Every month we take Athena to a local self-serve dog wash for her routine bath. Because I'm super picky, we usually bring our own grooming supplies instead of using the ones that are provided by the facility.
Aside from her monthly bath, Athena also gets "feet cleanings" on occasion if she happens to get her paws super muddy at the park. For these quick clean-ups we wash Athena's paws in our bathtub at home, so I like to have our own grooming products on hand.
Below is a list of the different grooming products that we use during bath time, feet cleanings, and everything in between:
Shampoos & Conditioner:
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| Photos via Earthbath & Molly Muriel |
We switch between using Earthbath's Oatmeal & Aloe Shampoo (liquid) and Molly Muriel's Dog Shampoo (bar). Both help Athena's dry, itchy skin and leave her coat soft and shiny after a bath. I actually don't have a preference between the two, but I've noticed that the bar soap seems to be much longer lasting than the bottle of liquid shampoo (not to mention the bar is cheaper-- $6 vs. $16). It's also a plus that Molly Muriel is local to Portland. I have been very impressed with how well both shampoos lather without using too much shampoo.
After a good sudsing and rinse, we apply a small amount of Earthbath's Creme Rinse & Conditioner to Athena's coat to help detangle her brindle furs and keep them super shiny.
Microfiber Towel:
Before Athena gets out of the bath, we give her a thorough rub down with our Microfiber Pet Towel. The microfiber material helps to speed up the fur drying process. Athena actually thinks the towel drying is the best part of the bath process (as you can see from the pictures below). She then gets fully dried with a commercial dryer as well as a hair dryer.
Freshening Mist & Wipes:
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| Photos via Earthbath |
To keep Athena smelling fresh throughout the month, we often spritz her fur with a deodorizing spray. We own Earthbath's Lavender Spritz, as well as Earthbath's Mango Tango Spritz. These delicious smelling sprays have proven to be quite necessary after a long day of daycare when Athena comes home smelling like wet-stanky-dog. We also use these sprays to keep Athena's fur soft and shiny in between baths.
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| Photo via Earthbath |
We keep packages of grooming wipes all over the house and in our cars to ensure that we always have these life-savers around. Every time Athena enters the house after a walk or from prancing around in the mud, we wipe her paws with a grooming wipe to ensure that our house stays clean and that Athena doesn't lick anything icky off from her paws. She knows that "paw" means to lift her paw for us to wipe. Our favorite wipes are Earthbath's Hypo-Allergenic Grooming Wipes.
Paw Cream:
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| Photo via Musher's Secret |
From time to time we massage Athena's little feetsies with Musher's Secret Paw Cream to keep them soft and protected from the elements. We haven't had much extreme weather (snow or heat) since purchasing this wax, so I will have to wait until later to give it a full review. As of now, we've mostly used it to soften Athena's crackly paws (which she loves to stick in our eyeballs). It does seem to be working, and Athena especially loves the pampering she gets during the procedure!
Other Grooming Supplies:
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| Photos via Amazon |
Of course, aside from all of the above grooming supplies we own the usual gadgets such as dog toothbrushs, toothpaste, ear cleaning solution, nail clippers, and brushes. Our favorite brush to use during bath time (when Athena's fur is wet) is the Kong Zoom Groom. We like to use a Longhaired Shedding Comb on Athena's dry fur to brush out her loose fur.
What are your favorite dog grooming products? How often do you bathe your dog? Any tips for grooming?
Mom just got me some of that Earthbath stuff too! It has a nice smell :)
ReplyDeleteAthena does not seem to mind her baths too much! I am not crazy about them, but I am tolerant. Mom used to give me baths outside in summer, but now I go in the bathtub with warm water :)
My old vet wanted mom to bathe me every single day because my allergies, but mom thought this was too extreme. For a while she would bathe me twice a week, but not it's more like once every week or two. I like that better :)
Love the photo of her rolling with the towel! We used to outsource all of our bathing and just take them to Petsmart. Then, one day, we realized we could just toss them in the tub. We use a lot of the similar things. We love the Kong Brush which I think works better than an ordinary brush. And we use the Mango earthbath and creme rinse which makes Miss M smell like a lady (not like corn chips) and makes Mr. B's normally course hair soft. Jack Frost's foster mom was using coconut oil on his skin which can be really good for damaged skin. I think we might try that too.
ReplyDeleteWhen Madden came back to us her skin was super flakey and full of dandruff. It only took a few days of rubbing coconut oil into her skin to help her out there. And/or adding it into her food. I am all for that also!
DeleteWe love the Earthbath products and Musher's Secret! :) Nola DOES NOT like dryers though, so usually it's a towel and air drying for her!
ReplyDeleteWe just use PetSmart's generic oatmeal shampoo, plus the Zoom Groom for Eddie. Gambit did have a prescription spray on conditioner that made him smell like pina colada (and two other prescription shampoos and prescription conditioner...yeesh). I happily bathe less often now than when he needed 3-4 baths/week - we're down to monthly, with summer hose offs if they get particularly dirty at the beach or park.
ReplyDeleteWe use Earthbath shampoo too! We've also used their witch hazel ear wipes. For wiping down paws or wiping Braylon down after her daily dirt roll in the yard I just buy hypoallergenic baby wipes since they are cheaper.
ReplyDeleteI haven't had to use conditioner or any brushes since our pups have such short fur, but I used that Kong zoom groom when I was giving baths to shelter dogs once and it was AWESOME for the long haired dogs. I was super impressed.
Boomer and Dottie hate bath time however they don't have a choice and get to use an oatmeal based shampoo after we give them a good long brushing. Labs are constantly shedding! Once the evil bath is over they both get full body rub downs with a towel which is their favorite part. We've even started giving them a rub down when they do something good as a reward!
ReplyDeleteI use that Earthbath oatmeal shampoo too! It smells great and works well. I bought the Earthbath almond and vanilla spray too but the dogs hate being sprayed so I rarely use it. I just bathe them in the tub at home only when they have rolled in something stinky because they really really hate it:( Athena looks so silly and happy being toweled off. Kaya & Norman just look super depressed when I towel them off. But then they are very excited because they know they get a whole chicken strip after:)
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Very infomative your post! Pet hair dryer
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