Grooming

[jbm]

Cody is 12 years old.   Unfortunately, we never took the time to pay attention on how to bathe Cody properly .  We usually just let the groomer bathe him and we did his in between baths.  His coat is not at all the same as when we first got him.  It was very coarse and now's its just a little coarse.  Now that he is getting older, I'm wondering what shampoo should I be using on him.  My husband used Dawn detergent for years.  I then switched him to an oatmeal shampoo.  But, I do know that over the years, Cody has pulled hair out and sometimes would develop hot spots.  He does seem to have very sensitive skin.  So any suggestions on which shampoo we should use.  I think we have probably ruined his coat by now.  I read somewhere that Cairn Terriers don't shed!  Well, mine does a lot of shedding and I'm afraid it's because of our poor choices of shampoos.  Any help would be very much appreciated. 

[bradl]

Dawn is a pretty harsh — some auto detailers use it to strip wax off cars.  I would have thought you'd be safe with oatmeal shampoo, although sometimes dogs have reactions to a specific binder or ingredient so that even a different brand can sometimes be tolerated better. 

A breeder near us whose dogs tend to have good coats said that the key to shampooing is rinsing — thorough, complete rinsing. Rinse and rinse and rinse. 

We do not bathe our dogs unless they get into something horrible (rolling around on a dead seagull or oil slick, for example) but for freshening from time to time we mostly have used a self-rinsing shampoo, like the purple pro-line (we picked up a bottle at dog show and it has lasted for years). These are Amazon links because I'm lazy but you can find most of these products in many places (dog show vendors are great sources because they tend to have both a good selection and good advice).

There are shampoos specifically for harsh coats, although we most frequently use a self-rinse for touch-up.

 Spray on, towel a bit, and you're done. 

 

 This is top-of-the-line shampoo for the pampered terrier. 

 We have used this more affordable version with no ill effects (after the aforementioned romp in an oil spill).

[Sam I Am]

We rarely shampoo also but when I do there are a Couple of products I really like. Burt’s Bees is one of them.https://www.burtsbeespets.com/

and this is really great stuff.https://earthbath.com/ we have actually used this shampoo for bubble baths for ourselves.

Edited November 22, 2017 by Terrier lover