Wet Dog, Dry Dog

Posted on Nov 15 in Small Dog Groomingby Jeff K.Print

n another article, I said we never have and never will use heated cage dryers at Kelsey’s Dog House. However, our customers would object if we sent their bathed dogs home wet.

“Here is your dog, Mrs. Jones. And here is a plastic drop cloth to place under him for the ride home. Don’t worry, he should drip dry in about a day and a half.

Let’s follow Sasquatch (not his real name because he does not exist,) a full-coated Shih Tzu, from the time he leaves the bath tub at Kelsey’s Dog House to the point at which he is ready to have his coat trimmed. Cue the background music they use in those industrial films showing how steel is made.

Step 1. After his bath, Sasquatch is all wet, so to speak. What is the first thing that happens after the last suds are rinsed off? Sasquatch returns the favor by giving his groomer a bath. This is actually a good thing. We want the little Shih Tzu to shake off excess water because it reduces drying time. (Some groomers believe you can make a dog shake off water by blowing on his nose. Sometimes it works, sometimes not, and it always looks silly.)

Step 2. Sasquatch goes under the towel. Actually three or more towels, usually. This step is self-explanatory.

Step 3. The groomer uses something called a force dryer on Sasquatch. The force dryer is an ominous sounding device: Dry, little dog, dry, or I shall bring the might of the force dryer to bear upon you! A force dryer is actually a vacuum cleaner that works in reverse. It does not suck, it blows. Let me say that again, because I enjoy saying it does not suck, it blows. The groomer holds a tapered nozzle at the end of a vacuum hose and directs a warm jet of air onto Sasquatch’s coat. It is not the heat that dries the dog. The force of the air stream pushes the water off his coat. The force dryer probably feels good to Sasquatch because the swirling movement the groomer makes with the nozzle creates a massaging wave of air on the dog’s muscles. Shiatsu for the Shih Tzu. (Sorry.)

Step 4. Sasquatch is moved to the drying table with a fluff dryer standing nearby. The fluff dryer looks like the hair blower you use at home on your own noggin’ except it is about ten times larger, (the fluff dryer, not your head,) and it is mounted on a rolling stand, (the fluff dryer, not your head.) While your hair blower gets hot enough to scald your scalp, our fluff dryer blows gently warmed air that feels good. Unlike being under a heated cage dryer, in which the dog is unmonitored, the groomer is right there, working on the dog as it dries. As Sasquatch stands perfectly still on the drying table, proud and statuesque, (yeah, right,) the groomer brushes his coat under the warm air flow. True to its name, the fluff dryer produces a fluffy loft in Sasquatch’s coat.

Step 5. There is no step 5. We are done. Sasquatch’s fur, dry and fluffy, is ready to be trimmed.

This process varies only slightly for some dogs. If a dog’s coat is short or coarse, the dog will usually not see the fluff dryer. After force drying, a dog might spend a little time in a kennel crate with some box fans blowing on his coat. Our kennel drying process has nothing to do with the heated cage drying process. In our situation the kennel is in a room with an ambient temperature in the mid-seventies. The fans are exactly the same as those you use at home. In fact, we buy the fans from the home goods section of a department store. For small dogs, we situate the fan so it blows from the rear of the kennel, allowing the dog to face away from the air flow. For larger dogs, who generally take longer to dry, we situate up to four fans around the dog but still leave one side open, so the dog can face away from the airflow. As the dog spends time in the kennel, we cycle in and out of the room every few minutes to check on the dog’s progress. As soon as the dog is dry, out he comes. If a particular dog objects to the kennel, we go back to the drying process described for Sasquatch.

I fly for a company that has used the motto, “Safe, clean, and on time.” I suppose when talking about drying dogs, we at Kelsey’s Dog House could modify that slightly for our purposes. “Safe, clean, and fluffy.”

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