[silent watcher]

hi! i am having trouble bathing my dog properly.... do i really need a dog shampoo? i just want to use my own shampoo.... i dont think that my shampoo is bad for my dog!!! someone please give me an alternative "shampoo"... i would favor a natural alternative!

[CorkyMax]

Originally Posted by silent watcher

hi! i am having trouble bathing my dog properly.... do i really need a dog shampoo? i just want to use my own shampoo.... i dont think that my shampoo is bad for my dog!!! someone please give me an alternative "shampoo"... i would favor a natural alternative!

This is a link to a thread in here that may answer some of your questions: Shampoo, conditioners, treatments?

Also have a post in here somewhere on Not bathing your dog too often!! Will see if I can find it ---Keep looking here for a while till I see if I can find it. Here it is:

itchy cocker

[silent watcher]

someone had just posted that there's no problem with human shampoo. i sahre the same opinion with him. As he said, dogs have different ph levels depending on the breed. and dog shampoos do not use a label " for cocker spaniels only" or "for border collie only". so ph doesnt matter. and he further stated that show dogs were bather with pantene and having no problems. what u think?

[CorkyMax]

Originally Posted by silent watcher

someone had just posted that there's no problem with human shampoo. i sahre the same opinion with him. As he said, dogs have different ph levels depending on the breed. and dog shampoos do not use a label " for cocker spaniels only" or "for border collie only". so ph doesnt matter. and he further stated that show dogs were bather with pantene and having no problems. what u think?

I see that there is a big difference of opinions! I think I will pick the dog shampoo just to be on the 'safe' side--Why worry about it, the shampoo lasts a long time and is not that much more expensive--Especially if you don't bathe the dog that often---Which is a bad thing to do (bathing too often!) Am going to repeat here some of what was in that last link I gave you!-- A natural dog coat is supposed to consist of two kinds of hairs: the longer cover-hairs and the shorter (often curly) under-wool. This is the visible part. Dogs are supposed to shed their coat twice a year, spring and fall - the summer coat being much thinner with much less under-wool, the winter coat being thick and long with lots of under-wool for insulation. (Some dogs, like poodles, have no cover-hairs. Others, like Shi-tzus, have no under-wool. Such breeds do not have the natural protection they should have - and if you have such a dog, you need to protect it from the weather. And when you meet one of those dogs, you have to quit laughing at the owner's attempt to dress up the dog! Those dogs need that protection!)

The non-visible part consists of the hair follicles. Those are small glands that are connected to the root of each individual hair. They produce a constant supply of grease that will "creep" up along the hairs, just as sugar does on a spoon you leave in the jam jar overnight. This grease will push all kinds of dirt and foreign objects from the base of the hair to the tip, in a matter of days. In the process, the grease reacts with oxygen in the air and hardens. It ends up as a fine dust when it reaches the tip of the hair - and leaves the dog's body together with whatever dirt it pushed along. You can see this when the dog shakes - and you might wonder where all that dust comes from! Now you know. It is the dog's natural way of cleaning the coat, from inside out. Terribly, terribly smart invention from mother Nature's side!

Can you see how much damage you can do to this fine-tuned system by applying shampoo - or any other kind of detergent whose primary chemical/physical property is to dissolve fat and grease?

Dogs do not have sweat glands in their skin, except between the toes on the paws and on the tongue. Their skin does not get "greasy" from sweat, as our skin does. Our skin is grounds for a lot of bacteria that grow on our sweat - and create this typically unpleasant smell that causes us to bathe or use deodorants - or both. But for dogs, this is not an issue at all!

What happens when you bathe your dog is that those small glands get a message that the fat and grease they produce to keep the coat nice and clean have been removed. The natural reaction to that is an increased production to re-establish the natural balance! So, the more you bathe the dog, the more greasy the coat becomes! It is an impossible battle for you to win, because, the more you keep the dog's skin free of fat, the more problems you create for the skin. The dog gets itchy-and it becomes extremely vulnerable for infection and parasites! Hey, maybe this is the 'big' problem!!?

Besides, this natural grease keeps the coat water repellant - and thus nice and warm, also in wet weather. When you shampoo the coat, it loses that ability to repel water - and the dog is miserably cold when it gets wet...

What you do when the dog gets dirty? Rinse it with clean water - or let it take a swim. Just keep shampoos and detergents off the coat.

And, a final comment about the coat: it insulates the dog's body very well. Because dogs do not depend on sweat glands in the skin to keep themselves cool in the summer heat, the coat insulates equally well against the heat as it does against the cold! This means that shaving the dog in the summer is not protecting it against the heat - it is making it more vulnerable!



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Also going to give you this from another comment: (be right back-have to go copy it!)

[CorkyMax]

This also sounds like a good idea:
Years ago I had problems with over-washing a staffy. She was a smelly wee dog and couldn't go too long between baths. She would start scratching as soon as she was dry, and I just couldn't figure out why.
Then, after talking to my vet, he told me a good solution to the problem was to put the dog shampoo (baby shampoo works a treat here too!) into warm water and rinse her down with this, rather than put undiluted straight onto her coat. I'd then rub her down in the direction of her coat, rinse thoroughly with fresh water, and she was done! This way the oils that the coat needed would remain on her skin, but the hair was clean, making her much more pleasant to have around! It works great with longer haired dogs too.

Have 1 more thing to find--Be right back!

ACV is the natural king of skin remedies. (ACV stands for apple cider vinegar) It is wonderful for itching and scratching pets as well as a superb skin and hair conditioner. Good old apple cider vinegar either straight or diluted 50/50 with water can be applied directly to the affected area and allowed to dry. It will eliminate dandruff, rejuvenate hair, skin and help sweeten and balance the pH levels in the body. When giving your pet a bath, shampoo, rinse, then apply ACV either straight or diluted, followed by rinsing with water. Notice, any residue shampoo will be washed out and you will feel and see an increased softness and sheen to the coat. It can be followed with a conditioner of your choice. Taken internally will help the body against arthritis, itching, obesity, bad odor, dry skin, joint problems, lack luster hair and weak immune system. Average dosage for a dog or person is 1/2 oz morning and 1/2 oz. evening. A cat is half that dose. Can be diluted fifty fifty with water, dripped on food. Finicky pets try tiny doses then work up to suggested amount.

There are a lot more good things about apple cider vinegar! If interested--Put vinegar in the search field near top of page(s) in this forum--Find the blue strip across the page with the white word Search--click it and put word vinegar in the box.

One more thing about 'human' shampoo----If you have decided to use your shampoo--What kind is it and does it have additional things added like for instance--shampoo for dandruff must have a strong ingredient that would not be a good idea to use on a dog!!

[Yogi]

What breed of dog is it that you have? In fact, yes dogs should bathed with an oatmeal based dog shampoo. Ph or not, issues in dogs coat and skin are not the same as in humans. Many shampoos we use remove the natural oil in the hair, in dogs we want to avoid this as this is essential to a healthy coat. In some breeds especially single short coated breeds, bathing should be but once every 3 to 4 months to avoid dry skin issues again which can be even more enhanced when using human shampoo.

[fidobuddy]

human shampoo may not be suitable for dogs. our hair and their fur are totally different and needs different cleansing and nutrients. some dogs have very sensitive fur and once human shampoo which can have a strong chemical ingredient is used, it may irritate the dog and make him itch. you can use organic or botanical dog shampoos which are mild in their skin

[millsandbones]

I think shampoo for humans are to strong for dogs.

[silent watcher]

I use rejoice shampoo. I mix it with water then apply to my dog's coat. after the wash, his coat looks good. and few days later, he scratches sometimes. but im not worried about it. its not a big problem to me and for my dog! and my dog is single coated. i see no curly underwool!

what trouble me is i do not know what my dog's breed...

[Marlene]

I think it depends on the needs of your dog. There are flea shampoo, medicated shampoo and standard shampoo.

Try asking your vet to recommend the shampoo best suited to your dog.

We use our human shampoo for our dogs and so far we haven't encountered any problems with it.

Try to know more about Dog Shampoos here.

[Lara's mom]

I use human baby wash on my dogs. I haven't encountered any problems.