Skincare, Allergies and Dermatology
I feel like I am often asked what my grooming regimen is for all of my dogs. I will say it does vary from dog to dog. I will say I am not one of those people that only grooms my dog once maybe twice a year. After discussing with multiple people including multiple people in my dogs vet care circle, breeder/mentor and groomer friends theres nothing wrong with frequent grooming. That being said if you are going to groom your dogs yourself it is super important to understand how to properly groom and pick the best products for you. I’m one of those people that will rarely use a product that you can find in most big box pet stores, I find that those products leave a soapy residue and super heavy perfumes and overall the dogs still feel dirty. Not something I enjoy, so I spoke with a handful of groomers and have found what works best for myself and my dogs! In my collection you will see Natures Specalties, Chris Christensen, Igroom, Isle of Dog, Tropiclean (blueberry facial only), and Espree’s Dead Sea Mud Bath.
Like I said it is super important to learn and understand how to groom your dogs coat type! I like to start with giving my dogs a nice all over soak in luke warm water, I then add my properly diluted shampoo, I start up on the neck and massage that all the way up to the base of the ears, move to the front and to the base of the jaw, move down the chest and then the trunk of the body and so on, once I have the dog completely covered in a nice lather I let it sit anywhere from 2-10 minutes depending on what product I am using. While I am waiting for my shampoos to work their magic I am checking and brushing teeth, cleaning ears and then using my either my “Blueberry Facial” or Waterless Facial cleanser. Once my time is up I start back with rinsing the face, then work my way down the body to ensure I get all the shampoo out. The best way to see if your dog is clean is to see if they pass the “Squeak” test. You do this by lightly putting pressure on the area and pushing your finger down and it will make a squeaking noise!
Once you have the shampoo rinsed you can either do a coat treatment or move on to conditioner! For skin and coat treatments I really enjoy using the Espree Dead Sea Mud Mask, I will work that in and let it sit for 10ish minutes and then rinse. Normally if I do choose to use that I will not do a conditioner so I’ll move straight to drying. When I condition I will once again dilute the product and start up at the top of the neck and move down. While I am conditioning I will actually massage my dogs muscles, see if there are any tender spots typically I take 5-15 minutes to go through this. Now this is where I will change things up a bit with the shepherds I will fully rinse out the conditioner and then move onto drying. With Bjorn and other Sibes I groom I actually don’t rinse the conditioner out! I have found that it is the easiest way to get the undercoat out! This is when you would really need to make sure you have a nice dilution!
For drying I use a K9 Dryer, I find that they have the best power over time and they’re made right over the border in Wisconsin! When drying I will use the same process as before with the bathing. It take a long time to get the dogs fully dry as long if not longer then bathing them. But it is soooo important to get them as dry as you can, this will prevent the “doggy” smell from coming right back, it will also prevent and bacteria or yeast from growing. If you don’t get dogs with a heavy undercoat fully dry in the summer months and it’s super humid you can even run the risk of mildew or even mold growing in the coat. That doesn’t happen over night but it is possible to happen, so even if you can’t get a your dog 100% dry just pop them in a kennel with fans blowing on them.
When drying this is where I really look and pay attention for any changes or abnormalities in the skin. You can find anything from tick bites, scratches, sores, lesions, hives, moles and anything in between when you are using a high velocity dryer! If you do find anything abnormal I would recommend taking a photo of it then chatting with your vet about it! Use your discretion to decide how soon you need to get in.
Normally allergies will present them selves somehow on the skin. It might be hives, hair loss, inflamed ears, being itchy, and possibly even some swelling of the face, ears, lips, eyelids and ears! When you’re dealing with allergies I personally don’t recommend just seeing your vet to get a Cytopoint injection or Apoquel treatment. Just like with people if they’re severe enough to be causing significant issues you should probably get them in to see a specialist! I would suggest talking with your vet and getting an appointment set up with a veterinary dermatologist. When you just treat the symptoms, not getting to the root cause of the issue. When you see a V.D. you will most likely spend the first appointment chatting with your doctor about what the symptoms are, what the triggers seem to be, what food you are currently feeding, and any other info that may be relevant to the situation. You may get a short term supply of an allergy medication to get your pet comfortable, but often I see dogs also start a diet trial. This is typically done by feeding a Hydrolyzed protein and doing a diet trial to rule out your pet having food allergies. This goes on for 4-8 weeks depending on your pet, as you slowly start adding foods back into their diet you and your V.D. will look and see if there are any triggers. Food allergies in my opinion are much easier to manage versus environmental. Which is why I will always recommend meeting with a specialist! If you can just removed a protein source or avoid an ingredient why wouldn’t you? Aston is one of the dogs that has gone through this process, unfortunately she does have a dust allergy, so it is hard to avoid. We are currently redoing our home to help better control her environment!
There are a few different treatments you can do for allergies, some are simple such as giving Medicated baths (these are typically done with a compounded shampoo and done anywhere from daily to weekly to biweekly). The next option is chatting with your vet about what antihistamines are safe and what doses you can give your dog, the most commonly used ones are Benadryl, Claritin and Zyrtec. Sometimes allergies can cause a secondary infection so you may need to give your dog antibiotics or anti-fungal medications to get the secondary infection under control. Some dogs with flea allergies it is easily managed with strict flea control so of the most commonly used meds for flea allergies are Revolution, Frontline and Advantage. Some dogs get better if you just add some Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids supplements. Sometimes you will need to use Cortisone products such as prednisone, prednisolone and dexamethasone to help reduce itching by reducing inflammation this in theory should only be used as a short term fix because it can cause other health issues down the road, but that is a conversation to be had with a member of your vet staff. You can also bring up Immunotherapy better known as allergy shots. In my opinion and my own research it is one of the safest options for long term use. That being said it can take up to a year to see improvements with this method. This will help your dog develop immunity agents and eventually after the initial treatment you may never have to give another injection other dogs will occasionally need a booster. Some other common medications typically given by general practice vets treating symptoms are Apoquel and Cytopoint. I have personally used both of these products and I personally do prefer the Cytopoint injection. Apoquel can be great! The effects are typically noticed within the first 4 hours of administration to help control itching. and typically itching is mostly controlled within the first 24 hours of use, continued use of Apoquel can also reduce inflammation over long term use. Cytopoint is a long lasting itch relief. Typically you will administer 1 injection for 4-8 weeks. Cytopoint works by working with your dogs immune system and is designed to neutralize one of the main proteins that send itch signals to your dogs brain. This is the treatment I personally do use with Aston and everyone on our vet staff have decided is the best course of action for her personally.
That being said I am not a veterinary professional so please take everything I say with a grain of salt, I just have done lots of studying to help Aston the best I can, she is the reason I have learned how to properly groom, research medications, learn how to check her skin. I cant thank Dr. Haarstad enough for her helping me through this journey, I will highly recommend her to everyone in the Twin Cities area!
