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About dogs bathing

The show-dogs bathe very often. The dogs like cocker spaniels, poodles, terriers and other wooly breeds that need hair-cutting, setting and all that concerns thorough hair care need bathing no less than three times a week in the show season and 1 to 4 times a month in between shows. And you see, the coat doesn't get worse. Quite the contrary, bathing procedure is the necessary requirement for a high-quality grooming. The question deals with what treatments to use and how to wash correctly. Look at the foreign champions and their coats. Do you see that the point is not only in genetics but in the grooming also. A dog's skin is much dryer and delicate that the humans'. Actually, while bathing the natural oils are washed away. Therefore for washing you should use either a special dog shampoo (I consider the best you can find are the French Jean-�ierre Hery products and the American "Ring 5") or a high-quality shampoo for humans (we've tried almost everything we could purchase in our stores and can say that "Elseve", "Pantene Pro-V" and "Schauma" trademarks show the best results). Of treatments for humans only the shampoos for extra dry and damaged hair (with proteins) can be applied to dogs. After you washed the suds away check the dog's hair - it should be slippery. Only a good fat restoring shampoo has this effect (others don't suit). By the way, all the high-quality shampoos, balsams and conditioners are uncolored. That means they either transparent or white except for special dog shampoos for different types of coat (there are shampoos for white, black, red and spotted coat). My verdict to all the Polish and the like dog shampoos - junk! The best show cosmetics for dogs are made in USA. One more thing: remember that human treatments in contrast to animals' always pass the strict laboratory control before mass production.

Thoroughly soak the hair before washing. Insert oiled cotton balls inside the ear canals if you are afraid water will get inside (usually I go without them). Don't apply the shampoo directly to the fur or it will lather worse and will be hard to rinse away. Dissolve it in a cup at first and then... don't spare. Rub the dog and then rinse the fur three or four times. Squeeze water from the coat, wrap the dog in towels and carry (lead) her to the place where she'll get dry. Never leave the towels on the dog otherwise the hair will stay damp and may shed (as early as you'll comb it). Avoid drafts, or the dog may catch a cold. I always dry my dogs on the table with a hand-dryer.

Thus, the next step after bathing is drying. Towel-dry the dog's coat (never rub, just blot - the dog's skin is much more sensitive than yours). Since even a fat restoring shampoo dries skin and fur removing natural oil, you should use the balsam or a conditioner (the treatment like a balsam) rubbing it into wet fur. The choice of the balsam is the same as in case of shampoos: white or transparent, for extra dry and damaged hair. But be attentive: there are balsam-rinses that contain foaming substances. If you want to, you may apply them and rinse after 10 minutes. But we are mainly interested in the balsams and conditioners (conditioner is preferable), which need not to be washed away. So just apply the balsam or a conditioner to the wet hair and don't rinse till next bathing. Beside balsams and conditioners there are special oils for coat. They are usually used for show dogs, but are not very good for pets since fur very quickly get a greasy look, locks mat into oily icicles, and if the dog sleeps on your bed, the sheets will be covered with greasy spots. Oiled coat gets dirty very quickly (dirt stains the oil so well!). If you use a balsam or a conditioner the coat later looks dry. When you use a conditioner, a balsam or oil you, first of all, feed up the fur and the skin and if your dog has a dry skin, you compensate this. Now you shouldn't be afraid of overdrying the dog's skin with the hand-dryer. And the second: you prevent tangling and matting in long-haired breeds.

Here are some details about the procedure: to bathe the dog use only lukewarm or fresh water. Ideal is room temperature. Blow dry is only warm, never hot (1.5 kW power hand-dryer is enough). If your dog is long-haired and you use hair-curlers, add special oil. On my opinion the best oil for dogs is Johnson's Baby Oil or bur oil or corn oil. If you need to overgrow a bold spot or quickly grow fur after molting or a heat, use the vitamin A oil solution mixed with castor oil in proportion 1:1.

One more note: if the breed you have molts but you do not exhibit your dog, you may bathe her when it sheds and leave the dog get warm wrapped in towels - the greater part of hair will shed right away and won't come out gradually, driving your vacuum crazy. Show-dogs are quite another matter - you have to take care of their coat all the year round and treat it like some archeological find that is about to fall into pieces. Comb each strand of fur gently with bated breath (let me save the description of proper combs - this is another big story), bathe carefully, never use ordinary collars (they wear the coat out on the neck in front of withers), put on costume when walking out in bad weather. Protect from dust, wind, earthquakes and tsunami (I'm serious!).

In conclusion I'd like to say that for almost all wooly dogs, despite they are "showmen" or pedigree or something, one hygiene procedure is indispensable: hair-cutting. Let it be not a high-class and complete cut. Just remove hair at least under the tail, round the ears, cut off these awful "slippers". As to bangs, you can clip them off or just gather in a pony-tale with an elastic band. A cocker spaniel will have less ear problems if his ears will "breathe" rather than be stuck in tangles and mud.

by Elena Sa�unenko, Translated by Tatiana Karpova (Moscow)
(MSU, Biology faculture, Dep. zoology and ecology).