White as the Driven Snow

Balancing the need for a great show coat and the desire and sensibility of having a dog lead an active dog's life, is sometimes a dilemma for exhibitors.

I have seen exhibitors keep dogs in crates or boxes for most of the show career sitting up like little Budgies in a cage, let out for supervised periods to do the necessary. Sure they have great coats and no staining on elbows etc but others like to let the dog romp and frankly, I for one, am forever dreaming up kennel suituations and concoctions in my endeavours to balance my act!

So if like me, you let the dogs run free and despite using white rounded stones in the runs and despite using two pack paint on the concrete and everything else known to man you have ended up with red elbows or stained whites, then here are some suggestions. We have spoken about bleaching and my thoughts on it and my alternative recipe in a previous article "The Big Coverup". There are other ideas you may wish to resort to as well. Those that know, tell me that Velvet Soap is good and I have used it with success myself as I have with Sard Wonder Soap. Both are available from the supermarket and I lean towards Sard for crisp white but if it is a creamier white you like - good on whites for a red or gold/tan dog - then use Velvet. Work the soap well into the stain and leave for 10 minutes. Wash well.

The other blissful bit of info I gleaned at recent shows in the U.S.A. was the use of Baking Soda - good old bicarb! Again available in the supermarket and if you want something environmentally friendly and useful for 9 squillion different things, then this is the thing for you. There's a great book out, titled Baking Soda by Vicki Lansky explaining how you can clean out all the other houeshold cleaning stuff and this will do the trick.

To clean up those whites you can mix a paste of Bicarb and water and apply to stain and leave for 15 minutes and wash well. Then use Plush Puppy Deep Cleansing Shampoo for all the white areas to remove any residual staining of products or toned build up from shampoos. If you have ever had blonde hi-lites in your own hair you will note that after a couple of weeks they are less bright and a clarifying shampoo can pick them up once again. Well, PP Deep Cleansing Shampoo is a clarifying shampoo and all the whites will be pristine once you give them a good going over with this. Use neat or diluted but every time you dilute you lessen the cleansing. You can leave it on for as long as you like to lift staining and then rinse well. Now you are working with a clean slate once more.

Now for that lovely silvery sheen. Using the Plush Puppy Whitening Shampoo go over the areas once more. Bingo! Nice shimmery and sparkly whites. Use the Whitening Shampoo the times in between the deep cleansing week as your regular whitening shampoo. Now condition! You need to build up a nice barrier to safeguard against further grit and grime and conditioner is the easiest and best thing. Use Plush Puppy Silk Protein Conditioner. Smells, good, feels great and puts lovely organic proteins back into the coat.

The grooming process on show day is simple. If you have any areas that are still an issue, then you need to cover them up whether it be elbows, tear stains or dribble staining around the mouth or bib. Whip out the Plush Puppy Cover Up Cream which is a nice thick white paste and is opaque and will mostly stay on till washed off.

Cover Up Cream is a cinch to use. Cut up a kitchen sponge into manageable pieces and use lightly damp to dab into the paste and apply, or, use an old toothbrush and dip into the paste and then work right through from skin to ends of coat with the brush. This is especially good for elbows and short coat areas. Let it dry slightly No little wall-flower dog for you any more!

All you need to do now is seal the finish with a spray of Plush Puppy Shine & Comb for extra gloss and that look of gleaming good health. You can apply the Shine & Comb either directly or if a fine coat and you like less rather than more, then apply to hands and skim over. Don't forget the perfume. Let's look and smell really good about this. Spritz with Plush Puppy Odour Muncher. This fab product works kind of like Fabreeze but as that is an industrial grade product we have sourced a wonderful animal friendly variant and combined it with a glorious fragrance. This does not just mask the odour but leaves a fresh clean smell. It literally munches the odour. If you have special recipes for removing stains we'd love to hear them and share them around.

Happy showing!