Shiny Coat

I remember months ago in May when I met a 77 lbs Vizsla and his owner. The one comment that I remember was that he thought Cody's coat was dry and then he proceeded to give me tips. I noticed yesterday that Cody's coat is very soft (much softer than other dogs) and has definitely improved since May.

Here are a combination of tips he gave me, plus ones that I think are more effective:

1. Don't wash your dog that often (I wash him once every week and a half and I think it's fine. As I never changed his grooming schedule since May, I would not say that this is the reason for Cody's shiny coat).
2. If you wash your dog, use cold water only. (I did try that, but since I would sometimes combine my shower and his, I didn't really enjoy cold showers. Once again, it's not the cause of Cody's current coat condition (try saying that 5 times fast))
3. Don't keep him out in the sun too long (I don't know if this works or not. It was definitely sunnier months ago, especially when I would run a couple of hours in direct sunlight with him. I still don't think it made that much of a difference)
4. Food. The owner of the 77 lbs Vizsla did not give any recommendations regarding food. However, in July, I started an "Ultra Premium" dog food that was mixed with what I used before. I combined his food so half was Nutro Ultra for Puppies and the other half was Nutro Natural Choice Lamb for Puppies.

In an earlier blog post, I had said that I hoped for a shiny coat by switching to better food as it was promised in the label, but a colleague had said that supplements seemed to make more of a difference than food. In Cody's case, supplements were not needed. Perhaps Ultra had enough great ingredients that it combined all the benefits of supplements directly in the food. Another nice perk is that he "eliminates" less (as also promised in the packaging) since there are more nutrients in the Ultra than most other food. (I am in the process of switching him to 100% Ultra and after spending hours and hours researching on what "good dog food" means, I'll post another blog about it soon. I may be switching again in a couple of months to something that may promise to be better, but I'll post about it when the switch happens.