How to get a BC dry?!

[aussiered]

Ok first of all I live at home with my parents (moved out for 3 years then moved back in for 'a couple of months' a year ago....) so therefore I have to follow their rules, which means "no dogs in the house". It doesn't really bother me, I know they're fine outside, I'd just like to have them closer that's all. Second, I live in Queensland Australia, North QLD to be exact where we have a pretty big wet season from Dec-March and everything is wet for pretty much the whole time. We've had huge rain the last week or so and it's not going to stop anytime soon. The dogs are dry where they sleep and my Kelpie has no intentions of getting even his toes wet (he will however walk in the rain on his daily walk then revert back to his sooky state the moment we get home) Bonnie on the other hand has not stopped running in the rain since it started. I even caught her swimming in a more flooded part of our yard yesterday. She thinks it's christmas.

 

The problem is that I just cannot get her dry. I towel-dry her and try to keep her crated to keep her dry (but I'm not going to deny her any fun in the rain) but even then she is just constantly damp. It's hot and humid and nothing will dry, and I doubt that she'd like to be tumble-dried...... I'm beginning to worry about her skin, she has a really thick coat and it's hard to get it dry right through. How can I get her to dry quickly??

[Janba]

Is the water getting down to her skin? I find with my BC that the rain doesn't penertrate the undercoat. If you don't wash them too often the natural oils will build up in the coat and help repel water.

 

With the drying you can get dog chamois that removes far more water than towels. Then if you have a hair dryer that has a setting where it blows room temperature air you can use that to finish drying her. The more powerful the hairdryer the quicker it will blow the water out of the coat.

 

You can also get dog blow dryers that do a good job but they aren't cheap.

[SnickerKitten]

I use my blow dryer on a cool (room temperature) setting with a diffuser and just stick that into his coat rather than blowing from the outside. That way it's blowing from the inside out and gets the inside much dryer.

 

Lori

[aussiered]

Yeah it is getting through to her skin. Her coat is soaked through when I feel it. Her skin's starting to get a little pink and looks itchy, but doesn't really seem to be bothering her.

 

I tried the hairdryer when I got home from work this arv. It worked great and it didn't really bother her. Thanks for that! I'm going to have to look for one of those dog chamois.

[1sheepdoggal]

I hate using heat on dogs in my groom shop, especially with dogs in crates. Heres what I do to get them dry. Get a 2 1/2 by 2 1/2 square portable fan, plug it in, place it in front of the crate, and let er rip. I run them on the high setting, the dogs dry in no time! If its a little humid, it may take a bit longer to dry, but it works for me, and the dogs dont have to bear any heat, no worries about burning skin or coat with heat either. Ive been doing it this way for years, and the only thing ya want to watch out for is that the cord isnt anywhere that they can get hold of it and chew it.

[Shadows Mom]

You can get hair dryers that don't heat past "room temperature" its what we use on Shadow. The fan idea is good too, unless your house would get way to cold with a fan on. Those dog camois really don't work very well if the undercoat is wet as they tend to only dry the surface hair. We have one for Penny, but it doesn't work at all on Shadow =/

[JohnLloydJones]

Dogs don't really need to be dried out -- in the wild they don't have the luxury of towels or hair dryers. In the climate conditions you describe, it is probably impossible to keep the dog dry, even if you did manage it briefly. In high humidity, everything gets damp and pretty much stays that way until the humidity drops. Make sure that the dog's diet has enough oils (e.g. fish oil) to protect her skin and inner coat.