Grooming

AmyMay

AmyMay

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As many of you know, I have a Bichon.

Her coat is kept tangle free by brushing daily, and professional grooming.

Do you think it would be ok to use something like Show Sheen on her coat, though, to help keep it in tip top condition??
 
Depends if she likes to wash herself - it wouldn't be great to ingest! plenty of conditioner when she goes for her professional groom, and maybe rub a little argan oil (or similar) onto your hands and rub that through her coat every 10-14 days to help keep it from getting knotty x
 
blackcob said:
I can highly recommend http://www.plushpuppy.co.uk products. I've been advised to avoid silicon based products for long term use, apparently they cause buildup and eventually can dull the coat and cause excessive breakage.
Click to expand...

I agree,don't overdo the silicone products.
I would suggest if you want to improve coat to invest in a new ,quality ,slicker brush,a very fine toothed comb and really get into the coat.I can see a huge difference when I go through the coat of my standard poodle ...first using a regular slicker,then a harder slicker and then a really fine toothed comb...line comb the coat...you will see the difference at once.
I wash my boy every week and use a lot of conditioner...I really recommend Pantene silk conditioner( I know it's for humans ) but serves my poodles well and really gets the coat in good condition.
 
Use a dog specific product that won't harm if licked off. One of mine is an obsessive licker, I think he'd be ill if he had show sheen on. Oil is a good addition to help keep her coat shiny. Look for fish body oil or salmon oil, not cod liver which is very high in Vitamin A and not recommended for dogs.
 
You can use a silicon spray, but you will need to strip it off if you use it lots.

You can either buy a strip off shampoo....or....you can go old school and use Fairy Liquid to bathe and then rinse REALLY well and then pour over diluted white vinegar as a final rinse. I would not normally recommend using fairy liquid to wash, but in a pinch it does the job. You may need to do a light condition after that, but the main thing is to not let the silicon keep building on the hair shaft. Over conditioning can result in build up which makes the coat cling to dirt and can make it actually matt easier. But done correctly you should find the coat easier to manage.

Personally though, I'd not even go that route. I'm a huge fan of K9 Competition products - I'm currently using Keratin Shampoo for between wash maintenance grooms on my show poodle and the Keratin Mist between baths as necessary. My bitch is changing coat, and she has lots of it - but to keep that topknot in tip top condition, you can't dry brush so brushing while misted and under a cool dryer is the business. Much will depend on the length of coat your girl is in, so as it'll be shorter you can manage with a bath maybe monthly and a wee spritz of keratin now and again while brushing. But I'd still strip it off maybe every few months.
 
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I use a grooming spray from all natural pet on Facebook. There products are brilliant and have nothing in them to damage the skin or coat. They also have many different fragrances. I chose palma violet shampoo, conditioner and grooming spray. My dog smells yummy.
 
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