Drying an Oes
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| There are many commercial dryers available, and they work wonderful. Unfortunately, I never could justify the cost, for just one dog. I guess I have more time than money! We just used a regular human one, set on medium. We started Oliver with it as a pup, and he loved being dried. My groomer also says he loved her commercial one. If you aren't in a hurry, the nicest way is to be outside on a nice sunny day in the yard. We are in the country and there is always a breeze. Just keep away from dirt, puddles etc. while drying! |
| Susan,
Welcome to the forum, I hope you end up joining. Its much more fun being part of the "gang" rather than "flittering around the edge", so just dive in!! 
I have posted a number of times on what dryers I recommend, the general characteristics to look for and their advantages over regular high powered "human" hair dryers. Just click on my user name and when my profile page comes up check under "find all post by" and search for them. I always use a subject line so you'll be able to find the relevant posts fairly quickly. Drying a full coated just bathed OES is to say the least a time consuming undertaking. It isn't difficult by any means but it does take a lot of time. (In my avatar I have just finshed bathing and drying Martin Zephram, bath time 1.5 hours, dry time 3.5 hrs but he has a very long, very thick coat. Not all OES can grow a coat like this, it depends on the breeding line, health and how much care the coat receives. To me the results are worth the effort and his photo has received good reviews. Imagine what it took to bath and dry Punk who had even more coat than Martin!!  ) There are a couple of grooming and bath pre-requisites that will help in the drying though. First of all NEVER bathe an ungroomed or worse yet knotted OES. If you do you will end up with a matted disaster which will not dry very well at all and will often require clipping as a result. So rule one is to make sure you groom your dog thoroughly, no more than 1 day before bathing (maybe, just maybe 2 days IF the coat is short or the undercoat is stripped out). Next make sure you use a bit of conditioner to help reduce tangles once you have shampooed and rinsed the shampoo out of the coat. Keep conditioner use on the grizzle coloured coat to a minimum or the coat will be softened and the OES is supposed to have a coarse outer guard coat. You can be a bit more liberal on the whites as they are supposed to be softer than the grizzle but Afghan or Shih Tzu silky is still not the goal, even for the whites. Over softening the coat will compromise showing, but if you don't show then a soft coat may be perfectly acceptable to you. Your call on that one but a bit of conditioner goes a long way to help dry the dog. Finally, make sure you thoroughly rinse your dog after the conditioner has been given time to work. Rinse the dog until there are absolutely no bubbles coming out of the coat and then rinse that amount one more time. It takes me about 20 minutes to thoroughly rinse Martin and Virgil when they are washed. I also use a pulse showerhead and place it in the coat to ensure that the water gets all the way to the skin and flushes all shampoo and conditioner from the coat. If any conditioner residue is left it will really extend the drying time no matter what dryer you are using.
When you get your dog out of the bath get him/her to lie on a few very thick, very large, very thirsty bath towels. Put a couple over the top of him/her so he is "cocooned" in them and tap him dry as much as he/she will permit. This will remove a lot of the "gross" water and shorten the drying process. Finally before putting the dog on the grooming table to be dryed place a couple more dry bath towels on the table for him/her to lay one while being dried. One more chance to adsorb the gross water and help out the drying process. Actual drying is a combination of simultaneously blowing an area with the dryer and brushing it with a good pin-brush. (I have posted on grooming tools many times as well if you are unfamiliar with what brushes, combs etc to use.) Assuming you get a stand dryer which can be set to run without holding it, set it about 10" from the dog's coat and aim it at the area to be dried. Once the dryer is aimed start to brush out the area so that the hair parts and the air gets all the way down to the skin. You will need to brush the hair in one direction, then the opposite, 90 degrees and then opposite to that . In essence you will be brushing out in all four directions until the hair begins to lift under the airstream. Once it begins to lift brush it "with the grain" (the direction that it naturally lays) untill it is fully fluffed up and dry. Move on to an adjacent area and repeat. The process goes on until the one side is completely dry and then the dog is stood up and the damp towels are removed. Lie the dog down on his/her dry side and the whole thing is done again. Finally when both sides are dry stand the dog up on all fours and do a thorough check to be sure you haven't missed anywhere. It takes very little moisture for these guys to smell "doggy" and also go out and pick-up tons of dirt quickly nullifying your bathing efforts if the drying is not complete and absolute. There are particular problem areas when drying a Bobtail. Inside the armpits and groin areas can be very time consuming as the dog will often try to "hide" these areas. You have to be Alfa ans insist on doing them. Although they represent a small portion of the dog's total surface they seem to take an enormous amount of time. The spine, head and under the neck are also "slow drying" areas as they are frequently thickly coated and often have the longest coat. Hopefully this and my other posts will "get you going". As always don't hesitate to ask more questions either in public forum or by pm. |
| I just use a regular human hair dryer for now.... but my dream dryer is a new K9III *grin*
I've seen the K9II in action, but there is a new model out now, most powerful on the market from what I understand. Here is a link to one...Carl it would cut your drying time to a third of what it is now I think https://www.businessvision.net/Edge/Mai ... geNumber=1 For most I think a regular dryer is sufficient, but it does take longer. |
| We use this when we are blowing our dogs out as it only blows out cool air - not hot air:
http://www.dog.com/itemdy00.asp?T1=1917 ... g%20Supply We had Lucky at my sisters house months ago and he rolled in something rank and we had to bathe him before going home. We used a Sears large shop vac on the reverse setting to blow dry him out at her house and it worked fine. |
| I used my own hair dryer on the low temperature setting for a few years. I have 4 sheepies to groom so this way is no longer feasible. I use a Metro Air Force Commander now... I think it's the #3 ?? It has two speeds but I think there was some odd note enclosed with it saying that some part wears out faster if used on the low setting. It literally blows the water right off them and dries them quickly. (I don't use it on their faces.) But it's loud... it took a couple of times for them to get used to it. They still aren't real fond of noise. |
| We finally got a stand dryer (Oster) last weekend...and LOVE it (Carl, thanks for the info on stand dryers). Before we had been using my hair dryer. It was ok, but I was always concerned about the heat. The stand dryer does a great job of drying the fur kids and is a lot quieter than my old hair dryer. It still takes a while to dry the dogs, but the result is a lot better.
Cassiopia likes to sit under the dryer with her nose facing the into breeze - silly dog. Jennifer, Baxter, Cassiopia and Sharkey |
| i dry my oes with a towel, let her run around for about 15- 20 mins then i use a blow dryer that i use on her, on high speed and cool air, takes about 15 mins to finish, then she gets brushed |
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