Scotchguarding for Dogs

What are you looking at?

Roman basking in the winter sun after a bath

One day in the dog park I met Joey, a magnificent Newfoundland with fur that felt unlike any dog I had ever handled. Joey's human told me about "Show Sheen", a spray-on coat conditioner used for horses but safe for dogs. Joey's human went on to explain that he had shown dogs for years and the conditioner kept dogs cleaner longer because it was a sort of Teflon coating for the individual fur fibers. So apparently dirt just falls off. When he ran, Joey's coat flowed as if animated, glistening in the sun and rippling in the breeze.

Roman likes to lie down in wet grass, leaves, dirt, the driveway...nearly anywhere that affords him a view of what is going on. So keeping him clean longer between baths is a great objective. In the photo above, he chose to dry out after a bath in the truck bed where he could view the comings and goings of all three households on the driveway. As he dried, I lightly squirted the Show Sheen on him, then brushed and brushed, and brushed some more. The loose fur and undercoat could have filled a paper grocery bag. In the Spring, I've see Robins and other birds with beaks full of his fur to line their nests. If any birds are in the area this winter, they will have the cleanest, dirt-resistant abodes in nature's aviary.

It's tough to get a photo of Roman's eyes. One is brown, and the other is "marbled": half blue and half brown. After I explained the marbled eye to one little girl who inquired about the color, she asked me, "Is his eye made of glass?" Maybe I have poor diction, or perhaps the concept was a stretch for her, but I assured her that his eye is a real eye and he can see out of it. It just looks like a marble.

So the Scotchguarding really works. Compare Roman's coat in the photos above to the condition he was in the day we adopted him in March. The video below captures Roman's first meal with us, and judging by his appetite, he knew what it was to go without. Dinnertime is a time of great joy!

(turn your speakers on to really get the sense of his meal)