Removing Chemicals From Your Dogs' Coat

When Gilby was pulled out of the dog pound, his coat looked groomed but it had been brushed only on top leaving a mass of matted coat underneath, his tail had dreadlocks and a couple friends suggested shaving him down and starting over

If you have read this blog for any time you know I am against shaving down dogs, not only does it put them at risk of skin cancer but most dogs don't like it either.

Gilby had suffered enough trauma. His jaw had been broken, his side teeth had been filed to nubs to help his jaw close and the surgery had given him a massive bone infection.
After all that and the months it took to heal...his owners dumped him at the pound where he would have been destroyed if no one came and got him. Since he is a senior dog that was unlikely...

Having been a groomer for so many years I opted to comb him out. The drawback was that I suffer from MCS multiple chemical sensitivities that act like a combination of Lupus and MS on your body when exposed. Gilby had so many chemicals in his coat that attempting to demat him had left me very sick.

Normally you would demat your dog before putting him in the bath. Bathing a matted dog as I have put in previous posts makes the mats worse. But I had no choice.

Gilby was bathed mats and all, with  dishwashing detergent, 1 oz to 15 oz water to which 15 drops organic lavender oil and 5 drops tea tree oil had been added.

The lavender acts as both an antibacterial and as a solvent to remove hard chemicals. The tea tree oil kills any mold that may be lurking in those mats and the truth is mold grows inside mats quickly. Before the bath he was rinsed down with a couple gallons of distilled water. Distilled water opens the hair shaft so that it is easier for the chemicals to be removed. It also makes the mats worse because it roughens the hair cuticle so I really had my work cut out for me.

After washing he was rinsed thoroughly then rerinsed with more distilled water. This leaves the cuticle open and then I applied Espree Luxury Reconditioner. I love the Espree natural shampoos and conditioners and used them on all my showdogs

Distilled water is hard on a silky coated dog and I don't recommend it often unless like me, you were trying to remove chemicals that had been picked up in the coat.

Gilby is a loving patient dog and he let me demat most of him using only my fingers and a comb.

If you rescue a dog I recommend getting the coat as chemical free as possible because you simply don't know where that dog has been or what he has been exposed to. It is better for you, your family and your dog...here are Gilbys' before and after pix:

Dog Dies at Groomers of Heat Stroke

Fox News posted this story today about a young childs Poodle who was put in a drying cage and left to die of heat prostration. http://ow.ly/k0iF.

I get so mad when I hear of such stories. The woman reponsible should be convicted as there is no excuse for what she did to that dog...in fact there is no excuse for ANY grooming establishment to EVER put a dog in danger under hot dryers because if the groomer was doing your dog correctly, the dog would be hand dryed on a grooming table.

When choosing a groomer, look for one who advertises that all dogs are hand dryed. Oh, and groomers don't give me that we hand dry long-coated dogs and only cage dry the short coats, because I can tell you that even the short coats look better when PROPERLY hand dryed.

There is a trick to making a short coat lay properly to give it the most sheen and if you have a short- coated dog that you take to a salon for bathing then grill your groomer about it. I never, ever, ever cage dryed a dog as a groomer and the ones who do are just being lazy.

I have walked into the back of too many groom shops and seen cages stacked with dogs under fryers, I mean dryers, and the groomers so often lay towels over the door and cage vents to speed the drying process. People, this is so dangerous it should be illegal!

Some of the larger pet store chains with in- store grooming salons now have dryers with timers on them that shut down after ten minutes. These stores do this in an effort to prevent heat prostration deaths. I have no doubt that some deaths have been prevented by these timers but a dog with anxiety issues or a bracycephalic breed like a Peke, Jap Chin, Pug or Boxer can easily die within that ten minutes.

The only real way to prevent these unnecessary deaths is to groom properly and dry by hand. Groomers think they are saving time cage drying but they aren't....I hand dryed and got out plenty of dogs in one day. Yes, sometimes my assistants/friends Monte and Stacy hand dryed for me when I had a lot of dogs to groom but the dogs were dryed by hand nonetheless. If you want them to be safe, you dry them by hand, if you want them to look their best, you dry them by hand,anything else is a disservice to the dog and the customer.

If you take your dog to a groomer you should demand hand-drying. Don't put your dog at risk, they have enough unpleasantries to deal with at the average groom shop ( like clipper burn because groomers won't buy enough blades).

And if for whatever reason your dog shows signs of heat stroke, rapid cooling down is imperative, but remember this important point...do not use ice water to cool down the dog as it makes the blood flow away from important organs, like the brain. Use cool, not cold water.

Dog Grooming in China

I have always said you can tell how advanced a society is...or isn't, by the way they treat their dogs...read this article posted at the Daily Mail in London today. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1199422/Woof-justice-Meet-pooches-amazing-technicolour-dreamcoats.html and kudos to the Chinese for drafting their first animal protection law..