erroneous) belief is that a dog’s winter coat comes in and should be allowed to grow long to protect and warm the dog. In addition, because dogs, like humans, often follow a more sedentary and inside routine in the winter, many people feel that their dogs aren’t getting dirty enough to warrant bathing. But this is simply not true. In fact, in many ways, grooming over the winter months becomes even more important to the health of your dog than at any other time of the year. Long, wet, matted hair easily makes a cold, wet, and infection-susceptible dog.

While it’s true that double-coated breeds and others with thick, long fur are more winter-ready than short-haired dogs, the “blessing” of these thick coats in winter can turn quickly into a curse if the fur isn’t maintained in a healthy condition. Fur that’s matted doesn’t insulate or provide warmth; instead, it provides discomfort, pain, and hot spots. Matting can even lead to infections below the skin, so when considering the effects of letting the grooming go, consider how your dog’s health may in fact suffer as a result. Grooming isn’t just for a beautiful dog (though this is obviously one noticeable effect), it’s also crucial for your dog’s good health.

Winter pitfalls to your dog’s coat and skin include:

  • Dry forced-air heat
  • Bitter, cold temperatures
  • Wind
  • Snow and ice
  • Dampness
  • Salt and sand used on streets and sidewalks

Simply follow these four grooming rituals through the winter to combat these winter blahs, and ensure that your dog stays comfortable, dry, and healthy!

  • Regular rub-downs: Any time your dog is wet, whether it’s from playing in the snow, running in the rain, or just following a bath, make sure to dry him thoroughly. In the winter this becomes especially important because your dog is just as susceptible to chills as you are. Think about being outside in freezing temperatures with a head full of wet hair: then consider that your dog doesn’t have the benefit of indoor plumbing and don’t subject him to this discomfort! In addition, your dog’s skin can become very dry and itchy when its fur isn’t dried fully combined with the excessively dry air created from indoor electric heaters.
  • Getting 100 strokes in: The most important grooming procedure at any time of year is to brush your dog’s coat regularly. Brushing helps to keep away mats and tangles, which only get worse the longer they’re allowed to stick around.  Mats and tangles prevent the distribution of the oils that naturally occur in the skin that help to condition and stimulate the skin and coat. This means an increase in dry skin, dull coat, and worse: infected hot spots. During the winter months, mats are the worst enemy to a properly maintained coat’s natural insulating qualities. A beautiful, mat-free coat helps to insulate body heat and radiates this heat back into the body, keeping a protective barrier between the dog and external cold air. Mats have a tendency to hold moisture against the skin, attracting more snow and debris, creating a perfect breeding ground for bacterial growth and infection.  As you can imagine, with the increase in damp, wet conditions in winter, it becomes even more important to police mats and eradicate them at the first opportunity. Brushing your dogs daily, even for just a few minutes, is critical in the winter.  If mats get out of control, it becomes too painful for the dog and too time-consuming for you to attempt to brush them all out, in which case, the easiest thing is to cut the entire coat short before skin and health problems develop.
  • Pooch pedicures:   Keeping your dogs’ feet in tip-top shape is very important in the winter. Throughout the year your dog’s nails naturally wear down from regular walks outside on concrete and asphalt, but in winter, most humans and dogs reduce their outdoor activities. And even if you’re still diligent about taking your dog for walks in the winter, they are probably shorter in duration, and over more snow- and ice-covered areas, so the nails will not wear down as much as they normally would. It’s very important to keep the nails trim, because if the nails grow long such that you hear “click click click” on the floor when they walk across it, this makes it difficult for them to keep their balance on ice and snow. Dogs can fall on the ice too, and we wouldn’t want that!
    It’s also important to trim your dog’s fur around their paw-pads as excess fur attracts snow and iceballs to form, creating severe discomfort and pain to your dog. Hair that accumulates in the pads can become matted, and hold moisture from rain and snow, and even pick up rock salt and ice. Which is sort of like waking around with rocks in wet shoes? Sounds awful, doesn’t it? If your dog tolerates it, dog-sized boots are a great option to keep out the snow, ice, salt, and sand: all harsh enemies of little puppy paws. But if your dog refuses to wear booties, the next best thing is to keep a bowl of warm water by the door and give each paw a little soak and dry after returning from any outdoor activities: the warm water easily melts away the ice and snow and any loose dirt and debris is shaken loose before it can burrow deeper.
  • Moisturizing earthbaths!: Bathing your dog regularly is one of the most important things you can do for your dog in the winter, as a clean dog is a happy, healthy dog. During the cold winter months, many of us suffer with dry, chafed, and scaly skin due to the combination of cold air, wind, and interior dry air from our forced-air heaters. Even though they’re covered with a layer of fur, our dogs also feel the drying effects of winter, so it’s even more important to use a non-drying, highly moisturizing, gentle shampoo and conditioner. The dry heat found in many homes throughout the winter season can be tough on our skin and hair, so we apply lotions and conditioners to ease the scratchiness and irritation. Your dog doesn’t need lotion, but if his little pads and nose seem irritated or cracked, SheaPet Shea Butter and Aloe Treatment Balm stops itching and soothes dry, irritated skin fast.

 

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Pet grooming: it’s not just a vanity thing

Monday, October 17th, 2011
dog grooming dog bath

A "spa day" for your dog is good for his health and yours!

ANOTHER trip to the salon – and how much for that wash, blow-dry, and style?  Sometimes it can feel like your dog gets more “spa” days than you do! But before you start to think the trips to the groomers are a frivolous extra that your dog could go without, think again. Brushing and shampooing your dogs isn’t just to beautify them (though of course that’s a major benefit) and decrease the offense to our human noses that can come with just a little too much “doggy” smell around the house. Nope, if your dog is looking a bit rough around the edges, chances are he’s feeling bad too.

That messy coat could be disguising hidden tangles and mats underneath, which, as they worsen, actually pull on the skin, stretching it into the mat and sometimes even causing sores and infections. Long-haired and double-coated dogs are particularly at-risk for painful and health-hazardous mats, as burrs, thorns, sharp grasses and even twigs can become lodged in their fur and burrow their way down closer to the skin.

Linebrushing is the key to successfully grooming a long-haired or double-coated dog. First, your dog should be settled comfortably lying down on the floor or on his grooming table. He should be used to being groomed, because this will take a bit of time – and if not, start slowly, use treats, and get him accustomed to laying still for longer and longer periods of time until you are done. Divide your dog into large sections (e.g., head, neck and chest, shoulders, each side, his rear end, his underbelly, and legs), and completely brush out each section before moving on. Within each section, using your brush, part the coat either horizontally across the dog or vertically down his spine. Use this part as the base for your linebrushing. As you brush, make sure you brush all the way to the skin and brush the hair up and away from the part. As you go, you can mist the coat with water or a conditioning spritz as you to help detangle and condition the coat.

The biggest problem professional groomers see is when dogs are brought in because their undercoats are so terribly matted yet their owners will be confused because they say they brush them daily. The reason for all of the mats is because they only get brushed on the surface, and never penetrate to the skin. Linebrushing solves this problem.

Double-coated breeds typically blow their coat twice a year, and if you have one of these dogs with a thick undercoat, chances are you’re going through a heavy shed period right now. It’s even more important to facilitate the coat-blowing process by constant brushing and grooming. Shampooing will loosen all of the dead hair, and being vigilant about daily brushing will ensure that mats are minimized, which can also inhibit the coat-blowing process.  For more specifics on managing coat-blowing, check out our blog post on shedding.

If you’re looking to save money on groomers’ fees, it’s not that hard to bathe your dog at home by yourself, provided you have all of your materials prepped and ready to go. Make sure to read our easy-to-follow 4-step DIY guide to dog bathing for more!

Know that every time you spend time with your dog brushing, bathing, or drying him off with a big hug, you’re not just making him look pretty: you’re doing good things for his health too, not to mention bonding with him!

Happy grooming!

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A DIY How-To Guide on Doggy Bathtime

Monday, March 28th, 2011

A dog groomer may just be your (and your clean bathroom’s) best friend, but if you’re more inclined to suds-up yourself, either to save money, to bond with your dog, or because entrusting your furbaby to a stranger simply seems to be more stress than you (or he) can bear, we’ll walk you through the steps guaranteed to ensure the experience is as painless (and maybe even fun!) as possible! Personally, we’ve never been to a professional groomer, and our two 50 pound dogs would be horrified at the very thought!  They have learned to deal with the at-home bathtub experience, low-tech as it may be!

1) Gather Your Gear: First, get all of your bath supplies together in the bathroom before you get your dog.

You’ll need:

Make sure you are prepared with a high-quality shampoo made specifically for dogs. Dogs’ skin is a different pH than humans’ so it’s never a good idea to use human shampoo on a dog because human shampoo will dry out a dog’s skin very fast and cause a lot of undue problems. All of earthbath’s shampoos are made with all-natural ingredients including natural essential oils and other good stuff from nature. They never contain parabens, harsh soaps, artificial dyes or fragrances, phosphates, or toxins, so you don’t have to worry about what might be left behind on your pet or the environment.

2) Prep: (Brush) Before you wash your dog, brush him. Removing all the loose hair and mats makes the bath easier on everyone. You’re less likely to have matting and tangling if the dog has been thoroughly brushed out first. Water tends to exacerbate existing problems, turning small tangles into mats and small mats into big mats, all of which are very painful to remove. If your dog has twigs, straw, dirt clumps, or other detritus tangled up in his fur, remove it or clip it out if it doesn’t come out easily with a brush.

Once you have your dog in the bathroom, don’t make the mistake I made the first time I tried to wash my dog and leave the door open! Close the door so he doesn’t take the opportunity to leap out of the shower, sopping wet, spraying dog bathwater all over the house!!

3) Wash Cycle: Begin by thoroughly wetting down his fur. Generally it’s easiest to work in the shampoo if you water it down with some water in your hand first.  Make sure you are extra careful not to get soapy water in his ears, eyes, or nose. It’s actually better to do these areas with wipes that have pure, hypo-allergenic ingredients for these extra-sensitive areas. earthbath makes wipes specifically for the ears and eyes. The ear wipes contain witch hazel, a natural cleanser and astringent, to clean out wax and discharge which can cause infections and odor, and the eye wipes are hypo-allergenic and fragrance-free for the extra-sensitive eye area, containing only purified water, aloe vera, and sensitive cleansers boric acid and polysorbate to to keep the area around your pet’s eyes clean and free of tear stains, dirt, secretions and other general discharge with no irritation.

4) Rinse Cycle: When you are done soaping up, it’s time to rinse! Rinsing is extremely important and generally takes at least twice as long as the washing up part (which is why a hand sprayer is very helpful). You want to make sure that absolutely no soap residue is left because it can irritate your dog’s skin.  You can use a doggy conditioner to ensure extra moisturizing for both his coat and his skin. earthbath even offers a wonderful conditioner and creme rinse with colloidal oatmeal that detangles, enriches, and revives the appearance of your pet’s coat and is extra soothing on the skin.

5) Dry Cycle: Now be prepared for some shaking.  (You’ll likely want to resign yourself to the shower to come!) Now it’s time to dry Fido off with all of those towels you’ve collected (the more the better, particularly if he’s medium to large and/or very hairy!), If you’ve trained him from an early age to stand still and accept the noise of a blow dryer, you can also blow out his coat with a brush (curling irons and styling optional!). Keep Fido out of drafts until he’s completely dry, and then curl up with your new daisy-fresh dog!

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Posted in Canine Health, Dogs, earthbath, Fun Stuff, Grooming, Helpful Pet Hints, Pet Owners, Shedding, Skin Care | No Comments »

Shedding woes, part 1: What does “blowing coat” mean?

Wednesday, March 2nd, 2011

In this two-part series over the next two weeks, we describe the seasonal insanity that is “blowing coat” and then, detail the best way to manage this massive shedding!

Some dog owners may never come across this dreaded two-word phrase (Looking at you, you single-coated breed owners, you!), but those of us who have the pleasure of sharing our lives (and homes) with the furrier Arctic breeds, made all the fluffier by a warm, dense undercoat,also have the distinct DISPLEASURE of finding great tumbleweeds of fur blowing through our homes once, twice, or even three times a year, depending on the climate, the type of dog, gender, whether or not the dog is “intact,” and how much time s/he spends outside.

In fact, for all the frustration (and extra vacuuming) it can cause, it is completely natural for dogs to “blow coat” once or twice annually, changing their winter coat to a lighter one for summer, as the seasons change. All dogs shed (we humans “shed” hair too – around 100 per day!).  In fact, shedding old, dead hair allows the new coat to grow in. It is actually a bit of a myth that some breeds don’t shed: while all dogs shed, the amount of shedding actually varies greatly from breed to breed. The downside to those breeds that shed little to no hair (for example: terriers, maltese, shih tzus, poodles, bichon frises, and water dogs) is that they usually need to be professionally groomed (or clipped) often, otherwise their fur is highly prone to matting.

The benefit, therefore, of a dog that blows out their coat or sheds consistently year round, is that these breeds typically don’t need much, if any, professional coat-cutting, since nature pretty much takes care of that for you! Even though the term “fur” and “hair” are often used interchangeably to describe a dog’s coat, in general, a double coat (made up of a soft, insulating undercoat underneath a coarser topcoat made up of guard hairs, the longer outer coat hairs), like that of a Siberian Husky, Shiba, Chow Chow, or Samoyed, is correctly referred to as a FUR coat, while a single coat (lacking an undercoat), like that of a shih tzu or a terrier, is actually a HAIR coat.

Evolutionarily, those breeds that originated from the harsh Northern climates needed a dense undercoat to protect and warm them through the frigid winter months, and would shed this undercoat as the need for it waned with the increasing daylight hours of spring and summer months. In today’s world of mostly climate-controlled, pampered and indoor companion animals, the environmental effects of changing seasons and day lengths on fur coats are minimized.  Double-coated dogs that enjoy the outdoors, and as a result, spend most of their time outside, will usually have two distinct seasons of shedding that respond to the changing season from winter to spring and fall to winter. Indoor dogs tend to shed at a fairly consistent and continuous rate, unless other factors trigger a more pronounced shed.

Other things that influence hair growth and shedding include genetics, nutrition, age, sex, health status, season, and the normal hormonal fluctuations of an “intact” dog. I was having a conversation with a dog breeder the other day and she mentioned offhandedly, “oh, yes, I can always tell if a dog is spayed or neutered from the coat. You’ll never see a more beautiful coat than on a fixed dog.” I thought that was an interesting comment, which, in part, prompted my research for this article! And in fact, hormonal levels definitely impact the condition and quantity/type of coat. Spayed and castrated dogs usually have denser undercoats, which gives that fluffy, “cottony” appearance. I am still waiting, however, to see whether or not my two chows (one male, one female, both “fixed”) will in fact, “blow coat” as spring progresses, more than the relatively massive amount of hair that comes out in the nightly brushing session. Maybe they’re in the process already; it’s my first “season” with them, so I have no comparison point. That said, my male chow is shedding more voluminously and much more noticeably from his undercoat than his sister; who basically feels like touching the fluffiest cloud of cotton candy you can imagine.

Read on to Part 2, where we cover (in detail) the best way to manage blowing coats.

As a quick preview, we’ll give you a hint:

Brush, Wash, Brush, Repeat.

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Posted in Breeds, Canine Health, Dogs, earthbath, Grooming, Helpful Pet Hints, Natural Remedies, Pet News, Pet Owners, Shedding, Skin Care | No Comments »

Grooming Puppies and earthbath Wipes

Wednesday, November 3rd, 2010

As a new puppy (actually, puppies) owner (yes, those are my lil’ furbabies), the following items are indispensable to me:

1) Tons of tiny training treats in a variety of flavors and textures (puppies want to learn, are food-motivated, and get bored easily)
2) lots and lots of old rags and towels
3) white vinegar (to go with the old rags and towels…)
4) patience
and…
5) earthbath puppy wipes

Puppies get messy and dirty in a very, um, indiscriminate way, and I found these wipes imperative to keep both the puppies, and my house, clean. This was made clear to me this week when I ran out, didn’t have any in reserve, and figured, oh well, I can probably make do with a wet cloth till I can get some more…

Not so fast. A warm wet cloth is great for some things, like un-sticking gummy, glue-y goo from sensitive puppy eyes, but for wet, muddy paws, and the dreaded poopy bottom (not to get too scatological on you’re here, but chances are, if you have a dog, cat, or any little creature that’s dependent on you for its well-being, you’re all too familiar with such things). You might mean well by training your puppy to stand perfectly still for a full grooming session and/or bath, but it’s neither feasible nor desired, from either your or your puppy’s point of view, to give your puppy daily baths and full grooming sessions. It IS, however, perfectly reasonable to get your puppy used to being handled, particularly around his sensitive paw pads and nails, by giving a quick swipe-down after every outing, particularly after a romp in the rain or through muddy grass. –> 

Perhaps surprisingly, many owners (wrongly) think that it’s a mistake to bathe or brush dogs under six months of age. They worry that bathing will dry out the coat or that brushing may be too rough on a puppy’s sensitive skin at this age. The opposite is actually true. This is the best time, as with all training, to get your puppy used to a routine which will stay with him throughout his whole life. It’s going to be much easier on both of you in the long run, if you start getting him used to grooming sessions as early as possible.

The same goes for brushing: if you have a full-coated dog, regular brushing is an absolutely necessary part of your canine maintenance routine, as crucial to keeping your dog healthy and comfortable, as it is to feed him well and give him enough exercise. Brushing daily gives you time to examine your dog’s coat and skin and identify and remove anything like pests (e.g., fleas or ticks), burrs, thorns, disgusting-who-knows-what, tangles and mats immediately before they become larger problems. It also feels great to puppies, and especially to older dogs. Remember having your hair brushed by your mom? If you were like me, you used to beg her to brush your hair each night because it felt so good (unless she was yanking out tangles). Brushing is just as important for dogs as it is for humans, in that it cleans the coat, removes loose hair, and stimulates natural oil production to help keep the coat lush and conditioned. At this young age, just as with all training, keep the sessions short but consistent. Then the puppy will think of brushing as just another form of petting. If you start early enough, and pair the brushing with rewards, both you and he will come to look forward to this sweet time together as a relaxing part of the day.

When it’s bath time, make sure to use a shampoo specifically formulated for sensitive skin and/or for puppies, and have lots of treats on hand. The average puppy probably needs a bath at least weekly, if not more frequently, depending on what he gets into. This not only helps keep your puppy smelling more like a daisy and less like “dirty dog,” but it also helps to prevent skin infections that are caused by unhygienic conditions. I’ve been told that most puppies, especially those that are very young, enjoy the bathing process. Not mine. That’s why wipes come in so handy for me! They help prolong the time I can go between baths!

I’ve got to run… gotta go brush some puppies and pick up some more earthbath wipes. It’s been a rainy day and it’s not letting up all week! Prediction: Chance of muddy paws: 100%.

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Posted in Canine Health, Dogs, earthbath, Grooming, Helpful Pet Hints, Living Green, Natural Remedies, Pet Owners, Skin Care | No Comments »

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