Quick and Effective Products to Dry Your Dog After a Muddy Adventure
What can I use to dry my dog after a wet walk or a bath.
With Autumn here and winter on its way, it’s so wet for many of us, it’s time to start thinking about keeping our dogs snug after a wet walk or a bath.
There are so many products available to us from a simple towel to a range of colourful drying coats. We’ve tested some of the products available on our own dogs – mud loving Labradors.
These highly absorbent towels are great for removing water from your dog’s coat. Coming in 2 different sizes depending on your dog’s size. The small one is perfect for paws and the small dog. The microfibre towels are thinner than normal towels so are easier to handle whilst drying your dog quicker.
The only problem I have found with using a towel is that with more than 1 dog it’s difficult to dry all of them before 1 of them shakes excess water onto my walls!
Drying Mitts
Mitts might be a good option when you only have paws & legs to dry. We’ve tried 3 different types.
- A pair of drying mitts. Made from double thickness towelling material, these simple and quick to use for drying paws and legs. They are effective as they really do absorb the moisture from the dog. I keep a pair in my car so that mucky paws are cleaned before the journey home.
- An individual drying glove. This high-quality pet cleaning glove has 2 distinct sides with the microfibre noodles on 1 side for maximum absorption and a woven side to groom your dog’s coat. As they are quite wide, they have a useful finger grip inside to reduce it slipping when in use. A great affordable addition to the clean-up products.
- Noodle Glove Towel – designed like an oven glove it really does allow all parts of your dog to be dried and cleaned. The soft noodles don’t pull the hair as it effectively traps the moisture in the noodles drying your dog quickly. I love using this product on my dog’s tummy with a great to & fro action
This is a great option for many. I have found them quick and easy to get on my dogs, useful for both walks that end at home and those where the dogs must travel back in the car.
The coats can eliminate dirty towels, shaking dogs and that dreadful wet dog smell that can linger around the house or car.
There are several types on the market made from towelling, microfibre and bamboo and all have their own qualities.
Market leaders in dog drying coats are Ruff & Tumble which I have used on an almost daily basis in the winter. They use double thickness of towelling. The inner layer wicks wet from the hair of the dog, leaving the dog with a warm, dry layer against them.
Whilst a few dogs don’t like coats being taken over their heads I’ve never had a problem especially when introduced with a few treats.
My Labradors are all around the 25 – 28kgs and are at the bottom end of the Large Ruff & Tumbles but with the adjustable belly band they fit beautifully.
The Henry Wag microfleece drying coat is another one I’ve tried but I find the fit slightly better on Rosie who’s slimmer than Molly! The large is a bit snug on her.
Fleece Coats
These are a slightly different method of drying dogs are a muddy walk or bath. They do seem to work better on shorter coated dogs. The friction of the fleece can cause matting of some longer coated dogs which creates more grooming of those dogs.
The fleece coats sometimes cover the dog’s legs either just fronts or all fours and these can be useful for drying the legs.
I’ve been using Rydale’s dog fleeces which have a zip along the back which makes it easier to get them on my dogs.
These fleece coats don’t move on the dogs and mine could wear them all day if I let them!
Caring for your drying products
All of the products I’ve mentioned can be washed in the washing machine on a gentle wash at 30 but it’s recommended not to use fabric softener in the wash.
Although many of the products say you can tumble dry gently I personally wouldn’t I hang mine either on the line outside or a rail inside to dry naturally. They are always ready to use the following day.
