Articles and Videos
- How often can I wash my dog? A word about wash frequency and shampoos.
- Is that your dog crackling? A word about cold weather, dry skin, and healthy paws.
- Wash Those Paws. The finer points washing your dog.
- What is De-Shedding? A word about all that hair.
- Long toe nails are hard on your dog’s joints. A word about the importance of maintaining short toe nails.
- Cutting Nails on Unruly Dogs. A word about options for dogs who have an aversion to nail clipping.
- How to cut the hair around your dog’s eyes – Video
- How to brush your dog and get our mats – Video
- How to clean your dog’s ears – with Video
How often can I and should I wash my dog?
A word about wash frequency and shampoos.
This is a common question. Many people will tell you that washing a dog regularly dries out their skin. This is an outdated belief stemming from the time when people used dish washing liquid or inappropriate shampoos.
Nowadays, and especially here at Shake & Shine, we have shampoos that are formulated specifically for dogs and the needs of skin that is almost entirely covered in hair. The shampoos I use at Shake & Shine are pH-balanced, and sulfate and paraben-free. Moreover, conditioners are always part of any wash package you choose. Their main purpose is to care for the skin and coat after removing the rancid dirt from the dog. I swear to you that conditioners are not frou-frou and will not turn your dog into a pink perfumed puffball. Conditioners will make your dog’s coat shiny and easier to brush, keep the skin moisturized, and help with static electricity. Washing your dog at Shake & will actually help with dry skin issues.
That said, a good frequency to wash your dog – if he has no special issues – is once a month. That will keep your dog clean and healthy. Dogs actually enjoy being clean, even if they are not always enthusiastic about the process. And we humans relate differently to a dog that smells good and looks good as opposed to a dirty dog. Who would you rather play games with and cuddle?
If your dog has allergies or skin issues, it is not a problem to wash more frequently. My dog, who has allergies, gets washed about every 10 days. Veterinarians will tell you to wash pollen and other allergens out of a dog’s fur regularly if the dog has allergies. Therapy dogs, for instance, who visit nursing homes and hospitals are dogs that need frequent washing to stay clean. If you are fighting a yeast infection on your dog’s skin, you will also have to wash more often.
I hope this helps. Please keep in mind that a healthy dog does not smell.
If you have any questions, give me a call at Shake & Shine: (360) 296 5226. Back to top.
Is that your dog crackling?
A word about cold weather, dry skin, and healthy paws.
When the temperature drops and the air becomes dry, your dog’s fur starts crackling with static electricity. If you have experienced this with your own hair, you know that’s not the greatest of feelings. Together with dry fur comes dry skin. White dandruff becomes visible when you run your hand against the lay of the fur.
The good news is that it’s pretty easy to do something about dry, itchy dog skin. When you come in for a wash, we will use emu oil shampoo or neem shampoo with moisturizing aloe conditioner to soothe the skin and keep the coat and skin moisturized. I know “moisturizing” sounds funny when used in conjunction with dogs, but their skin is really not so much different from ours. Something that I use on my own hair as well as on my dog when I come into the store on those dry, cold mornings, is coat shine spray. It cuts static and makes dog and human hair easy to brush.
Nutrition is another approach: add some healthy oils to your dog’s diet. Fish oil will keep your dog’s skin healthy from the inside and give the coat some shine.
Fish oil also is a healthy supplement to your dog’s food for many other reasons that I won’t go into right now. Additionally, adding a couple of teaspoons (depending on the size of your dog) of coconut or olive oil to the dog food is very helpful too.
Finally, if the dry air at home becomes bothersome to all of you, just put a pot of water on the stove without a lid and let the liquid boil away (without scorching your pot!). It is amazing how much steam the dry winter air will suck up! I usually add a sprig of rosemary or a drop of essential oil to the water too – just for the nice smell.
Paws: Frozen ground, snow, and salt on the sidewalks are all hard on doggie paws. Paw pads are tough but can become cracked. And that is as painful as cracked skin is for us! Paw wax protects paw pads from cracking, aggressive salt products, and also reduces the amount of snow and ice that sticks to the fur between the paws. Mushers use paw waxes on their sled dogs in the Iditarod race in Alaska, but they are also popular with service dog handlers who have to take their dogs everywhere in the city. The product I currently offer is called Musher’s Secret.
If you have any questions, give me a call at Shake & Shine: (360) 296 5226. Back to top.
Wash Those Paws
The Finer Points of Washing Your Dog.
Washing your dog is a good time to check on your dog’s paws. Shampoo them top and bottom, and feel between the toes for little stones or other debris that can get stuck there. Sometimes sticky stuff like tree sap or tar glues together the hairs between the toes with a helping of dirt. Having anything stuck between the toes is like having a stone in your shoe. It chafes and can lead to inflammation or even abscesses.
In the tub, you can gently remove these foreign objects with water, shampoo, and your fingers, or if needed, we can shave them out.
Shaving the hairs on the bottom of the paws so that they are even with the paw pads also makes it less likely for things to get stuck. In Spring this really helps my dog to pick up less of these annoying sticky cottonwood thingies. Lastly take a look at the nails – as I’ve said before, long nails are hard on your dog’s joints and mess with their traction. Back to top.
What is De-shedding?
A word about all that hair.
Dogs shed.
Some more than others.
If you have a dog with a thick coat who likes to share, there are several things you can do to stay ahead of shedding.
The goal is to remove the loose hair in a controlled manner so you don’t have a constant trickle onto your furniture and clothes. This is where a de-shedding treatment at Shake & Shine comes in. We clean the coat thoroughly and remove all that loose undercoat in one big go. Depending on the state of the dog’s coat, that is quite a workout and results in big heaps of wet fur. Keep at it though, and you can get through the coat of even an Aussie Shepherd or Bernese with a comb.
If you do it yourself with the help of our De-Shed wash package, you have to commit to a little bit of a workout, as I said, or you can hire us to do it for you. But the work results a good looking dog and reduced shedding. Especially if you keep it up afterwards by regularly brushing your dog! The good news is, brushing and combing will be a lot easier now that you established a baseline.
Another thing that helps is a coat spray with humectants that keep the skin and coat from drying out. Healthy skin sheds less. (You probably know that dogs that are sick or are under stress will shed more. Some dogs suddenly start “blowing coat” when at the vet’s, for instance.)
The dog will never cease to shed entirely – dog hair is a renewable resource – but you can reduce the amount considerably. At the same time you will have a pretty dog with healthy skin and coat. Without the old undercoat clogging up the fur, ventilation is better (less hot spots or yeast), the dog dries faster when wet, and will smell better.
If you have any questions, stop by or give me a call at Shake & Shine: (360) 296 5226. Back to top.
Long Toe Nails are Hard On Your Dog’s Joints
A word about the importance of maintaining short toe nails.
As you can see, dogs walk on the tips of their toes. When they run, they flex their toes and dig the nails in deep – even when the nails don’t touch the ground in rest. But when the nail is too long, the toes get forced apart, the foot flattened, and the joints are out of alignment. The dog is forced to hold his paws constantly in a “walking uphill” position.
When walking or trotting the foot can’t roll naturally forward. If you pay attention, you can see with a little practice if a dog has too long nails just from the way they are walking. Their walk is a flat-footed flap-flap-flap instead of a loose prance. A dog with long nails will “skate” around on the nails and slip especially on hard surfaces. The concrete floor in my store makes it easy to see whose nails are too long.
Especially in older dogs with long nails, the unnatural position of the toes stresses the joints of the leg and back. At the same time, the nails grow faster because the dog becomes gradually less active and doesn’t wear them off so much. Keeping your old dog’s nails trimmed is a really simple way to make his life easier!
Broken nails can also be caused by letting the nail grow too long. Some dog’s nails grow out thin and pointy and snag on branches, rocks or other obstacles on the ground. Other dog’s nails become brittle and splinter easily when too long.
So, not only in order to save your hardwood floors – keep those nails trimmed. And of course, Shake & Shine can help you with that! Nail trimming with or with out a bath is always available on a walk in basis.
If you have any questions, stop by at Shake & Shine or give me a call: (360) 296 5226. Back to top.
Nail Clipping on Unruly Dogs
A word about the options for dogs that have an aversion to nail clipping.
We have good success with clipping nails also on anxious dogs and dogs that are opposed to the process. We do our best to make them comfortable and reward with treats if they take them. Lots of dogs reward us with their cooperation even if it takes some patience sometimes. In some cases, we will muzzle a dog, if it is not safe otherwise.
But there are definitely the hard cases, that are so scared of nail clipping and handling that it would traumatize them to restrain them to the degree that is needed. Some dogs’ fear and size make them too dangerous to handle for us. What are your options in this case?
You can try some form of sedation – either vet-prescribed or something like CBD oil – to take the fear, anxiety, and arousal a notch down. This allows the dog the experience of being handled and can lead over time to them learning that this is not a scary event.
In extreme cases, dogs will be anesthetized at the vet, and the nails will be cut while the dog is “under”. This is, of course, not a good option. You cannot anesthetize a dog so often as they need nail clipping. Besides that it is prohibitively expensive to do so. The only long-term solution is desensitization training. Desensitization training is more involved than touching a dog’s foot a few times and giving treats. A lot of owners are able to handle their dogs’ feet just fine, but the dogs still turn into Cujo as soon as clippers come out. Desensitization training takes commitment. I heard (read?) a remark from a trainer once: “Don’t think microwave, think slow cooker”. In other words, do not expect this to be resolved in days, but in weeks of daily training. There are many fine points involved that depend on your individual dog. I strongly recommend getting yourself help from a reputable, certified, reward-based trainer. They can teach you the steps you need to take and can fine-tune them to your dog and your situation.
This all sounds like a great hassle and will cost money too. But the result is worth it. Your dog’s nails need cutting about once a month for the rest of his or her life. Investing in making this easy and not something you dread every time will make your life so much better.
Because desensitization training happens in many small steps and lots of iterations, it is not something I can do for your dog at my store. I have convinced dogs that are unsure about nail clipping and young puppies with lots of praise and rewards that nail clipping is nothing bad, but for a dog with a serious aversion to nail clipping these short sessions are not enough.
If you have any questions, stop by at Shake & Shine or give me a call: (360) 296 5226. Back to top.
How to cut the hair around your dog’s eyes
How to brush your dog and get out mats
How to clean your dog’s ears (with video)
Dogs’ ears have three major parts: the outer ear, the middle ear, and the inner ear – the same as humans’ ears. The outer ear consists the furry earflap and the pink-skinned ear canal that ends in the ear drum. The middle ear is a cavity behind the ear drum that holds three small bones. Dogs also have an Eustachian (auditory) tube like humans. The inner ear consists mostly of nerves and a center for balance which connect to the brain.
If you lift your dog’s ear flap (if it is not upright anyways), you will see pink skin folds that funnel into the vertical part of the ear canal. It narrows down to dark opening that you can see if you get the light and viewing angle right. You cannot see the ear drum, because the ear canal curves in a sharp angle horizontally into the skull farther down from that dark opening. I find it interesting that all these random looking skinfolds have the same configuration in all dogs big and small.
Dogs’ ears produce ear wax like human ears. Together with dirt and moisture, this ear wax can become an ideal breeding ground for bacteria and/or yeast fungi. Some of these bacteria and yeasts are always present on a dog’s skin and in the ears, but they can become a problem if the dog is predisposed to ear infections (of the outer ear) or has other health issues like allergies, skin infections, or other. Dogs that have folded-over ears or floppy ears have more ear problems than dogs with upright ears because moisture does not evaporate as well in the closed off area under the ear flap. Having a lot of hair inside the outer part of the ear canal like for instance poodles, some doodles, and Portuguese water dogs have, can also contribute to the problem. (If it is advisable to pluck those hairs out or not is a topic for intense debate!)
In case of an ear infection, the inside of the ear is coated in an ear wax/microbe mix that is usually reddish brown or black brown. The ear skin becomes inflamed and in severe cases thickened and pebbled. An ear infection is itchy and painful for the dog, and it is smelly. In extreme cases, the ear canal is swollen shut and the ear drum can become perforated from the inflammation. (If you ever see yellow pus in your dog’s ear, do not touch it and go directly to the vet!).
Besides what the ear looks like and smells like, dogs show additional signs of an ear infection: they will shake their head, paw at their ears, and might rub them on the floor.
Dogs with floppy ears or that in other ways predisposed for ear infections should have their ears cleaned regularly. It is also a good idea for dogs that go swimming a lot. The thinking here is that because of the sharp angle in the ear canal, water can get trapped and contribute to an ear infection. Even though the danger of getting dogs’ ears wet has been overstated in the past. Most dogs get rid of water in the ear canal with a good shake of the head. But anyways – ear cleaning after swimming is not a bad idea.
For a dog who had ear problems in the past or has long floppy ears, ear cleaning once a week helps keeping them infection free. For dogs with generally healthy ears, an occasional clean when you come in for a bath is enough.
To clean the ear, you need dog ear cleaner, which you can buy from us or any other pet supply store. I like the Zymox brand that we use in the dog wash and for grooming because it contains an enzyme mix that chews up microbes (both bacteria and yeast) but no antibiotics which would breed resistant bacteria over an extended use. A good earl cleaner contains a drying agent to help evaporate the water, but also oils and other skin care components that protect the skin of the ear canal. You also need cotton pads (or cotton balls if you prefer) and cotton swabs (“Q tips”). In the video I am showing how to use the ear cleaner and the natural shaking motion of the dog to flush out the angled ear canal, and the cotton pads and swabs to clean off all those skin folds. We only ever wipe out the visible part of the ear and never ever use cotton swabs to poke into the angled part of the ear canal that leads to the ear drum.
You are always welcome to clean your dog’s ears when you are at the store and we will be happy to help you!
Last question: Do dogs like having their ears cleaned? In my experience, once they are over the surprise of somebody prodding their ears, most actually like it. There are always exceptions of course, but mostly it is a pleasant experience. Back to top.