Having three dogs, we’ve had to get smart about how to save money. We want to provide our dogs with the best; they deserve it. I considered taking them to a groomer, but we quickly squashed that idea, because they’re very easy to care for at home. Here are the dog grooming products we use to keep our fur babies looking gorgeous…
DRYPET DOG BATH TOWELS
We have ONE DryPet dog bath towel for three dogs and use it to dry the dogs off when they come in out of the rain. One towel takes care of all three dogs. This is a MUST HAVE if you live in the Pacific Northwest, because they dry our dogs coats so fast, soaking in a lot of water and still able to handle two more dogs. And DryPet doesn’t make a wet dog damp, it drys our dogs. AMAZING!
After a bath, one towel will take care of Blue or Sydney OR just Rodrigo (who has the longest hair). I was skeptical, because we have a microfiber towel set that is okay, but just as good as our regular towels, because we made the mistake of drying the set with dryer sheets. Our DryPet bath towel requires no special handling and works as well today as it did the day it arrived in the mail.
CLIPPERS / TRIMMERS
We use a clipper set purchased locally, but I’ve heard great things about the Andis Easy Clip Grooming Kit
SHAMPOO / CONDITIONER
I can’t remember how I found John Paul Pet Shampoo
Bonus! John Paul products are cruelty free, not tested on animals, and don’t use ingredients from companies who test on animals! There’s no need for our fur babies to be gorgeous at the expense of another animal.
NAIL CLIPPERS
I purchased these after a groomer clued me in on the “guillotine” style clippers. Our dogs Sydney hated getting her nails clipped and it turned into a huge ordeal. Turns out, the ”guillotine” style clippers were hurting her. So we switched to Millers Forge Dog Nail Clipper, Plier Style
EAR CLEANER
I didn’t understand the importance of cleaning our dogs’ ears until I started writing Keep the Tail Wagging. Each of our dogs are on different ear cleaning schedules. Rodrigo’s ears need to be cleaned the most, then Blue, then Sydney. But each of them has their ears cleaned at least once a week. We use John Paul Pet Wipes Ear and Eye
PERFUME
Living in the Pacific Northwest makes us victims survivors of Wet Dog Smell x3 for half the year and it’s a lot of work, but doable. We sweep and vacuum every other day with our Rainbow E2 Series Vacuum
We use Life’s Abundance Bath Fresh Mist, which is a dream product. Although I’m no longer a rep for the company, I have yet to find a product that does such a great job. The bottle is small, but lasted us nearly a year with our dogs. They’re not a fan of the “perfume,” but we love it.
Another great product to keep the dog odor under control in your home is NOse Offense For PETS Air & Fabric Odor Eliminator. We wash our dogs’ bedding weekly when we’re being drenched in rain and spray it with NOse Offense
FLEA & TICK TREATMENT
Once I learned about the dangers of flea & tick spot treatments, I started looking for a natural product. Recently a lot of reps have reached out to me about a product that you just attach to your dog’s collar, but I have something better (especially since our dogs don’t wear collars).
Bright Eyes Pet Wellness flea & tick spray. One 16 oz bottle protects three dogs for a year at our house. This past season was supposed to be a rough one for fleas and we didn’t have one issue at our house and we live in a very rural area, lots of trees, shrubs and wooded areas, and our dogs interact regularly with other dogs at the park. I love this product. Plus it’s all natural!
Now it’s YOUR turn! What are your favorite grooming products?
January 28, 2013 at 12:44 pm
Thanks for the tips. Having just washed a load of bath towels from drying off the dogs, I think I’ll buy one of those DryPet towels! Having Labs makes grooming a bit easier and being seniors, they are in to see the vet at least twice a year, so they handle any clipping or ‘gland’ cleaning needs. But one product I do really like are the Greenies Pill Pockets. Our seniors tend to be on various meds for arthritis pain or UTIs or whatever…and sometimes tossing the pills in with the food doesn’t work. Our dog Becca could eat an entire meal and leave only that one little Tramadol tablet! The pill pockets solve that really easily.
Twitter: MySlimDoggy
January 28, 2013 at 1:02 pm
I’m there with you on the pills. We use peanut butter, but our dogs aren’t on regular medication so we don’t worry about the extra calories. As they get older, peanut butter won’t be a regular option if we want to keep their weight in check (especially Sydney), so we’ll have to look into those pill pockets. We’ve tried wrapping the pills in meat; no dice.
The towels are amazing. We only have 1, but I would love a few more to take care of bath days. We fill our washer too.
Twitter: thefurmom
January 28, 2013 at 2:24 pm
My favorite soap is a bar soap purchased at the weekly market from a local soapmaker. It’s made for pet shampooing, smells wonderful and rinses super clean very quickly. We recently won a Bone Dry pet towel at a twitter party and it works as well as the Drypet towel you describe and much better than the old microfiber towel i was using.
I’m very interested in the Natural Flea & Tick spray . Gizmo is sensitive to flea serum and a bite turns into major itchies for him. I have him on comfortis, which works well most of the time, but there are the occasional bites. Florida is a very heavy flea state. Also, with all the hiking we do it is not at all unusual for him to pick up a few ticks. How often do you use the spray? How frequently do you spray the dogs? How heavy a spray do you use? It’s remarkeable that one small bottle will last you for a year with 3 large dogs. I’m very interested in giving this a try as a supplement to the comfortis, but would appreciate hearing a bit more about it from you first. Thanks
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January 29, 2013 at 6:45 am
The bottle in the picture is just a sample bottle. The bottle we have is the size of a bottle you’d find for cleaner or something. We still have a 1/4 left.
During the spring and summer, we sprayed our dogs every other day with just a light misting over their body and then we rubbed it in to their hair. They hated it, but it doesn’t smell bad. Its all natural and we love it. We couldn’t believe that it worked It also made the mosquitoes stay away. When fall came around, we sprayed them 2x a week and now we don’t spray them at all (since the 2nd freeze).
Here is another article I wrote about it that might be useful and includes another option we tried too with success (but we like BEPW best). I love it (the spray, not the article): http://www.keepthetailwagging.com/wanted-soft-perfume-and-non-toxic-flea-tick-treatments/
Twitter: thefurmom
January 29, 2013 at 6:56 am
Thank you for the extra information Kim…I’ll be looking into the product and maybe giving it a try.
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January 28, 2013 at 3:08 pm
I follow @drypet on Twitter, but hadn’t read any reviews of their products yet. Their towels sound super handy and I wish our vet clinic had known about them years ago. We didn’t use cage dryers on dogs we gave baths too and one lady got mad that her dog was still damp when she picked him up.
Glad you don’t get the guillotine style clippers, they are definitely not the best type. I like your nail trimmers too. I don’t have to trim Shiner’s nails because she bites them.
And Andis is a great brand of clippers – definitely recommend them and I’m sure buying a pair will save you lots of cash.
January 29, 2013 at 6:45 am
It’s always nice to have another pet lover confirm our choices. Thanks. Since our dogs can’t tell us what’s up, we have to do more work to figure it out. I’m happy with the list
Twitter: thefurmom
January 28, 2013 at 4:40 pm
I am wanting me that towel for sure! I’ve been using my old towels and they sure as heck don’t dry Titan like they should but I guess I never thought to look for dog towels!
You have some pretty good products there as well, that we’ve never tried. As far as the nail trimmers, Titan goes to the vet every 3 weeks to have his done. It’s good for him because he stays familiar with the vet and tech’s as well as relieves me of stressing about cutting his quicks. He has several dark nails plus will only sit still long enough for about 3 nails.
Thanks for sharing!
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January 29, 2013 at 6:47 am
Going to the vet is such a great idea. I did the same when Sydney and Rodrigo were puppies, but stopped, because I didn’t like our vet (we have a new vet now). Blue’s nails are a challenge, because their black, but the groomers at Petco taught me how to clip them.
The DryPet towels are amazing. We definitely need more. It would save us on a load of laundry each week.
Twitter: thefurmom
January 28, 2013 at 7:31 pm
That DryPet towel has defintley got me interested. I have yet to find a towel that can handle the wetness of a drenched and muddy Newfie:)
Loved your list! I can’t live without my dog brush, I carry it around in my pocket all the time because I never know when I’ll come across a sleepy Newf with his belly exposed!
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January 29, 2013 at 6:49 am
I’m there with you on the brush. Rodrigo and Sydney love to be brushed and will take turns sitting in front of me. Rigo goes first, Sydney is second and can barely wait her turn. Blue hates being brushed and it’s my fault, I tried to work out a tangle once and he’s never forgotten. I should have clipped the hair. So I have to catch him when he’s sleeping. Our smallest dog is the hardest to groom some days.
Kimberly
Twitter: thefurmom
February 13, 2013 at 3:58 am
When I was going through each and every line of this post, I was feeling how lucky out pets are. Even we do not have to face enough challenges in taking care of our dogs. There are so many products to use to keep our pets fit & fine. But, one thing I would recommend all dog owners that whenever you detect a single flea crawling in your pets’ fur or body, take them to a nearby pet care center for complete dog flea treatment. Proper treatment will eradicate fleas and keep your dog smiling all day through.
February 13, 2013 at 11:22 am
We’re very excited to have found a flea treatment that’s all natural. I couldn’t believe how well it worked. Thanks for stopping by!
Twitter: thefurmom