# Should I use a conditioner?



## patriciap (Jul 30, 2010)

I have a 13 week old Peke-a-tese (half maltese/half pekingese) named Lola. Her coat is kind of wild. Soft on the underbelly, head and ears and a little more wiry on her back and cottony on he butt area. I use a puppy shampoo with a conditioner in it (can't remember the name... bought it at a pet store), but her coat gets so tangled at the roots, that she's hard to brush through. One of my friends told me just to use my hair conditioner on her. 

1 - Is this safe?
2 - Should I be conditioning a dog with this kind of fur? I read somewhere that it can cause her fur to pick up dirt and damage her fur. That may explain why she looks so scraggy by the end of the week as I bathe her once per week.

Thanks for any feedback you can give me!


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## Mupton (Apr 7, 2010)

I wouldnt use human shampoo or conditioner just because the ph can be different. I would buy a conditioner for dogs (you can get them pretty cheap) or comb your dog a little bit when they have the conditioner in when bathing them. Also when you dry them off try not to scramble the hair and rub it to much.


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## Graco22 (Jul 16, 2007)

Conditioner is a double-edged sword on a coat like this..It is puppy coat, and hopefully it will get coarser when her adult coat comes in. Conditioners soften coats. Its just part of what they do, and all conditioners do it. (though I would recommend you use a conditioner for dogs, not humans because human hair is different textured than dog hair and you will have better results) When you condition, it can make brushouts easier, but also softens the coat, making tangles/knots happen faster, and also helps attract dirt, making the pet grimy faster. Personally, I would skip the conditioner on this puppy and use a brushout spray like Crown Royal #3 instead, when you are brushing. Also, getting her a trim will help alot too. Those frayed puppy coat ends are damaged (just from being there since birth, not necessarily anything you have done) and getting them trimmed will help alot with the tangling.


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## patriciap (Jul 30, 2010)

Thank you all for the information and advice. I've actually been dying to take her to the groomers and get her a puppy cut (whatever that is... never had a dog before), but they won't take her yet because she still needs one more round of shots. The pet store that I bought her from (Please don't chastise me for this... I didn't know any better at the time. I have allergies and live in an apt so I was looking for a very particular kind of dog) had given her two rounds of shots, but skipped the bortadella and corona, so she's a little behind schedule. Anyhow, I don't feel safe taking her to a groomer until the last round. Plus the groomers I've called won't even take her until then. 

For now, I think I'm going to skip the conditioner tonight and see how it goes


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## Graco22 (Jul 16, 2007)

Get a good brushout spray as soon as you can, and use that for awhile instead of the conditioner. Then re-evaluate those results after a month or more. I think once she gets her haircut, you will find brushing much easier too.


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