SmartStyling

The Details On Deshedding

This time of year in the Midwest, a lot of groomers start talking about deshedding. We’re already past the interim phase of spring coat shed, and onto the next phase of late summer coat shed.

Spring coat shed consists of predominately blown undercoat, but summer shedding consists of both undercoat AND guard hair. The reason for this is the supreme function of the coat as an environmental barrier and thermoregulator. In late summer, the days are longest, the heat is usually high, and these dogs are letting go of all they can towards comfort. They will also be shedding guard coat more prominently in an effort to make way for the bulking up of undercoat production in late summer and into early fall.

This phase is probably more noticeable to pet owners because of the amazing amount of undercoat their pets are losing at home. We start getting calls right about June with complaints of “tufts of hair all over” and that their dog is “just so hot”.

We know that on a genetic level, different breeds shed different areas of coat cyclically depending on the time of year. Typically the Nordic or triple coated breeds during late summer will shed an abundant amount of coat across their stomach and sides, rough and neck.

Part of this is due to addressing thermoregulation for their major organs. During the cooler months, you’ll find that these dense coated breeds shed less on those areas in order to insulate their major organs, but will shed more throughout the hips, pants/britches, and sometimes the tail (not so true with Husky/Akita/Sammy/ etc who use that tail to wrap around them in cold weather).

You’ll find that during the colder months they shed less on their legs and ears as well.

This is part of what keeps us in business year-round addressing these breeds that go through cyclical or seasonal coat change as well as those breeds and cross breeds or mixes which shed year round.

Either way, thorough and knowledgeable deshedding is a major component of a groomer‘s career.

Working Smarter, Not Harder

Deshedding can be hard on a dog if we are working harder and not smarter. Deshedding can be hard on our body and our equipment if we are doing a lot of it mechanically with our combs, rakes and brushes, as well. However, dead coat removal and opening or unpacking dense coat can be a lot easier if we harness the power of our bathing cycle and drying cycle to remove most of the dead and loose hair before we ever have to touch it with tools.

Utilizing the bathing and drying cycles is also less invasive to the skin and hair coat and can remove shedding hair and skin build up far more gently so that the skin is less likely to become irritated, In this way, we will see far less hair damage and breakage that can be caused by some of our metal tools. As well, using water temperature and flow encourages the hair follicle to dilate and release even more hair in the resting phase.

Irrigating or flushing the coat with more water volume and less pressure works great on longer dense coats such as Newfies, Samoyeds, Keeshonds, Chow Chow, Rough Collies, Autralian Shepherds, Border Collies, etc. This helps open the coat starting at the skin and aligning the hair fibers as the water flow pushes through the coat.

Using higher water pressure AND volume works best for unpacking those medium to short dense coats like that of a Shiba Inu, Basenji, Pugs (these 3 breeds shed constantly but still hit a seasonal crescendo), German Shepherds, Cattle Dogs, etc. This helps open the secondary undercoat that is porous, as well s the lesser tertiary undercoat whose job is to literally weave in between the undercoat and create even more loft and insulative pockets within the coat. The water higher in volume and pressure will more effectively break up any insulating pockets within that extra fine undercoat, and with lifting up and out any dead skin and oil build up. These breeds with dense, shorter coats all typically excrete A LOT of oil and it builds up quite readily under the telogen or resting phase hairs that turn over so frequently.

Different Hairs Means Different Snares

Dogs that shed seasonally as we mentioned above, typically will have tertiary or secondary undercoat hair. This type of hair is far more porous and has a different hair cuticle formation than both undercoat hair and primary or guard coat hair. Under a microscope these comparisons look like this.

Undercoat Hair                                   Guard Coat Hair

By this visual comparison, we can surmise that undercoat hair will tangle and break far more easily because of its strand/fiber size. There’s still another reason to consider this type of hair more closely for both deshedding and dematting. This hair is also more porous due to its cuticle thinness and composition. For this reason, we should know that a topical product will not work the same on every type of hair depending on these above factors. So, if a dog’s coat is very thick and contains tertiary hair, a heavy silicone or a waxeous conditioning agent of poor quality, will actually adhere MORE to this hair and can cause it to catch on itself instead of releasing.

This is another reason why its so important to rely on method and not just a specific product recommendation.

Trust the Process

If we tackle deshedding with a 3-pronged approach, and don’t just relay on a product’s marketing, we are able to choose from a much broader scope of brands and formulas that work well for each coat, perform well with or water chemistry, and are affordable.

If we pay attention to the process instead of just the product, we have much more freedom to apply these methods to many different coat types and issues- such as matting and depleted or poor-quality coat.

We can harness the power of the process and remove the dead hair, stale sebum and dead skin and environmental debris that literally acts like sandpaper on hair and glue in the coat and which also contributes to electrostatic charge in the dead coat. Porous, dead coat has a negative electrostatic charge, which lifts the hair shaft cuticle and causes the hair to catch on itself.

• Choose a method such as a pre-poo conditioning step or a co-washing step BEFORE you shampoo to smooth the hair, grab onto protein-based dirt and skin cells, and remove the static charge in the coat by altering the pH. You’ll optimally want a cationic surfactant for your pre-shampoo conditioning step. What this means is that the formulation of the conditioner contains positively charged cations (positively charged particle) because they are attracted to negatively charged hair strands. These particles also sit ON the hair and resist being washed off by water alone. This action offers manageability.
• Choose a shampoo that will adequately address the amount of hair and coat debris without being too overly stripping and perhaps lifting that hair shaft more with a harsh cleanser. A cleanser with a protein additive or other manageability or conditioning agent such as a silicone derivative will plump up and smooth the hair shaft with a thin substantive film and boost the untangling ability of the hair fibers.
• Choose a conditioner that is high quality and preferably one that has a silicone derivative in addition to its moisturizers.
• Choose a coat spray that not only provides slip, but also contains a humectant on a healthy coat. A humectant works to help draw in environmental moisture. On a depleted or dry, lackluster coat, choose a coat spray with BOTH a humectant and a light emollient. This will offer greatest longevity of the moisturizing action to the hair and skin.

Note: lighter coat sprays work fine on dry coat and on healthy hair. Heavier coat sprays with added emollients and humectants typically need to be applied to damp coat and dried into the coat for greatest protection and performance. These work best on depleted coats and very porous hair.

Aside from using both water and air as part of your most effective deshedding, choosing products to help with removing dead hair efficiently can be a groomer’s best yet hardest decision.

There’s much deliberation in various groups and online discussion platforms about what products work best, what tools to use, and what methodology is the most efficient.

After all, time is money.

It’s been my experience, while deeply researching skin and coat function, that some of the marketing surrounding deshedding products may sound amazing but might not actually be that much different from other products in the lineup.

Typically many of our deshedding products have some type of an additive that offers substantivity to the coat, which in tun provides slip. These additions to a formulation will minimally coat and smooth the hair shaft allowing for greater ability to slide the hairs apart. They also may contain a silicone derivative which will deliver the same affects.

There are MANY products available to us that tout being specific deshedding products. But the standards listed above, some of them deliver, while others do not. At a minimum, a majority of them perform similarly when all is said and done.

So instead, what we should be thinking about when we are reading discussion threads about “best deshedding products”, should be 3 things:

• What’s the meat and potatoes of the topical product formulation? As long as there’s full disclosure of the ingredients deck on a product label, we can begin to see many similarities from one product top the next as to what the engine of these products contain. What to consider most importantly is the actual type of coat that you’re looking at addressing for your deshed services. Remember that your water chemistry can drastically affect the function of many ingredients within a product.
• What type of coat am I looking to deshed, and is the formulation really best for that coat type?
• What methods would be more effective to get the most coat out without overworking the skin and coat, your body, or the dog?

From there, you can choose any range of products that cover these bases, regardless of whether or not they’re actually sold as a deshedding product.

1. Is there something in here that coats the hair for slip?
2. Is there an additive ingredient in here that addresses pH and will help lay the cuticle flat?
3. Is there a depositor ingredient in the product that adheres to the hair during the rinsing process?

Many groomers will be surprised to find out that the shampoos sold for shedding, are actually predominately a standard moisturizing or conditioning shampoo with perhaps and added silicone.

What the KEY topical product really is, is your conditioner and coat spray (which is also a conditioner 😉) choice. It’s the chemical action of the conditioning steps that adjusts the pH to best help seal and lay flat the porous cuticle associated with undercoat hair.

Without the conditioning steps, your deshedding procedure will be sorely lacking.

Try these procedures for different coat types and see what you get!

• Lightly wet the coat with an ample amount of warm water. Warm water dilates the hair follicle and increases circulation which allows for greater hair release. Monitor the pet for signs of heat stress and be sure your water is warm, but not hot.
• Apply your quality conditioner and gently work it through the coat. Work it root to tip on all open coated areas, and massage it gently all the way to the skin on your packed areas- squeezing it into the coat works well here. Take your time here and use your fingers to break up areas of packed coat by hand.
• Don’t rinse the conditioner from the coat. Next, apply a clarifying shampoo or a protein enriched shampoo depending on the amount of coat dirt and skin build up present.
• Work the entire coat head to tail, spine to feet, with the growth of coat with either high volume or high pressure and volume depending on the coat type. This rinse should also be warm. You may or may not get a squeak in the coat depending on your water chemistry and your product choices. Don’t always look for that squeak. Sometimes its not about the washing, but its always about the rinse.
• Apply your final conditioner application and work it through the coat by hand or with your shampoo delivery system. Give the conditioner ample contact time in order to do its best work. Typically 5-7 minutes for high quality cream conditioners is enough.
• Do a very thorough cool water rinse with the cot lay. Cool water calms dermal nerve endings and helps tighten the skin follicles. It also helps to congeal the conditioning agents within your conditioner across the skin and the hair shaft evenly.
• Squeeze the excess water from the coat in the tub. Liberally apply a quality coat conditioning spray onto the dripping coat and work it deeply into the coat with your hands. Don’t try using a rubber or meta tool at this point. Your hands are the best tool for working in the spray and feeling areas of lumpy (packed) coat that you can start to break up with your fingers.
• Move the dog to your drying table, settle them comfortably, and with a warm air setting and medium to high velocity, direct the air flow through the coat with the coat lay. Work the air from the surface, layer by layer, down to the skin on any packed areas. Work down into the coat, and be sure you’re blowing the water out so that the skin surface is dried as well. Monitor your air temp and be sure the air flow doesn’t sit in one spot to avoid risk of burn. Methodically work each area of coat instead of erratically whipping air through the coat. Work with the direction of gravity draw. The wicking ability of the hair shaft will follow this principle as well and speed drying.
• Use your fingers as you go from area to area, using the dryer to “airbrush” the dog in the most gentle and effective manner for coat removal.
• Once completely dried, move to the grooming table. Areas left damp are going to continue to shed more and be prone to tangles. Work the coat methodically with a pin brush, comb, or a coarse rake if still needed. Stay away from slickers on any coat more than a couple of inches long, and stay away from fixed tooth style rakes for risk of stretching and breaking coat. Be mindful of your technique. The coat is smoothed, open, and aligned the most at the point. Your comb and brush strokes should be with a fixed wrist and motion from the elbow and/or shoulder- just like hand stripping. A pat-and-pull method works great here, too.

In end, you can actually save time and manual labor by working step by step with each component of the deshedding procedure by allowing each part to serve its function. Using water, shampoo, conditioner and coat spray and air in a mindful manner makes removing dead coat and skin build up much more easy on both you and the pet. And that is time well spent.

Sources:

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Scale-patterns-of-hair-shafts-in-dogs-a-irregular-wave-b-streaked-c-mosaic-d_fig1_325858765

Tumiłowicz, Paweł & Goliszewska, Agata & Arct, Jacek & Pytkowska, Katarzyna & Szczepanik, Marcin. (2018). Preliminary study of guard hair morphology in four dog breeds. Veterinary Dermatology. 29. 10.1111/vde.12656

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Breeds-number-of-dogs-average-measurements-of-hair-thickness-average-medulla-area-to_tbl1_325858765

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2665910720301195

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/287359922_SEM_Study_of_Hair_Cuticle_in_Some_Canidae_Breeds

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0192623316631843

Considering Carding

Look at the angle at which a dog‘s hair coat grows out from its skin. This is the same angle that you should be using your carding, stripping and fixed tooth raking tools to remove dead coat.

The position of your carding or stripping knife on shorter coat, and your rakes on longer coat should resemble the direction in which the hair emerges from the follicle in comparison to the skin. This can be anywhere from 5° for tight, oblique coats such as boxers and flat work on terriers to upwards of 80° on our primitive or Nordic breeds which are triple coated.

It is our heavy or triple coated breeds with the most dense undercoat alongside ample guard coat that are at the greatest risk for skin irritation and coat damage when we use our tools.

Dense or long hair=more finesse and diligence.

If you do not take into consideration the way the hair follicle sits within the skin and hair grows out and away from it, you will inevitably risk stretching and breaking both guard coat and undercoat because of not working with the natural coat lay.

 

If you are raking out dead undercoat from a double or triple coated dog- your tools should be dull, your raking action should be coming in short strokes from your elbow and/or shoulder- but with a fixed wrist position, and the coat should be clean and conditioned with no tools being worked through dirty coat except for certain instances with hand stripped terriers.

 

When you cleanse (change the electrical charge on the coat & remove particulate debris and dead hair that cause friction and snagging), condition (further adjust the skin pH or electrostatic charge, seal & smooth the hair shaft, add pliability, moisturize the skin & add structural integrity to each hair shaft) and then HV blow dry canine coat (set topicals upon the hair and skin, gently remove dead hair, set coat lay & visually inspect the skin and haircoat condition), this is a streamlined yet multi step process each step has a very necessary purpose.



During HV drying you also open up the packed, and tangled hair coat just the same as you do with your coarse/medium/fine cycle of raking tools. This action also has to be done with due process to help set the lay of coat so that you can move your tools across it without tugging or causing breakage or discomfort.

 

Remember that the job of undercoat is to create loft and density to the haircoat towards thermoregulation (heat dissipation or heat retention to maintain core temperature for health), and in doing its job it effectively locks in amongst the guard hair- so we need to open that coat to maintain it optimally.

As groomers we have a tough job to do.
Often playing catch-up for each dog on the table per its grooming needs and genetically predetermined coat type. But the last thing we want to do is to be using tools or topical products on the coat that cause additional wear or damage, or enacting methods upon the coat with disregard to its natural state. 

If we do these two things we will fight that coat at every visit and only make more work for ourselves.

#CCEStyling

#mindfulgrooming



Intro To Coat Carding & Stripping

The removal of dead and resting phase haircoat from a pet is a simple way to help support overall skin and coat health.

Most commonly, a huge majority of secondary coat symptoms can be alleviated by simply addressing telogen phase (resting) or dead coat removal and pruritus (generalized itching commonly caused by overall skin dryness, and/or yeast/bacterial overload= imbalance of the microbiome). 

Dead coat sits up the hair follicle cup, and it doesn’t allow the follicle to cycle easily into the next anagen (actively growing) phase of hair.
Dead coat also inhibits the skin to slough in its natural cycle of desquamation while keeping adequate air circulation to the skin surface alongside the most healthy guard coat to undercoat ratio as genetically designated for each dog.

These roadblocks inhibit regular sebum (skin oil) production while giving secondary bacteria and yeast plenty to feed on. 

As secondary bacteria and yeast proliferate, this further tips the balance of the scale on the skin’s natural microbiome and then effects overall healthy pH or electrostatic charge of the skin.

This is an example of a waterfall or cascade effect of secondary coat symptoms that is easily eliminated just by more adequate and regular cycles of cleansing, remoisturization and removal of dead hair coat- even on clippered pets.

Especially on sporting dogs and terriers!

 

Here is a half an hour of intro info for carding and stripping on pet coats.

Video:

https://youtu.be/COXv3Qcc1-I

 

**Please note that my Certified Canine Esthetician virtual course will go on rolling enrollment beginning in January in case you missed out on our three courses this year!

www.CanineEsthetician.com

#ccestyling

#themindfulgroomer

Grooming For Optimal Coat Health

Before

 

After

 

Look at the angle at which a dog‘s hair coat grows out from its skin. This is the same angle that you should be using your carding, stripping and fixed tooth raking tools to remove dead coat.

The position of your carding or stripping knife on shorter coat, and your rakes on longer coat should resemble the direction in which the hair emerges from the follicle in comparison to the skin. This can be anywhere from 5° for tight, oblique coats such as boxers and flat work on terriers to upwards of 80° on our primitive or Nordic breeds which are triple coated.

It is our heavy or triple coated breeds with the most dense undercoat alongside ample guard coat that are at the greatest risk for skin irritation and coat damage when we use our tools.

Dense or long hair=more finesse and diligence.

If you do not take into consideration the way the hair follicle sits within the skin and hair grows out and away from it, you will inevitably risk stretching and breaking both guard coat and undercoat because of not working with the natural coat lay.

 

If you are raking out dead undercoat from a double or triple coated dog- your tools should be dull, your raking action should be coming in short strokes from your elbow and/or shoulder- but with a fixed wrist position, and the coat should be clean and conditioned with no tools being worked through dirty coat except for certain instances with hand stripped terriers.

 

When you cleanse (change the electrical charge on the coat & remove particulate debris and dead hair that cause friction and snagging), condition (further adjust the skin pH or electrostatic charge, seal & smooth the hair shaft, add pliability, moisturize the skin & add structural integrity to each hair shaft) and then HV blow dry canine coat (set topicals upon the hair and skin, gently remove dead hair, set coat lay & visually inspect the skin and haircoat condition), this is a streamlined yet multi step process each step has a very necessary purpose.



During HV drying you also open up the packed, and tangled hair coat just the same as you do with your coarse/medium/fine cycle of raking tools. This action also has to be done with due process to help set the lay of coat so that you can move your tools across it without tugging or causing breakage or discomfort.

 

Remember that the job of undercoat is to create loft and density to the haircoat towards thermoregulation (heat dissipation or heat retention to maintain core temperature for health), and in doing its job it effectively locks in amongst the guard hair- so we need to open that coat to maintain it optimally.

 

As groomers we have a tough job to do. Often playing catch-up for each dog on the table per its grooming needs and genetically predetermined coat type. But the last thing we want to do is to be using tools or topical products on the coat that cause wear or damage, or enacting methods upon the coat with disregard to its natural state. 

 

If we do these two things we will fight that coat at every visit and only make more work for ourselves.



Microscopic cutaway view of an oblique or nearly parallel hair follicle in the skin.

Dog D-Skunking 101

 

You let your dog out to go to the bathroom in the dark of night. You hear a small commotion from the yard, and they come streaking back to your door, full throttle and wide-eyed.

You usher them in and WHAM-O! PEEEEYOOO!! 

They’ve tangled with a skunk! 

What do you do!?!?!

The first thing is to corral your dog, but to also try not to panic.

After an encounter like this, unless your dog is a true hunter, they are going to be completely freaked out and will immediately pick up on your energy and endorphin signature which comes out in your sweat and breath. This will make their anxiety even worse and possibly cause them to be more in a state of fight or flight. Staying calm and doing what needs to be done in these few initial steps are very important to get right.

In my opinion every single pet owner needs to have a deskunking rinse or shampoo on hand at all times if they live in the country. Sometimes even dogs in town can encounter a skunk if they just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. 

If you aren’t prepared and don’t have a specific product on hand, then I suggest you take a look at this recipe which is safest for odor control but will not dry out the skin and hair coat as badly as some other concoctions, while being made up of a lot of the normal things you might have around the house. 

I urge you though- if you don’t have all of these things on hand in the proper proportions- to not just concoct something. If you’re short on supply in order to complete such a recipe, then I recommend you head to town instead and just pick up a deskunking product to be most safe.

As a professional Pet Groomer versed in canine skin and coat, the recipe I’m about to share I must advise can be quite drying to skin and hair coat so it is incredibly important that you follow up as soon as possible with a professional grooming where your stylist uses a moisturizing protein-based shampoo and a high-quality remoisturizing conditioner in order to avoid secondary skin dryness and itching or coat breakage. 

But if you are in a tight spot and don’t have many options, this is the safest recipe which can be found also on the akc.org website.

 

1. 1 quart of 3% hydrogen peroxide solution
2. 1/4 cup of baking soda.
3. 1 teaspoon of liquid clarifying shampoo for dogs

*and a quality dog-specific cream rinse conditioner to follow up with!

 

You might find that you have to double or triple this recipe per the size and haircoat of your dog, but keep your proportions equal throughout- and mix it well. AND, if you have a quality pet shampoo on hand, you can always follow up with a second or third bath with that to help replace a little bit of skin moisture which will be drastically removed by the chemical action of this homemade formula.

 

And remember: DO NOT get this in your pet’s eyes or let them lick it at length off of their haircoat.

Part of pet ownership is often running damage control, and part of that is thinking ahead and being prepared for things like this.

Part of being a professional pet groomer is having these products on hand for your clients as well as being able to navigate a skunked dog coming into the salon in a state of emergency or happenstance. 

So if this happens and you are able to get in contact with a professional groomer to handle the situation while keeping your pet contained until your appointment time, that is probably in your best interest.

 

Typically it’s the head, face and neck areas of the dog that always get hit the worst because this is the part of the dog making the closest encounter with a business end of a skunk.

But these areas are also difficult to thoroughly treat due to the sensitivity of the eye tissue and mucous membranes and the fact that most dogs are extremely nauseous and drooling due to having this acrid liquid in their face and so near their nose- which is incredibly sensitive.

Concerning the skin and hair of the face and head, you will need to apply a separate method of cleansing this area and rinsing it to keep the eyes safe.

Once you have corralled your dog in a safe area somewhere inside your home or garage and away from that monstrous skunk so that they feel safe, go and grab your deskunking products and get them ready to go into the tub or laundry basin. 

I do not recommend trying to wash your dog in the backyard with cold hose water in the middle of the night; just my professional and empathetic opinion.

 

If you can get them safely into a laundry sink, shower basin or a bath tub, that is best. Before moving them into a bathroom I recommend removing or moving your shower curtain and bathroom rugs or any other type of fabric material away from the tub onto where he could shake water and soap and skunk odor.

 

Once he is in the bathing area, **do not pre-wet his coat with water!**

**This part is incredibly important!**

If you wet his coat you are making it very hard for your cleansing product to grab onto the skunk spray sitting on his coat and giving it a chance to ride around on the surface of the water and deposit more deeply into his hair and skin.

Drench him thoroughly with your homemade rinse or cover him thoroughly with your deskunking shampoo. Massage this by hand into the coat and expect that you’re going to get a little wet and a little smelly in the process.

Per the manufacturer guidelines, once the ready to use products are massaged and lathered deeply into the coat, give them the recommended adequate development time in order to fully do their job. 

Most enzymatic cleaners of any type need at least a handful of minutes in order to work well. If you’re making this at-home mix in an emergency, allow it about 5 minutes on the coat while lathering it all over.

Thorough saturation of the coat down to the skin as mentioned before is another huge component of getting as much smell out as possible.

After this, you’re going to want to use tap water and thoroughly rinse, rinse, rinse! Until every bit of bubbles are gone from the coat and the coat yields a squeaky clean feeling.

Most of your deskunking cleaners have a very high pH, which is part of what helps them to work as an enzymatic cleaner with the chemical composition of skunk spray, so if you find yourself itching after rinsing your dog, I recommend rinsing your skin well again with cool water. Unless you have a true chemical allergy, you will be just fine. And of course, if you had the presence of mind and the supplies on hand to don cleaning gloves and an old shirt or apron, those tools will always help out.

If you happen to have a pet specific shampoo on hand or even a high-quality human shampoo with a moisturizing additive, I recommend you follow up with an additional bath after the deskunking step to help thoroughly cleanse the coat of dirt and oil and the rinse you applied.

Even after a thorough cleansing bath with just the right products applied to dry coat in adequate amounts and rinsed thoroughly, commonly there will still be a lingering odor on the coat for weeks and sometimes even months. Especially each time the coat gets wet with moisture again. 

And why is this?

Let’s delve a little deeper into what happens on a physiological level with skunk spray and how it acts upon canine skin and hair coat.

 

One part of the reason that skunk odor lingers for so long on your dog is that their body is continuously growing and shedding skin cells and hair coat in regular cycles. As the process of desquamation, or skin cell turnover happens, right along with that comes a bit of that odorous liquid that’s still residing throughout the layers of skin.

Considering this fact of it, it is also the way it permeates the hair shaft and remains within the actively growing haircoat at the time of the encounter which is all still sitting in the follicle cup, right alongside dead hair ready to be lifted out, and new hair still being generated deeper within the follicle- that is all still growing in its typical cycles through the skin. 

The fact that this oil permeates deeply and uses sebum to accomplish this, but it also has a far different pH level than the average pH level of a pet’s skin, is also worth consideration.

In its chemical composition (acidic nature and caustic nature), it can penetrate several layers deep into the skin, which will continue to cause the newly emerging hair to still hold odor even after resting growth phases are all shed out. 

This prolongs the smell even more.

The individual hair shaft itself holds the odor also, and every time the hair cuticle is lifted with moisture contact, those odor-causing enzymes are reactivated alongside the water. This is obviously part of the reason why it’s so important to try to initially deskunk a *dry coat *without *pre-wetting because of the oil vs. water equation and using the micellar bonds within your shampoo surfactant (cleansing) formulation to encapsulate that oil-based substance as thoroughly as possible so that it can be suspended and more thoroughly rinsed from the coat. 

It’s also very important that you have an adequate cleanser not too greatly diluted so that the oil substance from the skunk does not simply ride around in the water and then redeposit in the coat during rinsing when the micellar bonds are broken down again.

So yes, the normal cellular replacement cycles do continue to re-release the odor just as much as the haircoat itself does. And you pick up on this by the very same signature ways that your nose tells you this each time you your pet again becomes damp or wet with moisture.

Add to that that typically dogs get skunked the worst in the head and face and it can be incredibly hard to efficiently apply a de-skunking or cleansing product strong and ample enough in these areas without causing eye or mucus membrane tissue irritation- so a lot of groomers still send dogs home with a slightly smelly head and face, and this is what the owner smells every time they are close to the dog even if the body is more effectively cleansed. 

Groomers are trying to keep your pet’s eyes, nose, mouth and ears safe while applying the topical, so there is a possibility that some odor will remain even after a professional grooming. 

And obviously, this pungent substance only takes a tiny amount to find objectionable and putrid, LOL!

It only takes once of having to go through trying to deskunk your dog in your bathroom tub in the middle of the night for an owner to have WISHED they had deskunking products on hand, so if you read this blog I suggest you stay ahead of the curve and buy what you need in the event of such an emergency.

1. De-skunking Shampoo or Enzymatic Coat Rinse
2. Moisturizing Shampoo
3. Moisturizing Conditioner
4. Plenty of towels, and an effective method of completely rinsing shampoo from your pet’s haircoat.

 

Happy Hounding!

 

2020 Pet Stylist Invitational!!

This year our trade show has gone fully virtual!

This learning summit offers 2 full days, 16 hours total, of educational classes on Friday, October 17, and Saturday, October 18th, and a full day of livestream grooming competitions  Monday, October 19th, judged by our industry great: Michell Evans!!

There’ll be shopping discount opportunities all weekend long to stock up on supplies before our holiday rush!

Enjoy this final opportunity of the year to invest in yourself and your business all three days for only $99!!

You can register here:https://finer-details-pet-spa.square.site/product/pet-stylist-invitational-registration/64?cs=true

 

The Role of Water In Canine Skin & Coat Health

The Role of Water In Canine Skin & Coat Health

Water is a fundamental facet of the grooming process, and yet it is commonly overlooked for its value and effectiveness to gently cleanse, exfoliate, and moisturize the skin and hair coat. Water is expressly important to the overall health and vitality of not just the inside of all living beings, but to the outside as well. Water is in its simplest form- the most natural and safest vehicle for removal of pathogens and debris from the canine coat and the best source for adding moisture to the canine skin. Without considering the role of water aside from mechanically removing shampoo and dirt from the coat, we would come up short of really understanding and utilizing our options for caring for the very foundation on which we lay our grooming skills much as a painter does upon canvas.

Water Chemistry

Contrary to popular belief, water is not pure. Unless a salon has a large filtration system in place, the water coming from the shower heads, going into shampoo and topical dilution bottles, and going onto the skin of each pet which you bathe, all contains microorganisms and trace elements. Environmental changes such as heavy rains, drought, and changes in water table tapping can all affect the makeup of water from your pipes. The pipes themselves add certain elements to the water before we even add anything else to it.

Trace elements, chemicals and microorganisms within water used during the bath are deposited on the skin and coat and can superficially permeate the skin as well. The content of your water will affect what and how the skin absorbs, and it will also affect the actual content and ability of your topicals to perform their manufactured purpose. Keep in mind that you may find that your shampoo dilution rate may change, and the outcome of the coat may change as well depending on your water chemistry. Softened water will yield most usually an optimal performance of most any shampoo or topical when compared to well or city water from a tap which may be hard or contain trace elements.

It should be mentioned that with regard to cleaning and sanitizing both your shampoo dilution bottles, mixing bottles and your entire shampoo or hydro-dilution system, that the importance of proper sanitizing is paramount. Anaerobic and aerobic bacteria grows both in diluted shampoo as it sits, and on the inside of all bottles, hoses and fittings through which water and shampoo passes. Shampoo, conditioner and other liquid topicals are a feedstock for secondary bacteria to utilize. Once water is added to any bottled shampoo or liquid concentrate, the product’s storage and shelf life becomes quite short-(breaking the seal may also shorten shelf life, but not as directly as when water is added). These bacteria can quickly and aggressively populate the surface of such areas and grow into various molds, fungus and secondary bacteria colonies as well. This petrie dish environment is where skin infections like furunculosis begin.

Thereby, with diligent attention to cleanliness, we can avoid this possibility, get the most from our products, and have the best result upon the canine coat.

Water Temperature

The temperature of water will not only affect the comfort of a pet, but it will also affect the skin’s absorption and moisturizing ability.
As well, it is simple sense that warmer water used in the shampooing process (using warm water to dilute your shampoo for application upon the coat) helps to beef up the cleansing ability of your surfactant formula by helping to liquefy congealed sebum build up and oil based dirt on the hair shaft and skin.
One should utilize a variety of temperature settings for any given pet client per their needs, but overall, the bathing water for a pet with no open sores or medical issues should always be tepid-warm. Water that is too hot is severely irritating and drying to the skin, and will cause heat stress reaction in most pets (listlessness, swaying, unsteadiness and drowsy expression). With the bath water being the most warm, the subsequent rinses should be progressively cooler in temperature. Meaning that the rinse after your shampoo should be cooler than the water used to wet the coat or apply your shampoo, and the water used to rinse conditioners from the coat should be the coolest. Water that feels warm enough upon your skin for you to bath in is far too warm for a canine. Water that is quite warm should never be applied to open, irritated or aggravated skin as it will be painful and likely worsen the symptoms due to damaged or sensitized epidermal nerve endings.

With reference to changing the water temperature while treating skin symptoms, the reason for this is that different temperatures possess different abilities or benefits upon the skin.

This temperature change process is to use warmth to both dilate or open the follicles or pores, and increase circulation and plump up the skin; thereby more easily releasing lodged sebum and oil based dirt on the skin and hair shaft surface. Warm water also helps swell and lift built up dead skin cells of the stratum corneum and aids dead hair up and out from the dilated follicle cup, and to help lift the hair cuticle depending solely on topical pH levels.

To use cool temperature upon the skin is to help constrict blood vessels and capillaries and tighten the skin, to seal moisture within the skin, and to help seal active ingredients upon hair shaft as well. Cooler water being used as your final rinse also calms epidermal nerve endings which can help alleviate generalized itching. Also, cooler water helps to congeal skin oil and set the topical coat conditioners upon the skin.

Ofuro bath


Soaks and Wraps

When doing soaks to soften layers of buildup, it is best to do these soaks warm- depending on the pet’s needs and age (older or ill dogs as well as pregnant or nursing females should not be allowed to have an elevated core temperature) so that the pet does not become chilled. When applying an oil treatment, it is also recommended to use a very warm rinse to keep the skin open before applying the oil and a warm towel wrap for maximum absorption.

Always stay tub-side and monitor the pet during the duration of any soak or wrap to be sure that they remain alert and do not slip or injure themselves just as you would during the bath.

Pressure and Flow

Since within many coat types the hair grows at an oblique or slanting angle to the skin, we should note that the direction of the water flow, coupled with the amount of pressure of that flow against the skin, can alter the lay of the coat and apply pressure to the arrector pili muscle and phylosebacous unit in general. One should rinse water through the coat in the direction that you wish for the coat to lay and in fact this will help you with training and setting the lay of coat. Drop coated dogs can be rinsed with the lay of coat even though they typically have a more lax arrector pili reaction. Furnished dogs can be rinsed with the growth of coat on the jacket, and against the coat growth on the furnishings. Stand up coats can be rinsed against the growth of coat. For double coated dogs, rinsing with the growth of coat but using an elevated water pressure will help to lift up and out dead packed coat if the skin beneath is healthy.

The pressure of the water can be both abrasive and damaging to irritated skin and brittle coat if set too high. One should use less pressure and higher volume of water when rinsing through the coat. Squeezing the hair with the shower spray held closely to the coat is safest, with minimal aggressive rubbing since hair is most vulnerable when it is wet and elastic. As well, pressure that is set too high will not only irritate the skin, but could also press pathogens more deeply into the hair follicle causing possible reactions.

 

In close, remember that water is an effective and incredibly gentle tool for canine skin and coat health and helping to ease the mechanical facet of the grooming process. Let water pressure and flow be one of the tools you have at your disposal to more easily do your job and optimize skin & coat health.

Deshedding In The Tub

As a groomer who teaches about canine skin and coat and methods that support the lifetime integrity of both, I have always been leery of working tools on wet, matted or packed coat. 

For a long time I have tried different methods of unpacking coats in the tub to make the HV drying process faster and the mechanical workload of brushing as little as possible. 

Aside from applying conditioner and using the HV dryer to blow out packed hair, they were very little tool methods that incorporated the act of combing or brushing clean, wet hair, that I knew weren’t somehow damaging hair coat for the long haul.

 

I found that this method proves to not break coat, not irritate skin, and not be physically tiresome or time consuming. 

This method happens to use a dull undercoat rake and a protein conditioning treatment as a hydrating mask that provides a great amount of slip to help the packed hair out of the coat. 

I’m also attaching a shorter video in the comments that utilizes a similar technique using only pure water with low pressure and high volume. 

It works wonders, and keeps the mess in the tub and the groom time efficient. 

Most of all it doesn’t stretch and break coat and set it up for matting right back up again!

** This is NOT a dematting method nor for use on curly coats. It is for unpacking double coats and undercoat.**

 

 

 

And a pure water rinse method as well.

 

Monitoring HV Dryer Temperature

Just a friendly reminder for those groomers who are aware of the growing amount of burns and related injuries and pet deaths involving heated kennel dryers.

It should not be overlooked that we need to also be careful with how we are using our high velocity dryers with pets as well. Aside from needing to be careful around bodily orifices as well as the eyes and ears and mouth of a pet we also need to pay attention to how hot the air is upon the surface of the skin while you are drying. It is important to remember that if your heated air hurts against your skin, it definitely is hurting the pet. Be sure to sweep over the pet thoroughly and never leave the flow of air up close to the skin for very long.  

I am not saying anything against any certain company in particular but I happen to have a ChallengeAir dryer that I ran this test on, and this is the temperature recording for the airflow after only five minutes. Very commonly we are using our dryers on a pet for over 15 minutes by the time they are completely dry. That means the temperature reading here after that length of time, could be even higher. Some dryers get even hotter than this.

Please note that Dr. Mueller and Kirk's Small Animal Dermatology medical book states clearly that early-stage burning can happen at as little as 110°F. Use your high velocity dryers wisely!

 

As well, always remember to monitor the ambient air temperature of your drying room. In addition to very warm air, having a high amount of humidity in the air creates a breathing and overheating risk quite quickly. Anything above 80F calls for a break to allow the pet and air within the room to cool. Keep your eyes on the pet for panting, wanting to lay down, or drooling as some of the first signs that nausea and imbalance can be present, which are part of the early stages of heat stroke.

Always offer a warm pet a drink of tepid water (not cold).

Grooming The Lagotto Romagnolo

Paging through the breed by breed grooming entries here on PetGroomer.com, I noticed there were no entries on grooming the Lagotto. I happened to have one in the salon for grooming, so I thought I would share the basic grooming needed for this breed.

 

Some brief history on this breed:

The Lagotto Romagnolo [laˈɡɔtto romaɲˈɲɔlo] is a breed of dog that comes from the Romagna sub-region of Italy. The name means "lake dog from Romagna," originating from the Italian word lago, meaning lake. Its traditional function is a gundog, specifically a water retriever. However, it is often used to hunt for truffles.

 

Some photos of Lagottos

Lagottos come in a variety of colors

This dog in physical character largely resembles the Portuguese Water Dog, but it is smaller in stature, and its coat is left much more rustic than the Portie. In fact, a coat containing matts is accepted in the show ring and by most educated Lagotto owners as part of their true coat characteristics. Of course, in the grooming salon, leaving matts in a coat is a big no-no. So, as groomers, we have the unusual task of completely grooming the dog, and then getting it to actually look quite UNgroomed as a final step before it is considered finished.

 

Normally a nicely scissored and plush looking trim on a curly coated pet is what we are trying to achieve and what the owner would envision. But on a coat which is to be kept rustic or natural and not altered looking, as groomers we have to go over the dog as a final step and re-wet and hand squeeze the coat and then allow it to air dry to re-introduce the "marcelle" and the curl back into it. The stick straight results wanted for a Poodle's coat is not what you are going for. And the marcelling or natural wave desired in the jacket coat of a Kerry Blue Terrier is close to what you want to achieve, but the final trim on a Lagotto should be even much more curly, touseled and untidy. Doing this totally goes outside many of the comfort zones that most groomers find easy to turn a dog out as finished, and indeed, overcoming the final look of any tailored characteristic can prove surprisingly difficult.

  

To begin on a pet dog, we must thoroughly wash the pet and carefully remove any deep solid matting from the coat to be sure the pet's skin is healthy beneath, and that the coat does not inhibit free physical movement. Before the bath I recommend removing only the matting that is so solid that you feel you cannot penetrate it with shampoo and water and result in the hair within the mat being clean. Leave the rest of any webbing or matting until after the bathing session for two reasons:

1. Doing so likely will cause coat damage

2. The coat has a natural ability through its genetic texture and density, to easily blow out loose matting and webbing during the HV drying session. This is easier on the dog and yourself to allow your equipment and topicals to loosen & remove what you would otherwise be relying on your hands and arms to manually do.

Once the coat is clean, completely dry and lofty, use a pin brush and comb to separate the coat nicely. If you use a slicker, be sure to use either a flexible head slicker, or a very soft touch and a pat & pull method.

Thoroughly clipper I wide sanitary trim on the groin of the dog, trim out the underarm area of the front legs, and clip well around the rectum.  Trim out the hair around the ear opening and where the ear rests on the side of the head to allow for plenty of air flow to the ear canal. And trim the pads nice and tight.

 

From here, based on the requested length the owner wanted, choose your blade or comb attachment length and clip the entire dog both body and legs into the same length. This breed calls for columnal shaped legs, but also uniform coat length over the entire dog with exception of the head. And with as active as these dogs are, minimal leg coat will prove in the best interest of everyone.

 

Once the body and leg coat is fully clippered, go around the feet and shape them into soft round bevels, and be sure that the pads and perimeter of each paw is scissored tidy and tight.

From here be sure that the tail is scissored into its characteristic *carrot shape*. There should be no plume or flag on the underside of the tail per breed standard. For this dog, I scissored the entire tail, but you can also use a longer clip comp attachment if the tail hair is nicely dense.

 

 From there we move to the dog's head, which is finally the place where you can utilize your scissoring skills.

 

The breed calls for a round head and ears, and a muzzle with coat but in slightly shorter length than the hair on the head and cheeks.  It also calls for a round head where the ear hair doesn't extend past the length of the nose nor the cheek line. So you are trying to achieve a relatively round head similar to the Portie but with true circular shape instead of the slightly flat shape required of the top of the Portie head.

To achieve this, I first clippered tightly the throat area and behind the line of the jaw to get this messy area short and even, and to add length to the neck. From there I scissored the head and across the tops of the ears, sides of the ckeeks, and then shaped the bottom of each each to blend it in with the sides of the head. And finally, I stretched the lower lips and scissored the flew tight and then thinnered across the stop area of each eye and around the eye to open the view of the eyes. You should be able t easily se the eyes of these dogs, but there should still be a slight awning of natural hair that sits across the brow so the "deer in the headlights" expression is avoided. This owner also requested that the beard be left longer than usual so you will notice that doing so creates more of a bell shaped head. Ideally, the head should be fully round and similar to a Cockapoo or teddy bear head expression.

From there, as a final finishing step to the groom, I re-wet the dog's entire body and leg coat with a thorough misting of plain water and squeezed the water into the coat with my hands, and then put the dog into the kennel under a fan to allow it to finish by air drying. Remember to allow yourself extra time at the end of the groom to provide this finishing step and still get the dog back to its owner fully dried.  

It is important to not use heavy coat conditioning sprays on this breed that will be left on between grooming visits because typically they are not groomed as often, and their guard coat to undercoat ratio coupled with the density of their coat and the type of natural oils their skin produces, proves to be adequate for what they need and you don't want a heavy conditioner left in the coat.

Happy Grooming!