Peppermint Dog Soap

You can use some dog shaped molds or bone shaped molds for these soaps - made with peppermint essential oil

What you need

4 oz melt and pour base or soap flakes
1 1/2 tablespoons of herbal shampoo or make your own
10-15 drops of peppermint essential oil

Instructions

Melt your soap using Melt and Pour Soap base.  down using a double boiler method.

Once your soap is melted add the shampoo and essential oil

Make sure you don’t stir too vigorously or the shampoo with become frothy.

Keep stirring until completely mixed and then pour into your soap molds.

There are a number of reasons why a dog would have dry skin. Dry skin on a dog is not necessarily the sign of a health problem, but can be due to the dog not having his nutritional requirements met sufficiently.

Dry skin dog can be related to shedding. Profuse shedding dogs, like Alaskan Malamutes and Siberian Huskies will often have dry skin during their malting.

Some causes of dry skin can be fleas, mites, stress, allergies or a lack of correct oils in their diet. Mites, allergies and fleas can be ruled out either by a veterinarian or just checking over the dog yourself.

But before you cure the symptom, you need to find out what is causing the dry skin.

Note: Some dogs aged from 9 months to 18 months suffer from dry skin as they make the change from puppy coat to adult coat.

The most common cause of dry, and often flaky, skin is that the dog is not getting enough natural oils in his diet. This can be easily rectified by doing a few simple things.

Many mass produced canned dog foods have a certain amount of oils in them. However, if your dog does not absorb enough of those nutrients, he may need to be supplemented with base oils or other products.

Eggs

Raw fresh eggs are best. One added to your dogs normal diet twice a week can go a long way to clearing up dry skin issues.

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

One tablespoon (for large dogs) or one teaspoon for small dogs, of extra virgin olive oil or vegetable oil added to your dogs daily meal (once per day) can improve skin and coat quality.

Beef bones

All dogs love to chew, and giving them a nice, meaty (and somewhat fatty) beef marrow bone to chew on will not only help their skin, but also their teeth, gums and overall body condition.*

Tea-tree oil shampoo.

Adding Tea-tree oil shampoo to your normal pet shampoo can help to improve the condition of your dogs skin. Rather than using a conditioner, just add one tablespoon of tea tree oil shampoo to his normal dog shampoo and wash thoroughly. Leave on for five minutes and then rinse thoroughly.

Wool Wash

Bathing your dog in wool wash will do wonders for his coat, and will help to soften, and sooth, dry and flaky skin.

Avoid blow-drying

Some dogs just love to stand in front of the blow-dryer, soaking up the warmth. Others will try to get as far away as possible. In using a dryer, you are not only drying the fur, but you are prematurely drying to skin as well.

A dogs skin needs to be healthy in order for the fur to be in good condition. Because dry, itchy skin is usually diet-related, before introducing new things into your dogs diet, try different food varieties to see if they better meet your dogs nutritional requirements and consult your veterinarian for advice..

*Caution: Do not feed cooked bones to any dog. Also make sure that the bone is too big to fit in the dogs mouth, and that it will not splinter easily. Remove and replace each day, or every second day with a fresh bone.

Looking for more things to hand-make and DIY for your dog? Check out some of our favorite things to make for dogs. Owning a dog can be very expensive and not only does making your own dog beds, coats and toys seem like fun, it is also a great way to save money on pet supplies too.  One of our puppy’s favorite homemade dog toy is a soda bottle ½ filled with rice. It is noisy, it flips and spins and has a spout for him to grab. 

 

No Sew Easy Dog Bed – Quick and easy to make, you will want this soft and fluffy dog bed for every room, if you are looking for more DIY dog beds check out these articles for making your own dog beds.

DIY Dog Shampoo for sensitive skin – Even doggies have allergies and this recipe is for dogs with sensitive skin. 

Recycled TShirt – Dogs Tugga Toy This project was featured in Moderndog magazine and was so fun to make, the best part was ripping up all the old t-shirts. Such a great way to recycle.

Recycled Dog Collar – Pickup old shirts from thrift stores and make fun collars in different colors and sizes. Make sure to measure your dog’s neck before heading out so you know what size to shirt to buy. 

No Sew Dog Wrap –  Made from old human track pants, very affordable to make.

Peppermint Dog Soap –  Stinky dogs are gone, peppermint is soothing and antibacterial too.

Dry Pet Shampoo – Sometimes they haven’t even dried from their bath before they are dirty again, this shampoo helps to brush out the grime.

Looking for pet supplies, toys, food, or gift ideas? Check these out.