Shampooch!

Beautiful Soft Fur on a budget.


Having a hairy hound is wonderful.  When we decided to get a dog, my request was; `I want a shaggy dog'.  It is all it's cracked up to be.  His love is unconditional, he is cute, funny and playful and he definitely is `shaggy'.  I read page after page of information on the internet about Old English Sheep Dogs and knew that they require amongst other things a bucket full of brushes, combs and de-furring equipment.  They don't however inform you that you will use practically a half a bottle of shampoo per shower.  So rather than use up another bottle of shampoo after only 2 or 3 showers, I decided that I would make my own, particularly as Digby was, well lets just say, desperate for a shower and I had no doggy shampoo.
Now, I did investigate the use of baby shampoo on dogs and got various opinions from; yes it's a great idea, to; no, it is more drying than any other shampoo.  I did discover via many posts that Baking Powder is a great cleaner and deodoriser for dogs and so as he smells like he has slept in a skip this was a `must have' ingredient.  So with no particular recipe, much like many of my teatime concoctions, I began to make a potion, a skill as a youngster I had spent hours honing with `dog' rose petals and water. 


For my big Pooch however, I used:

• a mug of water
• about half a cup of ground oats (ground them in my grinder)
• 3 drops of tea tree oil
• a squeeze of Simple Baby Wash (thought a little would help to make a lather)

I put it all in an old shampoo bottle and shook.  Admittedly, if I was going to patent it and sell it, the appearance wasn't its best feature, but I wasn't,  and Digby quite honestly couldn't give a monkey's as long as he could shake his coat all over me after I had subjected him to the shower.

Though a strange consistency, it worked really well.  Yes, Digby did drench the whole of the bathroom and me with his beautifully clean coat, but I did ask for a Shaggy Dog and I had got one.

My big dogs coat has never been so soft and white and he smells fab!  I will try and measure the ingredients next time I make it and provide a more accurate recipe, but I will make it again, probably without the Simple Baby Wash, didn't really need it.