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Advice On Improving A Coat


Guest Heli

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Hugo is coming home tomorrow and I THINK we are ready for his arrival :dunno

 

I wonder if anyone has any tips for improving his coat? Hebe is lovely and shiny and all the Greys pictured on here are SO sleek and beautiful. I am afraid Hugo 's coat is really shabby, covered in scurf and dull. I am never quite sure what makes Hebe so shiny. Her food is different to Hugo's and obviously we have to keep him on his current diet for a while so should I add a little oily fish to his feed? what about oil capsules? As always any sugestions gratefully received!

 

Heli

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Sounds like he has a typical kennel coat. Lots of brushing - Furminator or Zoom Groom or even a rubber hourse curry - every day will help blow his coat. He should have a bath if he doesn't get one before coming to you with a nice gentle shampoo.

 

Remember to take lots of pics and post them so we can see your new guy!

greysmom :D

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Grizzly Salmon Oil from the Greyhound Gang! That, plus a good diet and brushing will have your new pup's coat shining in no time. I second the comment about pictures!

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Waiting at the bridge: Blaze, Rodney, Lady, Spice, Sarahlee, Callie and Baby

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Guest KennelMom

Just give it time. If you want to spend money on supplements, go ahead. But a good food, regular brushing and time as a pet will pretty much get him looking sleek and shiny.

 

eta: Also, take care not to over-bathe him. That strips their coat and skin of oils. Brushing will help stimulate and spread them.

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Guest budsmom

lots of brushing - when I brought Bud home, he had the nastiest coat ever. He's a tuxedo boy, and he had wide rusty colored stripes of nasty dead hair down either side of his spine. I brushed him all the time and within a month, it was gone and he was like black patent leather. It's also a really great way to bond with a new dog, most love it, especially with a zoom groom or rubber curry brush. It's kind of a massage as well as removing hair.

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Guest Downtownhoundz
Hi. Our Runner boy was dull and flaky right off the track. A good diet and one fish oil capsule a day make a world of difference. Good luck and congrats on your new addition!

 

I second the fish oil!!! And a regular brushing!

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Just give it time. If you want to spend money on supplements, go ahead. But a good food, regular brushing and time as a pet will pretty much get him looking sleek and shiny.

 

eta: Also, take care not to over-bathe him. That strips their coat and skin of oils. Brushing will help stimulate and spread them.

 

what she said. If it were me I would take a 'wait and see' approach and keep the dog on it's current food etc for now and transition to what you expect to feed and see where the dog is in a cpl mos. What I would not do is start tossing in any supplements until you know what you have going on.

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Guest madredhare

My foster boy, Sysco Dave came to us with an ugly coat. I kept saying "is he a brindle?", his coat was so splotchy. I have been putting a tablespoon of milled flaxseed on his food in the morning and he has the most gorgeous coat now. You can find this in the section of the grocery where they have flour.

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A good diet, a little fish oil and lots and lots of brushing. My Lizzie came straight from the track and had the nastiest looking coat ever. It didn't happen overnight, but time and lots of work had her shiny, slick and looking good. I may have missed this, but what color is Hugo and what area is he coming from? Lizzie is black which I think shows "dullness" the worst. She takes a little more time than the rest of mine. House was raised in West Virginia and was one hairy beast when he came home. He's young so some of it may have been puppy coat, but lots and lots of brushing took care of him, too. He is slick as can be now. I love my Furminator and rubber curry and so do my hounds!!!!

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Guest caiteag

fish oil and brushing.. though if that doesn't do it after a few months, you could try melatonin... we give it to Ty for anxiety, but it has taken his already very nice fur and turned it into super soft plush bunny fur...

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Guest RocketDog

Good food, a few rubdowns a week with a curry/hound glove and time will usually help shine up a new retiree's coat. I like fish oil or meal-type supplements like DocsBlend Hair of the Dog to support a plush, shiny coat but they're not really necessary.

 

My dogs do tend to look a little 'scruffy' when they are blowing their coat, and an extra thorough rubdown with the grooming glove gets them looking sleek and shiny again. Plus they loooove being brushed!

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Just give it time. If you want to spend money on supplements, go ahead. But a good food, regular brushing and time as a pet will pretty much get him looking sleek and shiny.

 

eta: Also, take care not to over-bathe him. That strips their coat and skin of oils. Brushing will help stimulate and spread them.

 

Agree 100%. Just a bath and being away from the sand at the track does wonders.

 

Ann

 

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Thank you all very much for the suggestions. Good advice about taking the supplement thing slowly. I expect his tummy will be upset with all the changes anyway and I don't want to make it worse for him, so I will get busy grooming to start with.

 

Another Hugo!..How did you choose it? His kennel name was Pedro. We have a Hebe and we didn't want to stray too far from 'Pedro' so as not to confuse him but Hebe & Hugo seemed to fit.

 

He has come from Ireland, some time ago. They couldn't re-home him there and he went to a kennel in England where he was over-looked and then moved to another, a fabulous place called 'Sun Valley Kennels' run by the Celia Cross organisation. That's where we came across him. If anyone wants a look I expect he's still on their website as 'reserved' as we don't pick him up for ...three hours!! :) He's a big, black, very quiet, slightly tatty boy. Steve (my husband) says we'll throw a party the first time he is naughty. I have absolutely no doubt that Hebe will teach him how to open the treats cupboard and which are my best shoes, just ripe for chewing!

 

We came across him completely by accident. We had decided that Hebe needed a companion - I'm home much of the day, Steve is away a lot (He's an Army officer but our home is static - he goes away, I hold the Fort!) Hebe is a little Princess and we thought that she needed some canine company to break up the human spoiling! So we set out to look for a smaller (she's a Ridgeback/Dalmation X) male dog. We had a nice little Spaniel in mind! We looked at something like 200 rescue dogs. There was always some reason why they weren't right for us - aggressive with other dogs, female!, too small - it was heart breaking. Then I read something on the net about Greyhounds - something terribly sad actually - and we thought them worth a look.

 

We got to the beautifully kept sanctuary, were met with great warmth, and shown a number of dogs. They were ALL lovely but we got to the end of the row of kennels and Steve looked at me and said 'Pedro needs to come home'. He was the quietest and tattiest of all of them but we had identified the same dog. We were a bit overwhelmed by his size - he dwarfs Hebe! and completely wet behind the ears about owning a Greyhound (this place has helped enormously) but Hugo DOES need to come home, and in three hours he's going to. I am taking a camera.

 

Wish us luck!

 

Heli

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Welcome home, Hugo! :yay Congratulations to all. :confetti Bet your new family gives you lots of good brushings & your coat start gleaming very soon.

 

Um... Hugo was the name of a rather destructive hurricane that we had hit the Eastern US coast some years ago. Perhaps a sign that your Hugo will take Hebe's lessons to heart. :devil

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Though I am a huge proponent of a supplement developed and marketed by friends of mine, I agree with the wait, better food, and daily brushing approach.

 

When we have fosters, we do not supplement them, at the request of our adoption group. But their coats improve just because we put them on a higher fat food than what they get at the track. Daily brushing helps, too.

 

As far as bathing, make sure you use a GOOD shampoo, especially if it also conditions. A conditioner would be good too, to prevent itching. And no more than once a month.

Sarah, the human, Henley, and Armani the Borzoi boys, and Brubeck the Deerhound.
Always in our hearts, Gunnar, Naples the Greyhounds, Cooper and Manero, the Borzoi, and King-kitty, at the Rainbow Bridge.

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Guest Sweetreba

I have always heard giving a dog eggs occassionally helps their coat. I tried it on my shephard chow and it worked. When I got the greys my female had the dry flaky coat. Once she got on a regular diet she really improved, also with brushing but she did not have the sheen. I tried giving both of them a couple scrambled eggs a couple times a month and now they are soft and shiny, plus they love them and so far they agree with them. It may be an old wives tale but it works for me.

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Guest argolola

GTer cbudshome introduced me to EicosaDerm. It works miracles. We had tried multiple supplements and EicosaDerm was the best. Lola's rough and bald coat is now soft as silk and her hair on the backside can almost be braided...lol.

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