How Spike Brand’s Doggy Style Shampoo, Microfibre Towel and Jerky Treats Saved the Day

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Kevin and I recently returned from San Francisco to find that Daisy Duke, our Great Dane puppy, had managed to pick up what seemed like thousands of tiny little ticks while being boarded at her breeders. We all live in the country and we’re having an exceptionally hot early summer after an extremely wet spring which followed a rather mild winter (are you still with me?), so I’m really not surprised that ticks are currently enjoying a population explosion.

Daisy is treated monthly with Frontline, and her breeder had just bathed her with insecticidal shampoo before we picked her up as well as given her several insecticidal spot treatments, but when Daisy got home there were still so many itty-bitty ticks on her belly, legs, and feet (live and dead) that she looked dirty.

Did I mention that Daisy is an indoor dog?

I wasn’t about to bring her into the house until we had done something about her new accessories. So I sat outside for an hour picking the tiny ticks off of Daisy, trying to make sure that they were disposed of in a manner where any that were still live couldn’t later pounce on Bella, our outdoor kitty. I thought about bathing Daisy again afterwards for good measure, but we didn’t have any flea & tick shampoo.

And then she threw up a time or two. 🙁

Granted, Daisy has been dealing with 100º temperatures for the last few days, and she has been outside a bit more than usual at the breeders — playing with her sister and the other dogs, so she could have just been a bit overheated. But throwing up is not something I’ve seen her do since we got her, and it worried me. A lot.

I started over-thinking everything, and decided that maybe she had been licking the insecticidal spot treatments and they were upsetting her tummy.

And then I had a moment of serendipity.

Sitting just inside the door was a box of Spike Brand products which had arrived while we were gone. Before leaving, Ian Bouchard (Spike Brand’s founder) had contacted me asking if he could send some of their products.

I should probably back up for just a moment and tell you about how I know Ian. We “met” several years ago with a review I did of one his first products, the Bright Night Illuminated Umbrella; to this day, I still keep that umbrella in my truck and use it. Ian later got into making lighted safety items such as the StrideLite Strobe-Lite Running Belt (which I also reviewed), lighted dog collars and lighted running jackets (both of which I will soon review). Because Ian loves animals, he started Spike Brand … and now I think we are all caught up!

So anyway, I had no idea which products Ian would send, but I hoped one of the items inside the sizable box he’d sent might be the shampoo I had previously seen on the Spike Brand Doggy Style site. I opened the box and did find that there was a bottle of shampoo inside (yay!), but there were also quite a few other goodies — including two more which would also prove immediately useful — a Spike Brand Microfibre Towel and some Spike Brand Jerky Treats.

Let me tell you a bit about the products …

The Spike Brand Doggy Style Lavender & Mint Shampoo is built on a coconut shampoo base with an extracted blend of chamomile, sage,nettle, rosemary & what protein, a lavender and mint herbal infusion, citric acid and fragrance.cSupposedly fleas don’t like it, but ticks weren’t specifically mentioned and there are no insecticides or poisons in it. It comes in a 16 ounce #2 recyclable pump bottle, and is made to pharmaceutical standards so ” you can use it on yourself.” The shampoo has a pleasant but subtle fragrance, so who knows? You might want to.

The Spike Brand Microfibre Towel‘s material is made from recycled pop bottles, and it measures roughly 31″ x 20″. Mine came in chartreuse, but the website also shows them in hot pink. It is supposed to be quick-drying and highly absorbant, but not soak up stains or smells. It looks pretty handy, actually, as Daisy has big floppy lips that I sometimes need to wipe off before allowing her back inside. Did you know that Great Dane’s have some Mastiff in them? Think of the slobber scene in Turner & Hooch, and you’ll see why something like this would be very handy.

Spike Brand Jerky Treats are made with natural ingredients using high quality protein from salmon meat. Are you ready for the full list of ingredients? Here it is: salmon, beef lungs, wheat flour, soy flour, sugar, glycerol, salt, natural smoke flavor, garlic powder, caramel color, potassium sorbate (a preservative), and mixed tocopherols (natural anti-oxidants). The guaranteed analysis states that they are a minimum of 29% crude protein, a maximum of 3% crude fiber, a minimum of 10% crude fat, and a maximum of 22% moisture; they really do smell like beef jerky, and are available in a “handy 5 strip pocket pack” or in a 16 ounce package that strongly resembles a plastic VHS case.

So here’s what happened …

I enticed Daisy into her tub with a bit of a jerky treat (she loved it!) and the promise of the rest of the stick soon. You can see by her ears that she is not thrilled with yet another bath, but she is putting up with the ordeal. I used about 1/4 of the shampoo bottle scrubbing her down, which was probably massive overkill. But bear in mind that Daisy is a big puppy, and I was a bit more thorough and extra scrubby than I usually am because of the dead ticks (and a few live ones, still!) which needed to be removed!

After Daisy had been bathed I gave her the rest of the jerky treat and wiped her with the Microfibre Towel — a task that I usually use a full size bath sheet to accomplish, and it served just as well! Color me impressed. After her wipe down, I threw the Microfibre Towel in with a wash load and afterwards hung it to dry; it once again looks brand new and is back in its storage bag awaiting the next dogwash.

Best of all, after washing and drying Daisy with the Lavender Mint shampoo, she smelled fabulous and her hair was incredibly soft … and she hasn’t thrown up since. I spent the next hour pulling the last of the dead ticks (and yes, even after all she had been through — there were still a couple of live ones!) from her paws and back while she lay snoring in my lap. What a sweet puppy!

Later I was able to use the Jerky Treats while working on her “Come” command; evidently they are good bribery. 😉

I’ll definitely be buying the shampoo and jerky treats again, and I expect the Microfibre Towel to last for years.

There are plenty of pet products available at the grocery store, discount stores, and even the bigger pet chains; some are less expensive and some may cost much more — you might even already have a favorite line of pet supplies. But I can tell you that if you are looking for a quality product made by a company who cares about dogs, then you will absolutely love the Spike Brand line.

Spike Brand products are sold at various retailers; you can check and see where the closest one is by checking here.

Spike Brand Doggy Style Shampoo retails for ~$9

Spike Brand Microfibre Towel retails for ~$10.50

Spike Brand Jerky Treats retail for ~$1.60 (pocket pack size) and ~$11 for the 16 ounce size

What I Like: Natural, human grade ingredients are used in the shampoo; the shampoo is gentle, and it leaves fur soft and shiny; the Microfibre Towel does the work of a much bigger bath towel, and it is easy to wash;  the towel is made from recycled pop bottles; the jerky treats are a healthy and tasty reward for good behavior

What Needs Improvement: Nothing, Daisy (and me) liked everything! 🙂

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About the Author

Judie Lipsett Stanford
Judie is the co-owner and Editor-in-Chief of Gear Diary, which she founded in September 2006. She got her start in 1999 writing software reviews at the now-defunct smaller.com; from mid-2000 through 2006, she wrote hardware reviews for and co-edited at The Gadgeteer. A recipient of the Sigma Kappa Colby Award for Technology, Judie has written for or been profiled by nationally known sites and magazines, and she has served on multiple industry hardware and software award panels. She is best known for her device-agnostic approach, enjoyment of exploring tech, gadgets, and gear, and her deep-diving, jargon-free reviews.

7 Comments on "How Spike Brand’s Doggy Style Shampoo, Microfibre Towel and Jerky Treats Saved the Day"

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  5. Mark Vlastelica | June 22, 2010 at 1:39 am |

    That is awesome! The prices are actually not that bad compared to other brands. And that’s a deal when you can use it yourself 😛 I’m just wondering how long the smell lasts? I’m not expecting a shampoo to last weeks, but just at least a day or two. BTW that is a HUGE and CUTE pup!!! My pug is probably just the size of that head!! 🙂

  6. How Spike Brand's Doggy Style Shampoo, Microfibre Towel and Jerky … http://bit.ly/b80JjV

  7. @Mark – Hi! I gave Daisy her bath on Saturday night, and I think she still smells good, but she doesn’t necessarily smell like shampoo (if that makes sense). I could still smell the faint shampoo smell the next day, but my overall impression is more just “clean, soft puppy”.

    Daisy is a big girl! See weighed 60 pounds at 18 weeks, and on the 20th, she was just 5 months old. I’m excited to see what she’ll weigh when we go back to the vet next week (when she get’s her frontline re-application and rattlesnake bite vaccine booster shot). 🙂

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