If you follow me on social media you’ve probably met Basil at some point. He is a rescue dog that we homed a few months ago. I don’t know what breed Basil is. He’s definitely got some hairless something in him and possibly some Boston as well. Basil has no hair. Hairless dogs like him, while extremely cute, also need a lot of maintenance. His skin is prone to scratches and scrapes as well as tiny black heads, which if not treated can turn into sores if too much dirt gets in. Basil gets bathed once every two weeks with special shampoo from the vet. Then we apply some coconut oil to his skin to help keep it soft (but not too soft!) and he also gets sunblock sprayed on if he is going to be outside to try help the pink bits of his skin not burn. The sunblock can clog his pores and contribute to all those black heads.
Hansgrohe recently launched a Dog Shower head which they developed along side veterinarians, psychologists, dog groomers and pet owners. They sent me the shower head to try with little Basil.
In the box you get the shower attachment and it is relatively easy to add on to your bath or shower (you can also add it to a hose pipe outside if you prefer). It took all of 5 minutes to attach it.
The dog shower turns on when you turn the water on, it has a button at the top to help you with the power of the spray and then three spray modes. Because Basil has no fur, he needs something relatively soft on his skin. The Hansgrohe Dog Shower has soft silicone nozzles that are nice and bendy – you can use these as a sort of brush as well.
We could easily brush Basil with the Dog Shower and the nozzles were soft enough that he wasn’t agitated but also could help to remove any excess shampoo.
The three spray modes
There is a select button on the handle to swop between the various modes. The first mode is specifically a full fur spray mode. All 70 of the nozzles send out water and allow you to get rid of dirt and shampoo.
The next mode is a soft water spray that releases from the from of the handle. This is ideal for legs specifically.
Finally there is constant spray that you can use for cleaning little paws.
Some thoughts
Basil is a special case because of his lack of fur. However, we also used the Dog Shower on my brother’s Beagle and the nozzles really got a stack of dirt out of the fur. Here’s a picture of Basil though and you can see how much dirt was being removed (at the bottom of the bath):
The soft nozzles and ability to adjust the spray pressure really made for an easy bath time. We used all three settings and I thought it would be worthwhile for you to see the before and after on his back legs, where the little black heads tend to form. If you scroll up you can see a picture of the shower head and Basil’s dirty legs, here is what they looked like after his bath – much cleaner:
The Hansgrohe Dog Shower is nice and easy to hold, fits well in your hand and is easy enough to use. My brother’s other dog is very against bath time and even she stayed relatively calm while being washed. I think the soft nozzle brushing really helped soothe her a bit. Basil, who is used to his baths, was super chilled and seemed to enjoy himself. Also, there was hardly any splash back because you can control the pressure of the water with the Dog Shower, which was a big help.
This is such a nifty gadget and, for Basil, one that is extremely useful because of how many baths he gets. I can definitely recommend if you want your fur kids to have a mini spa at home – because that is exactly what it is like! The Hansgrohe Dog Shower will be available in South Africa and you can find out where to get one here. The shower will be available in South Africa in November and will be available to purchase online.
DISCLOSURE: I was gifted a Hansgrohe Dog Shower.
