Recommend a dog/puppy shampoo to me

[ducks4you]

I bathed my puppies in uber-cheap Dollar Store lavendar scented baby shampoo.

 

[Jamie_Dog_Trainer]

Gritsar-- Please don't use anything but a shampoo created for dogs. Although sometimes the alternative cleansers can be effective, they are not for long term regular usage. The non-dog shampoos can be drying and create a lot of problems for dogs coat. Dish soap is ok a couple times a year to strip the excess oils but not usually reccommended for the GSD who don't normally have a lot of excess oils in their coat.

Unless you see issues with excess oils in coat or a lot of itching/fleas/dander go ahead and get a mild plant based shampoo. I use:

Earthbath Oatmeal and Aloe (smells great and oat meal means no stripping all oils)

Tropiclean Berry Clean (has a great scent and is very mild)

Mr Chrystal's products such as the coat conditioner is amazing

EFA Hylyt shampoo (usually get at vets, its very very mild and an excellent cleanser for frequent use)

 

[redhen]

Quote:
Ooh..good idea.. I'll try that this summer!

I just use the original blue dawn dish soap and or a nice smelling baby shampoo...
Sometimes i'll buy them a whitening shampoo..(since my dogs have alot of white on them and they can get grungy looking..) But the blue in the dawn soap also helps with whitening...

 

[redhen]

Quote:
ooooh... the dish soaps are drying?..oops! That could be why Duke gets itchy skin then

... humm... time to re-think my dogs shampoo maybe..

 

[gypsy2621]

Quote:
ooooh... the dish soaps are drying?..oops! That could be why Duke gets itchy skin then

... humm... time to re-think my dogs shampoo maybe..

Not necessarily depends on how often you bathe him, he may be one of those dogs that no matter how infrequent you bathe has itchy dry skin.
trial and error will prove it to be a fact or fiction.
I use Dawn and mayonaise to rid fleas, I have yet to find a dry sking patch or dried out coat.
Mane and Tail:
Any horse person will tell you if it can be used for horses it can be used on anything including dogs, nothing more sensative than horse flesh.
I use Mane and Tail on white rabbits that decide to muck up their coats before a major show , no problems there and if there were to be one it would be on the rabbit.

 

[Jamie_Dog_Trainer]

Quote:
ooooh... the dish soaps are drying?..oops! That could be why Duke gets itchy skin then

... humm... time to re-think my dogs shampoo maybe..

Not necessarily depends on how often you bathe him, he may be one of those dogs that no matter how infrequent you bathe has itchy dry skin.
trial and error will prove it to be a fact or fiction.
I use Dawn and mayonaise to rid fleas, I have yet to find a dry sking patch or dried out coat.
Mane and Tail:
Any horse person will tell you if it can be used for horses it can be used on anything including dogs, nothing more sensative than horse flesh.
I use Mane and Tail on white rabbits that decide to muck up their coats before a major show , no problems there and if there were to be one it would be on the rabbit.

Dish soap is very drying, look at what it does to our own skin. You know how the dishsoap companies are always coming up with new formulas touting they wont dry your skin, such as formulas with moisturizers...think about it..there is a reason they keep advertising for it.

I have worked in dog training/boarding facilities for years. Worked with many master groomers in the business. I have washed dogs with dishsoap at their request for shows. Breeds like the Laborador tend to have oily skin and coat. However when I was asked to bathe a dog with dishsoap they always had me bathe the dog after with normal dog shampoo to make sure the coat wasn't toally stripped and itching after. Dish soap is for dishes or a very dirty dog. Dog shampoo is for dogs. *shrug*

 

[ducks4you]

I agree about the dog shampoos. BUT, when I brought my puppies home, they really stunk--especially "Pyg", who lived WHO KNOWS WHERE. I brought her home from an auction house in January. P U!!! Took her to the tub and gave her a quick bath, then towel-dried her and spent quality hugging time. (DD's and I carried her pretty much everywhere for her first year. NOW, at over 2 years old, and 60 pounds heavier!!...she still loves to cuddle.

 

[Davaroo]

I use the same Suave shampoo I use on me. Then I hose em down with flea dip and turn 'em loose.

In fact, I gave "Mooch," our Chihuahua mix, a bath in the kitchen sink the other day - - just before I let out the dishwater.
He loved it!

 

[gritsar]

Well I do kinda need something that moisturizes. Kane has some mildly dry skin, Jax did too at his age. Our heating system in the house doesn't help matters; I myself have to practically bathe in aveeno cream. So what I'm running into is what you said Jamie. GSDs don't have alot of excess oils in their skins to start with and the heating system makes it worse.
Jax's skin did fine with the addition of salmon oil to his diet, but I have to go easy on the supplements for Kane until his system is a little more mature. The salmon oil is like 98% fat and it's hard on his tummy.

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
ooooh... the dish soaps are drying?..oops! That could be why Duke gets itchy skin then

... humm... time to re-think my dogs shampoo maybe..

Red, do you do any shopping with Jeffers Pet - www.jefferspet.com ? They have good prices and excellent shipping. They have just about every kind of dog and puppy shampoo you could imagine - one of the reasons I am overwhelmed on what to buy.
When Kane is older I want to try a shampoo they have especially for dark/black dogs. S'pose to make em shine like no other.