Post by Brooke on Apr 9, 2004 0:41:10 GMT -5
On holidays, canines can be seen wearing coats of many colors
petsilkonline.com
Pet Silk is a non-toxic fur dye for pets.
How to do dye your dog
What a mess. That's what you'll have if you dye your dog yourself. However, you could also have a lot of fun.
So will your dog, as long as he:
a) loves attention,
b) doesn't mind getting wet and
c) isn't subjected to any harmful chemicals, extreme temperatures, hair-pulling or other discomfort.
Should your pooch express displeasure at your attempts to color him cranberry red, please respect his wishes and let him maintain the natural look he obviously prefers.
When it comes to do-it-yourself dog dyeing, Jean Larson Steck has some expertise.
A longtime spinner and weaver, Steck is the vice president of communications for MERS/Goodwill. She's not a professional groomer, but she does dye dogs. Some she dyed when she was the deputy director of the City Museum in St. Louis. Some she dyed for TV stints when she worked as a private publicist. She has also dyed sheep, rabbits and other animals.
Steck's two daughters, Meridith, 18, and Grace, 4, so far have managed to hang on to their natural hair colors. But her two sons, Larson, 10, and Miles, 12, have aided her dog-dyeing research by tinting their hair with Kool-Aid.
Kool-Aid is the dye of choice for all who would deign to color their Lhasa's locks lemonade pink or blueberry blue. "It's the best natural hair dye I know of for children and animals because it's safe and it's temporary," Steck says.
But even Kool-Aid is messy, which is why Steck recommends dog dyeing only when it's warm enough to do so outdoors. "The dog is going to get wet, it's going to shake itself off, and dye is going to fly. So wear something you're not attached to," she said.
People who dye their hair with Kool-Aid often make a paste by using just a small amount of water and maybe some hair conditioner. "That might work for a small dog with short hair," Steck said, but wetter solutions are better for most dogs.
It takes about 15 small packages of Kool-Aid to do a small dog, Steck says. Be sure to buy the no-sugar-added kind. You don't want your dog to attract bees or flies.
"Also, get a flavor you like, because it really smells," both during and after, she added.
"I've found that red (cherry), blue (blueberry), purple (grape), green (lemon-lime) and orange work well," she said. "Yellow (lemon) doesn't take well at all. And don't be fooled by fruit punch. It looks blue on the package, but it's really pink."
Remember that you can mix colors. "For a brighter purple, for example, add some blue and pink."
The dyeing process is fairly simple:
"Start with a clean, dry dog. Mix about three packages of Kool-Aid to each gallon of warm water; pour, spray or smudge the mixture on your pooch" and let it dry. That's all there is to it, Steck said.
"The key to the Kool-Aid is to use heat. Put it on warm, by using warm water." You could even blow-dry the newly colored locks, as long as your dog doesn't mind blow-dryers, she said.
"The color will last about a week, then fade, or you can wash it out."
The type of dye you use may depend on the color you want and on your dog's hair, Steck said. Generally, Kool-Aid doesn't produce intense colors, and short-haired dogs don't dye as well as long-haired ones.
Temporary dyes are available in spray form and sell for about $2 or $3 a can. "One can will cover a small dog; larger dogs need two or three," she said.
Just remember that commercial colorings are meant for people, not dogs. Most contain chemicals, so if the dye is used at all, it should be used sparingly and cautiously and washed out as soon as possible.
Another complicating consideration: Many dogs don't like aerosol sprays.
When applying dyes, be sure to protect your dog's eyes and ears. And if your dog is allergy-prone, do a test swatch first, Steck said.
As for why one would bother to dye a dog in the first place, Steck responds: "Because it's fun." But, she stressed, no matter how much fun it may be for you, if it's not fun for your dog as well, it's better to let the idea of dog dyeing die.
Sarah Newman
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Apr. 8, 2004 12:00 AM
Most people dye eggs for Easter. Some dye dogs.
Dog-dyers dye dogs for other occasions as well. Holidays are especially popular for pooch painting. Kerry blue terriers turn green on St. Patrick's Day. White fluffy bichons wear touches of red and blue on the Fourth of July. Peekapoos turn purple for Mardi Gras. And pugs turn into pumpkins at Halloween.
Almost any pet parade or canine costume contest will bring out a pink poodle or other oddly colored canine.
As trends go, dyeing dogs barely qualifies. Such knowledge brings great joy to many pet people, who question both the wisdom of the practice and the sanity of anyone who'd color a cocker cobalt blue.
But pet groomers paint a different picture. They have annual styling competitions where doggy dye jobs are all the rage.
At the 2002 Groom Olympics, for example, a white standard poodle got clipped and colored until it looked like a purple octopus. In another creative styling competition, the clipping and coloring of another white poodle produced a gardenful of yellow daisies.
Donna Branson, an instructor at Petropolis' pet-grooming school in Chesterfield, Mo., attends regular grooming seminars to hone her creative canine-coloring skills. Bijou, her standard white poodle, has often played guinea pig as Branson and her students try different tinting techniques, from commercial pet dyes to sidewalk chalk.
Cassie Morr, color coordinator at Kennelwood Village Pet Hotel, is "an aspiring creative pet stylist" who hopes to compete one day at the national competitions. She, too, has a white standard poodle, Tillie, who has been crazily clipped and colored a multitude of times in Morr's pursuit of her goal.
Groomers who engage in such animal antics tend to be artistic types. But they're not dyeing dogs just for themselves. They're also doing it for their customers.
The number of people who dye their dogs may be small, but it's growing, said Susie Swink, styling manager at Kennelwood. People request it for all kinds of occasions - including a recent wedding, where the bride had her Westie dyed to match her bridesmaids' dresses, she said.
"And when the Rams were in the Super Bowl, we turned a pug into a football."
Sandy Turnbough of has a white standard poodle (do you detect a pattern here?) who has been every color except white since she was a puppy, nearly three years ago. Turnbough said the dyeing began when she saw a television commercial with pastel-colored dogs and "got this crazy idea that MeMe would look really cute with her puff balls colored."
Just for fun, Turnbough decided to pursue the possibility. So she started calling around to find someone who could do it.
Turnbough discovered Morr at Kennelwood, and MeMe hasn't been the same since. She's been red, white and blue for the Fourth of July. Orange for Halloween. Rainbow hued for Easter.
"MeMe's like a box of chocolates," Turnbough said. "You never know what you're going to get until you see her."
Lacey, a Maltese belonging to Kelly Lay of Hazelwood, Mo., isn't quite the chameleon that MeMe is, but she does get a Kennelwood color job on occasion. Lay tried dyeing Lacey at home, but it was way too messy, she said.
Lay first dyed Lacey as a lark, but now she does it for the same reason many other canine colorers do, Morr said. "It's a great attention getter, and dogs love attention."
Professional groomers have an advantage over do-it-yourselfers because of the specially formulated pet-safe dyes available to them. Kennelwood uses Back to Nature's Pet Silk, which is an all-natural coloring developed specifically for pets, Swink said.
Such dyes tend to be semipermanent. MeMe's and Lacey's coat colors usually last about four to six weeks, Morr said, but it varies from dog to dog.
Long-lasting colors make sense for groomers when one considers the cost of professional dog dyeing. A simple one-shade tinting of a little dog such as Lacey may cost about $30, Swink said. But larger dogs, deeper colors, fancy patterns and other variables can easily take the cost into three figures.
That's without such little extras as matching nail polish and rhinestones. But they're another story.
petsilkonline.com
Pet Silk is a non-toxic fur dye for pets.
How to do dye your dog
What a mess. That's what you'll have if you dye your dog yourself. However, you could also have a lot of fun.
So will your dog, as long as he:
a) loves attention,
b) doesn't mind getting wet and
c) isn't subjected to any harmful chemicals, extreme temperatures, hair-pulling or other discomfort.
Should your pooch express displeasure at your attempts to color him cranberry red, please respect his wishes and let him maintain the natural look he obviously prefers.
When it comes to do-it-yourself dog dyeing, Jean Larson Steck has some expertise.
A longtime spinner and weaver, Steck is the vice president of communications for MERS/Goodwill. She's not a professional groomer, but she does dye dogs. Some she dyed when she was the deputy director of the City Museum in St. Louis. Some she dyed for TV stints when she worked as a private publicist. She has also dyed sheep, rabbits and other animals.
Steck's two daughters, Meridith, 18, and Grace, 4, so far have managed to hang on to their natural hair colors. But her two sons, Larson, 10, and Miles, 12, have aided her dog-dyeing research by tinting their hair with Kool-Aid.
Kool-Aid is the dye of choice for all who would deign to color their Lhasa's locks lemonade pink or blueberry blue. "It's the best natural hair dye I know of for children and animals because it's safe and it's temporary," Steck says.
But even Kool-Aid is messy, which is why Steck recommends dog dyeing only when it's warm enough to do so outdoors. "The dog is going to get wet, it's going to shake itself off, and dye is going to fly. So wear something you're not attached to," she said.
People who dye their hair with Kool-Aid often make a paste by using just a small amount of water and maybe some hair conditioner. "That might work for a small dog with short hair," Steck said, but wetter solutions are better for most dogs.
It takes about 15 small packages of Kool-Aid to do a small dog, Steck says. Be sure to buy the no-sugar-added kind. You don't want your dog to attract bees or flies.
"Also, get a flavor you like, because it really smells," both during and after, she added.
"I've found that red (cherry), blue (blueberry), purple (grape), green (lemon-lime) and orange work well," she said. "Yellow (lemon) doesn't take well at all. And don't be fooled by fruit punch. It looks blue on the package, but it's really pink."
Remember that you can mix colors. "For a brighter purple, for example, add some blue and pink."
The dyeing process is fairly simple:
"Start with a clean, dry dog. Mix about three packages of Kool-Aid to each gallon of warm water; pour, spray or smudge the mixture on your pooch" and let it dry. That's all there is to it, Steck said.
"The key to the Kool-Aid is to use heat. Put it on warm, by using warm water." You could even blow-dry the newly colored locks, as long as your dog doesn't mind blow-dryers, she said.
"The color will last about a week, then fade, or you can wash it out."
The type of dye you use may depend on the color you want and on your dog's hair, Steck said. Generally, Kool-Aid doesn't produce intense colors, and short-haired dogs don't dye as well as long-haired ones.
Temporary dyes are available in spray form and sell for about $2 or $3 a can. "One can will cover a small dog; larger dogs need two or three," she said.
Just remember that commercial colorings are meant for people, not dogs. Most contain chemicals, so if the dye is used at all, it should be used sparingly and cautiously and washed out as soon as possible.
Another complicating consideration: Many dogs don't like aerosol sprays.
When applying dyes, be sure to protect your dog's eyes and ears. And if your dog is allergy-prone, do a test swatch first, Steck said.
As for why one would bother to dye a dog in the first place, Steck responds: "Because it's fun." But, she stressed, no matter how much fun it may be for you, if it's not fun for your dog as well, it's better to let the idea of dog dyeing die.
Sarah Newman
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Apr. 8, 2004 12:00 AM
Most people dye eggs for Easter. Some dye dogs.
Dog-dyers dye dogs for other occasions as well. Holidays are especially popular for pooch painting. Kerry blue terriers turn green on St. Patrick's Day. White fluffy bichons wear touches of red and blue on the Fourth of July. Peekapoos turn purple for Mardi Gras. And pugs turn into pumpkins at Halloween.
Almost any pet parade or canine costume contest will bring out a pink poodle or other oddly colored canine.
As trends go, dyeing dogs barely qualifies. Such knowledge brings great joy to many pet people, who question both the wisdom of the practice and the sanity of anyone who'd color a cocker cobalt blue.
But pet groomers paint a different picture. They have annual styling competitions where doggy dye jobs are all the rage.
At the 2002 Groom Olympics, for example, a white standard poodle got clipped and colored until it looked like a purple octopus. In another creative styling competition, the clipping and coloring of another white poodle produced a gardenful of yellow daisies.
Donna Branson, an instructor at Petropolis' pet-grooming school in Chesterfield, Mo., attends regular grooming seminars to hone her creative canine-coloring skills. Bijou, her standard white poodle, has often played guinea pig as Branson and her students try different tinting techniques, from commercial pet dyes to sidewalk chalk.
Cassie Morr, color coordinator at Kennelwood Village Pet Hotel, is "an aspiring creative pet stylist" who hopes to compete one day at the national competitions. She, too, has a white standard poodle, Tillie, who has been crazily clipped and colored a multitude of times in Morr's pursuit of her goal.
Groomers who engage in such animal antics tend to be artistic types. But they're not dyeing dogs just for themselves. They're also doing it for their customers.
The number of people who dye their dogs may be small, but it's growing, said Susie Swink, styling manager at Kennelwood. People request it for all kinds of occasions - including a recent wedding, where the bride had her Westie dyed to match her bridesmaids' dresses, she said.
"And when the Rams were in the Super Bowl, we turned a pug into a football."
Sandy Turnbough of has a white standard poodle (do you detect a pattern here?) who has been every color except white since she was a puppy, nearly three years ago. Turnbough said the dyeing began when she saw a television commercial with pastel-colored dogs and "got this crazy idea that MeMe would look really cute with her puff balls colored."
Just for fun, Turnbough decided to pursue the possibility. So she started calling around to find someone who could do it.
Turnbough discovered Morr at Kennelwood, and MeMe hasn't been the same since. She's been red, white and blue for the Fourth of July. Orange for Halloween. Rainbow hued for Easter.
"MeMe's like a box of chocolates," Turnbough said. "You never know what you're going to get until you see her."
Lacey, a Maltese belonging to Kelly Lay of Hazelwood, Mo., isn't quite the chameleon that MeMe is, but she does get a Kennelwood color job on occasion. Lay tried dyeing Lacey at home, but it was way too messy, she said.
Lay first dyed Lacey as a lark, but now she does it for the same reason many other canine colorers do, Morr said. "It's a great attention getter, and dogs love attention."
Professional groomers have an advantage over do-it-yourselfers because of the specially formulated pet-safe dyes available to them. Kennelwood uses Back to Nature's Pet Silk, which is an all-natural coloring developed specifically for pets, Swink said.
Such dyes tend to be semipermanent. MeMe's and Lacey's coat colors usually last about four to six weeks, Morr said, but it varies from dog to dog.
Long-lasting colors make sense for groomers when one considers the cost of professional dog dyeing. A simple one-shade tinting of a little dog such as Lacey may cost about $30, Swink said. But larger dogs, deeper colors, fancy patterns and other variables can easily take the cost into three figures.
That's without such little extras as matching nail polish and rhinestones. But they're another story.