Shampoo for Dogs... People vs Dog

[Guest Anonymous]

You are correct Mother of 2 Yorkies, Yorkies do tend to have a different coat type and when using the wrong shampoo product this can lead to lackluster coat...at the grooming shop we never use any human shampoos on any of the customer's dogs...but, now that I think about it the owner of the facility always tells us never to use a conditioner on a yorkie's coat, or Cocker spaniel (only on the Cockers legs) as they will get a drab look...I never even thought of that before and pantene does have a conditioner in it...doesnt it? perhaps that is the cause of the greasy coat your Yorkie was experiencing.

[Guest Anonymous]

not to go off topic, but i wanted to jump in on the food issue here.

while nutro is better than some brands out there, it isn't that great of a food. in my opinion, the quality has declined ever since they changed their formulas and included generic fat (poultry fat) instead of just sunflower oil or single source fats.

it also contains only about 26% meat, the rest are grains and grain products that have lost most of their nutritional value during processing already. just an example for comparison, canidae contains 60% meat.

garbage in = garbage out indeed. it's not only about choosing product X over product Y, the formulation makes a great differrence as well. often it takes a while to figure out the proper ratio of protein and fat that a particular dog needs, many dogs have skin and coat problems because their owners think they absolutely [i]have[/i] to feed a diet low in fat.

[alpha sheltie]

I don't bathe my dogs often (haven't found the need to) so I don't really have a regular brand of shampoo. I have however, used human conditioners on one of my shelties. It came out nicer than ever and since I don't bathe often, I see no harm in doing this every two+ months. I also have used mane and tail conditioner. I know another sheltie owner who uses this product also. I think I heard that it was originally intended for horses but people started using it. It's wonderful on both my hair and my shelties'. I've actually found it for sale in a couple pet supply stores.

[Guest Anonymous]

i have used that Mane and Tail shampoo on my dogs for several years, gets them clean (which is amazing :), doesn't make them greasy or itchy or any of that, you can get it easily (like at Wal-Mart) and you can mix it with water so it goes farther and it lasts forever :) i've never had any trouble with it and dresden is VERY shiny too........i also use it on my own head :) works great. oh, and it is not exorbitantly expensive :)

[Guest Anonymous]

Well just quickly while we're on the topic of food (you all know how food obsessed I am!) in my opinion the only way you can be sure your dog is not eating garbage is to feed them a completely natural diet. Even the best commercial foods contain some amount of garbage, and I'm happier knowing that stuff isn't going through my dogs digestive tracts each day. My dogs coats are as healthy and as shiney as they could possibly be, if they were any shinyer they'd probably blind me in the sun! :lol:

Now, as for shampoo... I used to have this oatmeal stuff I used for Lily, it smelt really nice and did a good job, and got rid of the dandruff she had when I first got her. I'll have to get some more of that some day, it was really good stuff!!!

I have some herbal stuff now that I bought for Montie, I came across some really nice stuff down in Sydney called squirt I thing, but of course I'd just spent hundreds on the dog and was still spending holiday money so I put off buying it! And of course the pet shop here didn't sell it so I had to settle for this other stuff... which is ok, but I wanted the Squirt! :lol:

Cassie, I've read that recipe some where before, I guess its one of those cases where you stik with what you know... but the thought of dish washing liquid and vinigar on my doggies sounds a little strange to me!!!

About those whitening shampoos, I've heard that if they are used on a regular basis they will dry the coat... am I right? Because I was going to buy some for Montie, but the breeder said not to. I give him a bath every week or two just because I like to keep him smelling nice and clean, he does alot of running in the mud and half the time you can barely see a Papillon under his grot! :o

[Guest Anonymous]

Aroura, I know it sounds crazy using dish soap on your dog..but, this orginal Palmolive with no scent...many of our customers want non-scented shampoos used on their dogs and we have used this recipe with great success. As for whitening shampoo used on dogs, we have never had a problem...I really will look at the brands my boss uses at the shop... :lol: but, I do know she uses a gentle whitening shampoo. The other shampoo we use called Pro-glow is a purple shampoo as well, but, it is not a whitening shampoo...you can use it on black dogs to give them a special shine and enhance the black coat and on white dogs or tri's...any color dog and it really gives a nice finish. I will ask my boss about the whitening shampoo or perhaps horse feathers will have more info for you. But, IMO if you are bathing Monty weekly I would defenitely not use any thing that may be harsh...and the whitening shampoo in my opinion would perhaps be too harsh to use weekly...stick to what you are doing and continue using mild shampoos...I bath my Newfoundlands weekly only because the breeder is showing them every weekend...she perfers me to use A-1 all systems or Alexanders own...but, I do still use the recipe I listed... :wink: they have great coats...and 3 of them are being fed Eukanuba...yuk...but, its not my choice...the breeder still legally owns them and its her call on the food.
Good luck with Monty, and it would be wise in my opinion...to listen to your breeder about the shampoo. :wink:

[Guest Anonymous]

Thanks Cassie.

Although I originally planned on getting whitening shampoo for Montie I don't really think he needs it... he gets very dirty but his fur doesn't get stains like westies and malties often do, if I bath him properly he comes out glowing and white :wink:

In that recipe what is the vinager for? Is it to make it more acidic or does it serve some other purpose? I might make some up for the big dogs, and if they do well with it I might try it out on my precious, fragile Montie :wink:

Am I right in thinking the detergent in the shampoo kills fleas? I've heard that some where before, just double checking.

[Guest Anonymous]

[quote name='~Aroura~']Even the best commercial foods contain some amount of garbage, and I'm happier knowing that stuff isn't going through my dogs digestive tracts each day.[/quote]

actually that's not quite true. i do know in many countries availability is still a problem, but here in the US a good number of high quality products are available that certainly do not contain any garbage. one of them even consists of over 95% organic ingredients - which, as weird as it might sound, is a better quality diet than many humans eat these days, especially those who rely on fastfood and prepared convenience foods every day. funny how many people are so concerned about what their pets eat, but not the least bit about their own food. for me, not having grown up in that type of culture, that's kind of difficult to understand.

i have helped a good number of people to locate better (commercial) foods for their pets. it's a lot harder to find high quality domestic products for example in european countries or australia/new zealand, often buying an imported food is the best option (as long as it's not a poor quality product like pedigree, purina, iams, science diet etc.) and not everyone can afford that.

i am not surprised that many people who condemn all commercial foods and are staunch supporters of a raw diet live in those countries. if i were in that situation, i'd probably prefer a homemade diet for my pets as well, however, that [b]doesn't[/b] mean that there aren't any quality products out there at all.

a lot of people have become aware about the fact that not just any commercial pet food will do, and even more are condemning certain companies for the ingredients they use, but if you do some research, you will be surprised to find out that the labeling and ingredient laws in the US are a lot stricter than in almost any other country. and a handfull of small manufacturers are actually taking great care to provide products made from high-quality ingredients, without any "garbage" in them. :)

[Guest Anonymous]

[b]Aroura wrote:[/b][quote]In that recipe what is the vinager for? Is it to make it more acidic or does it serve some other purpose? I might make some up for the big dogs, and if they do well with it I might try it out on my precious, fragile Montie [/quote]
I beleive the white vinager is used to get the proper PH level...and it helps to clean and deoderize...I don't know if its a fluke or if it really helped but a while back my Rottwieller rolled in fish guts (on our walks we go past many lakes...fishermen tend to gut the fish right there) I was taking her to the Vet and the only thing I had close at hand was organic apple cider vinager...the smell came off her...probably just a fluke as I was rubbing her with a cloth and possibley came off with the cloth...any way it didn't bother her coat at all... :wink:

[quote]Am I right in thinking the detergent in the shampoo kills fleas? I've heard that some where before, just double checking.[/quote]

I know we have used the detergent shampoo on flea infested dogs before and left it on them for about 5 minutes and it seems to kill the fleas...we also have an organic citrus shampoo we use for a flea shampoo...but, we have been out of that for the last week waiting for the shampoo order to come in. One good shampoo we get from the states that sells the Pro glow I just remembered the name...it's made by Top Performance...great shampoo and very good prices...the breeder of my Newfoundlands usually brings us back a few bottles when she is shoing in the States...the best thing is it is concentrated so a gallon jug for us lasts us for a couple of months and we groom about 13 dogs a day.

[Guest Anonymous]

Guest, I see where you are coming from. Still, even if I did live somewhere that I could get that kind of food I'd probably still stick to raw for the simple fact that I like to see just what is going in and out of my dogs, despite promises etc of commercial manufacturers I still can't see exactly what is in those little brown hard bits of kibble. I can read a label, and some foods sound excellent (I like the look of Eagle Pack, I'd probably import that if I were to feed kibble), but it still doesn't satisfy me, thats just the way I am, and you are right, my dogs do eat better than me. Though recently I have been working towards making my own diet better! :lol:
Cassie, Pro Glo is actually one of the small variety of pet products we do get here!!! LOL, its so funny to hear a name mentioned on this forum that we actually get here! :roll:

[Malamum]

Aroura - we can actually get Eagle Pack in Australia. It's what my breeder feeds and I've got the website of the company she orders it from somewhere. You would still have to get it shipped as I don't believe you can buy it in any shops but it would be coming from Australia so you wouldn't have to worry about importing it.

I know you feed raw but if you ever need it for any reason let me know and I'll dig up the details for you.