Fresh out of the shower!

Advert: In this blog you’ll find advertisement and recommendations from the following Dogwash.dk / Drycoat.dk / Hundeparadiset / Drycoats & Snoods.

Cute Cosmo’s Full bath and groom!

It’s finally here! Cosmo’s full bath & grooming rutine! All my little tips and tricks – all the inside information on how I keep that long fur of his mat free and super shiny! Grab a coffee – you’re in for quite a ride! #Sorrynotsorry

If you haven’t already read my first blog post and just looking for a quick belly wash then I recommend you reading that first! It explains our everyday challenges and simple post walkie belly wash rutine!

Find it here: “What no one ever told me!”

I have often been asked questions about how i keep Cosmo’s fur and how we do our full baths. When I tell people I only brush him about once a week they almost loose their head – HOW!? Very early on someone told me: ” A clean dog doesn’t mat”! And to a certain extent she was right! So how? Well I’m quite convinced, that the fact that I fully groom Cosmo about every 4-6 weeks and give him almost daily belly washes inbetween simply keeps him from matting. And as an added bonus a full groom like this will reduce shedding aswell ! – Especially those transitions between winter / Summer!

I will do my best to include all the questions I usually get but if you at the end of this blog still have questions unanswered please leave a comment down below and I’ll make sure to answer the best I can!

A few words on dog baths before we get started!

You always want to make sure that your pooch’s experience in the shower is a positive one – even from an early age. This to ensure that bath time remains a fun and enjoyable experience for the both of you. I now basicly spend about 1,5 up to even 2 hours on a full groom depending on how much I include like nail clipping, pawtrims etc. But! We didn’t start out with sessions this long. For me it’s super important to make it as good a time as possible – for both Cosmo and I. If you’re only just getting started make sure you do short enjoyable sessions more frequently and with abundants of praise and treats! Patience – you’ll get there. Don’t force it. It’ll leave you with the opposite effect!

The set up!

But! Before we get that water running let’s just take a closer look at my set up!

The table is the “OKBaby Bath Stand” – but there are lots of foldable tables out there!

This is a picture of my complete bath set up. I use a collapsible plastic baby bath table to get Cosmo into a comfortable working hight for me. As I’m spending some time here I really want to make myself comfortable. I don’t want to rush it or start feeling annoyed because of a bad body possisions and an aching back. I use an anti slip mat too to make sure Cosmo feels nice and safe standing on the table too! You can also see that I’ve set up a shower curtain rail. Before I always ended up half as much in the shower as Cosmo. But this way I can stay dry and comfortable throughout the bath aswell as having it double as a safety rail making sure Cosmo doesn’t try to jump off the table and potentially hurt himself. Making sure you set up a calm and safe enviroument is halfway to success! I’ll even put on music but that’s for my sake not his ;).

I also close the bathroom door to keep the temperatur nice and warm . As he will be wet for quite some time I don’t want him to be cold or in a draft. I also place my dry towels in the dryer and let those warm up. With this we’re ready to go!

I place Cosmo on the table and start with a quick run through with a brush. It’s important to brush through or if you have to then carefully cut off any mats before starting as matted hair holds water and soap. Now we’re ready to start the bath!

The bath

I start out rinsing him untill he’s completely soaked. I’m starting from the neck down and to begin with I leave his head dry. I’ll get back to why. Firstly, I want to talk about temperature! – Do you know at what temperatur to wash your dog? We often wrongly assume that warm water is the optimum temperature for our dogs – with good intentions ofcourse. However, water that feels warm to the human skin is actually often more than 38 degrees celcius which is too warm for our dogs and risk unessisary strain on their heart and bodys and might actually make them feel uncomfortable! Therefore you should shower your dog at lukewarm temperatures only. ( = about 37 degrees celcius). I don’t wet his head and ears first off simply because there’s no reason for him to be completely soaked yet and he tend to shake water off his coat less when his ears and head isn’t wet!

Products

So! What products to use? I’ve had this question a lot. Different products work for different fur types but in my experience there’s often a good link between quality and effect. I use a good quality shampoo from DryCoat.dk called Grøn The the shampoo to start off. It works great for puppies as well as adult dogs with short or long hair. I have used this for Cosmo since day one and it’s still my absolute favourite. It has a green tea ingredient that works calming on both fur and skin and smells great. The shampoo is mixed 1-6 but this may vary between different brands. Make sure you check your own products before use.

I use a sponge to massage my shampoo mix into his fur or I put my 1-6 mixture into a seperate bottle and aply directly onto his fur. This way I waste very little shampoo! I start at his neck and move down his back, his legs, paws and tail untill he’s all soaped up. Lastly I wet his head and ears being carefull I don’t allow water to enter into the ears. I wash carefully from the inside and work my way out – again avoiding soaping up the inside of his ear and just wash the fur. While washing the ears the shampoo on his body has time to work it’s magic. Now rinse – rinse and then rinse some more! It’s super important to rinse out every bit of shampoo as any left over soap can irritate your dogs skin when dry. When completely rinsed continue onto the ears and do the same. Reapeat this step if your dog is Extremely dirty or oily.

Products

When I do a full groom like this I always finish off with using a good conditioner or even a hairmask/leave in conditioner. The conditioner I use for Cosmo is called “Show Blasam” and simply makes the hair strands soft and manageable (conditioned) and therefor easier to brush and groom after his shower. When Cosmo’s fur seems to loose some life and shine I use the leave in conditioner “Deep Intenza” by Drycoat.dk to nurish the hairs and restore that shine and rich healthy coat!

When applying the conditioner I use a different sponge or bottle and I massage the mixture into his fur. I’ll start with his body again and let that set while applying it to his ears. Spend this time massaging not only focusing on applying it but make it about petting your dog. Give praise and plenty of treats. Make sure you are making this as comfortable for them as possible. You should hear my encurraging doggy voice during bath time – you know – that high pitched voice most of us get! Haha. Now – I like to let either product really set so I grab a towel from the dryer. Make sure it’s NOT too hot! I wrap Cosmo up in it and either we stay where we are and have a treat break or we sit down for a snuggle for 5 -10 minutes depending on how much time we spent applying.

The Drying & Grooming

Now it’s time for the final rinse. Again use lukewarm water and rinse, rinse and rinse again. You’ll feel the difference in the coat already! So soft! When you’ve rinsed out completely run your hands over the fur to get rid of the worst water still soaked up in the fur. -Or if your dog is like Cosmo then take cover while they shake that excess water right out! ;)They acutally shake out up to 70% of water from their coats in a matter of seconds! I use a special drying towel when drying Cosmo. This towel is a super absorbent towel making it so much easier. Instead of batteling soaked up towel after towel I simply twist it to force out the water and continue drying- I repeat this as many times as I need untill he is as dry as possible. This way I’m ahead on points already when it come to blowdrying him after. I grab an other tempered towel to put around him and we’re ready for a blowdry!

As an added bonus this towel can doubles as a cooling towel on hot summer days!

I only just recently got myself a grooming table and a blower – but if you’ve followed us for some time you know I’d never live without it again. Boy has this made my life easier! Up untill getting my blower I used a blowdryer for humans – I bet a lot of you are too. And more than once have I burned it down trying to get through all that fur. I’ve never had the patience to make it through his ears. Also keep in mind that the hot air can be too hot for your dogs skin. With a blower you have much better controle of airflow and temperature and it has cut off so much off our drying time. For the first time I made it through his ears witout loosing my dryer or my mind!

Brushes

Here’s my mostly used brushes that will get you through just about everything!

  1. A Normal standart brush
  2. The slicker brush
  3. A comb

4. I’ve added the greyhound/coat king which works wonders for removing old wool. I use this more rarely but it’s great so I added it in! I often see the furminator recommended but that is much too hard on a Cavalier and will risk breaking the hairs of the top coat.

First off I go through his coat with a normal brush making sure I have no knots. I then usually start drying Cosmos behind. This is his ‘problem area’. I have been batteling those butt curls so much! Keeping him standing can be bit of a struggle as he simply enjoys the dryer now and just wants to curl up for a nap. I just keep asking him to stand and reward him with treats when he does. You can also put something under their belly or use the grooming arm in a collar or belt. I dry those butt curls, then his back and chest. I never blow him directly in his head or face as he doesn’t like that and I want to take good care of those big brown eyes as well. While drying him I use my slicker brush that has coated pins to comb through and straighten his coat. The blower does a lot of the work and working along with your brushes too just gives great results. Don’t feel frustrated if it all seems a bit much to handle. It comes with practice! I finish off drying his ears. Cosmo has huge thick ears and drying them takes almost as long as his body! I use a brush and then a comb to make sure I brush all the way through the ears.

Post groom shenanigans

When he’s all dryed up and looking all super cute his fur might be a little fluffy still from the blow dry. This is where the drycoat comes in! I put on his drycoat and at this point Cosmo is usually so tired that he goes to snuggle right up for a good long nap! After a couple of hours in his drycoat his fur is super silky, shiny and smoothe. It’s litterally a miracle worker! It will make this gorgeous groom last longer. You can also completely skip the blowdry and just put on the drycoat when your dog is still wet and just leave it on till dry. I have done this in the past but drying first gives me a better result. Here’s a before – during – after of our groom!

Before – In his drycoat – After

So that’s the detailed version of how I work my way through a full groom for Cosmo and how I have found I keep his coat best. I’m sorry for le aving out nail and paw trims this time around! I hope this answers most of your bath & groom questions though! – Ofcourse not all dogs are the same so find out what works for you! I’m passionate about making it a good time for the both of us and for the most part he really enjoys this time. I’ve added a small video at the buttom of the blog if you want a 2 minute timeline of how it all went down! Also – I just loooove the smell of him when he’s newly groomed. I just wanna burry my nose in his fur! And Cosmo? Well he doesn’t care about being fresh and clean so after a few hours of naptime and cuddles he’s ready for a good long muddy walk again!

And that’s it! You’re done! Well done you!

But Wait – Just one more thing….

! GIVEAWAY !

Would you like to try this at home with your dog too? Imagine winning a comeplete kit of Cosmo’s favourte grooming essentials to try out yourself!? Well you’re in luck! Because I’ve teamed up with Drycoat.dk, Hundeparadiset and Drycoats & Snoods and I’ve put together this amazing grooming kit for you including everything you need to give YOUR dog the royal doggy spa treatment!

The Kit includes: Shampoo, Conditioner, Hair mask, Super absorbant Towel, Sponges, Treats and a Drycoat to fit your dog!

To win this complete kit of ‘Cosmo’s Grooming essentials’ all you need to do is leave your @instagram handle below and answer this question: How many items are up for grabs in this giveaway?

Giveaway is now closed!

Giveaway winner found!

Congratulations @Cavalier_rosie ! Please contact us via e-mail cutecosmothecavalier@gmail.com or DM me on instagram @cutecosmo_thecavalier ♥️

Thank you for reading along! I hope you enjoyed it, learned something new or felt inspired!

Want to support the adventures of Cosmo & Disco? Leave a tip! Tips are greatly appreciated – but not required. Thank you.





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50 Replies to “Fresh out of the shower!”

  1. I really loved this blog. Helped me alot and I’ll definitely do a little change to the grooming routine of my cavalier!

    There are 7 items and my Instagram is @sophiemariepauline

  2. Hey Cosmo.
    It’s Beemo @hi_im_beemo_the_dog
    We love your blog and insta.
    This was a great read. I thought I had all beemos grooming down, but I got some great tips and new ideas from this blog.

    Re the giveaway. I can see 7 items in the picture. However you said, this kit is wash your dog, like you would. And you use to sponges based on your blog. One for shampoo and one for conditioner. And it does say, the give away uses sponges. So I would say ,the giveaway includes 8 items. Two of which are sponges.

    I hope we win. We reeeeally want to get the dry coat. We wanted one since Tjalfes showed off theirs. But we can’t get that brand in the UK.

  3. This is a great read and very helpful!

    Again, thank you for the great advice.

    I plan on giving @ralph_the_royal a bath this weekend wish me luck haha.

    The give away kit with the 7 items looks amazing!

  4. I’m going to assume 7 . My instagram is @huskyquadsquad and my dog training Instagram is @betterpupsdfw

    I am getting my first Cavalier this week! Hes a 5 year old rescue named Winston and I’m beyond excited!!

  5. Hej!❤️

    Sikke en lækker giveaway! Har fuldt med i et stykke tid, og jeg synes bare at Cosmo er så sød. Jeg tror at min egen lille hund ville elske disse lækre 7 produkter.

    Jeg vil krydse mine fingre
    @laurazeuthenn

  6. Hej Cosmo og mor Zenia ❤ Altid skøn og informativ læsning her på bloggen! Rigtig lækker giveaway – jeg vil dog springe over denne her gang, da vi var så heldige at vinde jeres forrige giveaway. Held og lykke til de øvrige læsere.
    Håber snart vi ses igen.

    De bedste hilsner fra Elena og Trine ❤ Trine_b_Andersen

  7. This was SO incredibly helpful! You totally sold me on the dryer, i think i’ll finally take the plunge and buy one!

    Also i would like to enter the giveaway! There are 7 items and i would love to try them!! Here’s my insta: @angelina_thecav

  8. Thank You for that amazing post! So many usefull information! And Great giveaway!
    The answear is there are 7 items!
    @cavalierbengie

  9. This was so helpful! Thank you so much! Grooming all 5 of our dogs is such a strain on my back even though I’m young it still hurts after dog number 2 definitely need to look into a bath table, grooming table and blow dryer

    Pretty sure there was 7 giveaway prizes but you used the plural for sponge so more than one sponge, i don’t know I’m totally overthinking it

  10. 7 lovely items ❤️
    @theincrediblemallie

    Enjoyed this good read! Very detailed, very nice.
    Have been looking in to the drycoats and simply gotta have one!!

  11. Love your tips—thank you for sharing!! We also battle with butt curls!! We would love to win your giveaway of 7 items. All of the products look great, and we’re very excited about the drycoat!! @sherlockandwatsonthecavaliers

  12. @solarameanssunshine

    There are 7 items in the giveaway! I’d love to get this kit so we spa days can be even better!

  13. 7 items in the pamper package kit
    Love cutecosmo he is just so adorable and thank you for your grooming tips. Can you also please tell me where to get your collapsible baby bath table too? I think it is a great idea saves me from my sore back
    @re.zach

  14. I love the blog post so much!! The before and after dry coat photos are amazing! And there are 7 (?) items in your amazing giveaway!! Love you both!

  15. Tak for tips!! Er vild med før- og efterbilledet, hvor man virkelig kan se forskellen Det gad jeg godt at prøve på Molly og Frida med de 7 fine giveaway ting! Hav en dejlig dag ❤️ @molly_thehappycavalier

  16. 7 grooming items for the giveaway!!
    I love this post!! Always wondered how you keep cosmo coat looking so nice

    @almondthecavalier

  17. Hi Beautiful friends!! Their are 7 items in the giveaway!! Thank you for sharing your bathing and grooming tips!!

  18. Thanks for sharing all these great tips. I’ve never used a drycoat before and would love to try it out on Brandy.

    @brandythedogfl

  19. Loved your bathing tips. Where did you get the dry coat? I have looked everywhere online pet sites and amazon and could not find anything like it. I live in Florida, US and also have a beautiful tri-color cavalier. Thanks, Linda

    1. Hello Linda! So happy you liked the blog and thank you for subscribing! You have a chance to win a drycoat for your own! Did you see?? Otherwise there’s a link – just press the “Drycoats & Snood” and you’ll go directy to her facebook page.

  20. Tak for et godt indlæg! Så mange gode tips og tricks! Flere ting er røget på ønskelisten
    Mega skøn giveaway med 7 fede ting! Vi håber på vi er heldige ❤️
    @thecavasisters

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