Doodles love to swim and bathing them after is a lot of work

[Pilar, Sophie & Rico]

Need some suggestions. My two doodles love jumping in the pool but I hate the work of bathing them afterwards. Are there any products to use that would make it easy for me? I rinse them off with the hose, shampoo, condition, towel dry and then try to blow dry with dryer. It's not fun. Otherwise if I just rinse off the chlorine they smell! If I don't condition Sophie she gets tangles. And Rico starts to smell like wet dog if not fully dried. Takes all the fun of enjoying the pool with the doods!! Any recommendations would be appreciated.

[Lori, Quincy & Frankie]

No advice here---we have the same problem with the salt water.  Hope to see some helpful responses other than my sympathetic --yup it's a pain but pretty much a must! 

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

I am a terrible Doodle mom...my dogs are in the lake almost every day and I let them drip dry and call it a day :) Vern rolls in something EVERY single day and he has cured me of ever thinking I can keep him clean. I guess I am immune to the wet dog smell, too.  I do have my dogs groomed fairly regularly...out of necessity :)

[Bonnie and Kona]

Laurie, I don't think I would feel compelled to shampoo the dogs every time they got into a lake either. It's the chlorine Pilar is concerned about, and I've got the salt and sand issue. You are a great doodle mom. 

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Thank you, Bonnie. In that case, I would get an outdoor shower and just hose them off....or not :) No solution here, but I wish you good luck. I just love to see my dogs happy in the water, but I cannot imagine having Vern roll in sand every single day. Yikes.

[Lonnie & Libby Lu]

You are a great Doodle Mom and you always make me smile with your responses:)

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Thanks, Lonnie :)

[Lynda Kamrath]

We have had to work on this problem also.  Actually chlorine is not used much in the pools here because of obvious reasons.  The swimming pool where I swim, the canine rehab center, and our hot tub use bromide and reverse osmosis instead of chlorine.  However, still the bathing problem, especially if your dogs like to get on your bed.  We have a dog wash area in our laundry room with double sinks and counters on both sides of the sinks.  When the dogs need bathing, they hop up and get whatever grooming they need out in the laundry room.  We have heated water and blow dryers for them.  It is perfect.  They get out of the car and walk into the laundry room and stay there until we are ready to give them baths.  I usually give them their baths and my husband blow dries them.  If they have only been walking in the water, we just wash their legs in a pail of water with shampoo.  We like to squeeze dry their legs with shamwow towels.  In the summer, they have baths just about weekly because they love the water.  The canine rehab center has a bathing area right there when they get out of the pool, so that makes a swim trip easier on all of us.  You'll find what works best for you.

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

Keep the hair shorter during swimming season. 

[Lynda Kamrath]

Oh, BTW, we all like Sour Apple Shampoo.  Everyone seems happy with the smell.  I don't use conditioner because it makes their hair too sticky.  The oily hair seems to collect dirt even easier.  We don't like using it on our dogs.  Just our experience.

[Bonnie and Kona]

You have my sympathy because I'm experiencing a similar dilemma. We just moved to Hawaii. The salt and sand has to be washed out. I truly do not mind the shampooing process but it is not getting all of the sand out. The beach closest to our house has sand the consistency of flour! I think the doodles are clean and then they lie down in the house and leave piles of sand. I've tried blowing it out with a professional dryer and that isn't working either.

I have Kona cut down to 3/4 inch. That helps. Next Owen. I hope clipping them short helps you. I'm sure it will help with the drying process so no more moldy dog smell.

[Sue, Murphy and Bella ()*o*()]

Well we do have choline in our pool and the dogs go in a few times a week. I must be a horrible doodle mom, because I don't even rinse them off. They dry in about 20 minutes just running around the yard afterward. They don't seem to have any skin or hair issues with the chlorine and I'm sure there are tons of reasons to rinse it off, but it just hasn't been a problem in the past 2 years. They now go in a lot less because I have trained them to respond to "No Pool" on the days I dont have time to let them dry outside. So that has avoided the musty wet dog on the couch issue. Keeping them cut very short is the best solution I could offer as well.

[Maryann,Roo and Tigger]

I, too, am a lousy doodle mom.  Roo and TIgger and cut to about an inch for our long swim season.  We have a saltwater pool and I don't even rinse them off.  I bought two microfiber dog "bathrobes" when they were on sale and they soak up most of the wet.  I do dry their heads and tails with a towel to take out some of the water. 

Roo and Tigger are just wet and go dogs.  Have not had any problems (knock on wood) with skin or ears with this procedure.