With spring around the corner, it’s time to start preparing for that most quintessential springtime phenomenon: mud. And since it’s going to be warmer out, you’ll be venturing outside more often with your four-legged friends. Dogs are experts at finding mud even when they aren’t trying. Once they do, they’ll need a bath. Dog shampoo comes in many varieties, and you may wish to change it up from wash to wash. Either for the benefits of a specific formula or just for a different scent, having a few different bottles on hand gives you options. Here’s our list of the best dog shampoo to help you keep your dog fresh and clean.
A good all-purpose shampoo, this option is jasmine and vanilla scented. This is a mild formulation that features oatmeal and jojoba to produce a silky coat. Sulfate and paraben free, this is also a relatively inexpensive option.
Everyone is familiar with Burt’s Bees as gentle, effective products for people. As it turns out, they make an excellent dog shampoo, as well. Colloidal oat flour helps to moisturize dry skin. Of course, being Burt’s Bees, this shampoo features honey to help give fur a high shine. As with all Burt’s Bees, this is a natural product.
Vet’s Best makes a range of dog care items that we like, especially as alternatives to products with a lot of ingredients you’re not quite sure about. We’ve included their products among the best dog toothpaste and best flea and tick prevention. Their primary shampoo offering is a hypo-allergenic formula based primarily on aloe vera, combined with moisturizers and vitamin E for high shine. This will restore dry and flaky skin and won’t contribute to any skin allergies, all while smelling lightly pleasant though it lacks any specific fragrance.
Made entirely with natural ingredients including lavender, mint, chamomile, coconut, aloe vera, tea tree oil, sage, and rosemary, this dog shampoo is gentle enough to use everyday, even on puppies. The lavender is a natural flea repellent, while tea tree oil cleanses irritants like pollen and flea bites. An excellent everyday shampoo.
If you have a white or light-fur dog, you might consider getting a shampoo for them that enhances the color of their coat. This offering from Veterinary Formula is pH balanced and contains no bleach or peroxide, yet the company’s optical brighteners will restore fur brightness. The shampoo itself is primarily coconut oil based with green tea extract, scented with blue coral and citrus fragrance.
For dogs with allergies or dermatitis, you might consider this offering. It combines argan and neem oils, which are known for their anti-bacterial and anti-fungal qualities, with bentonite clay, which can help pull irritants out of the coat as you clean your dog. These are rounded out with the soothing ingredients of shea butter and aloe vera, while everything in here is organic. This is a concentrated formula and the bottle neck has a low-flow opening so you only use exactly as much as you need.
If you’re already familiar with and using Furminator products (notably for their dog shedding brush or maybe their dog nail clippers), you might want to consider their purpose-built shampoo. The maker says this is formulated to enhance the effectiveness of Furminator deshedding tools, which could go a long way if you have a dog anything like my husky mix, who essentially produces two additional dogs worth of fur every week. It’s pretty inexpensive, as well.
Another waterless shampoo option, this one is ten dollars less than the one above. It’s still 100 percent natural, uses oatmeal to soothe the skin, and is scented with lavender and chamomile. A good option for between baths or for dogs that just don’t like water. A coconut lime verbena version is also available.
Many dog shampoo scents focus on vanilla or oatmeal or something pleasant but mostly neutral. If you want your dog to smell like the tropics, what better option is there than this offering from TropiClean? Their formulas center primarily on coconut, sometimes accompanied by another tropical scent. This is their deodorizing formula which features aloe and coconut and is also available in a gallon size.
Sometimes, just as with humans, all a dog needs is a little something to knock down the oil in their coats. In both cases, a few sprays of dry shampoo will do the trick. For your dog, consider this dry dog shampoo from Arm & Hammer, who are the experts on small, dry particles that clean and make things smell nice. Indeed, baking soda is the central component here, which has been combined with a fresh scent.
Pet Head is what happens when the original creator of a line of human hair products (TIGI’s Bed Head) creates a pet line. According to the company’s website, Kyara Mascolo created Pet Head after selling her previous brand to Unilever, which explains the very similar packaging styling cues. Their basic formula is this deodorizing shampoo, which combines baking soda and ordenone with a spearmint lemongrass fragrance for a fresh-smelling pup. (Note: the old formula was orange-scented, which matches the product image.)
At least once in each dog’s life, they will have an encounter with a skunk. When that happens, you want something on hand to wash the odor of as soon as possible. I recommend having a bottle of this stuff on hand. The low price is handy, because the manufacturer suggests that using half the bottle is recommended for a skunking. This product has the added advantage of working on people and fabrics, as well. Better to grab it and have it ahead of time.
Unless you invest in a dedicated dog dryer like we put on our best dog gadgets post, washing your dog at home can be a lot of work. Even if I manage to wash all three of my dogs without destroying the bathroom, they stay wet for a long time after, which means they mostly smell like wet dog instead of the lovely shampoo I just used on them. If this sounds like you, try this rinseless, waterless dog shampoo. It cleans their coat and neutralizes odors, using the following essential oils to confer a lovely scent: balsam, cedarwood, rosemary, and orange.
This shampoo made with oatmeal, aloe vera, and shea butter is a popular option. It’s all natural and organic and adheres to the company’s vegan principles of being safe for all animals. Aloe, rosemary leaf extract, colloidal oatmeal, vitamin E, organic borage seed oil, and organic shea butter all work together in this formulation to restore luster to even matted and muddy coats. We’ve chosen to highlight the two-in-one shampoo and conditioner here, but you can also get the shampoo or conditioner separately, as well as in a combo package.
Just like dry shampoo for humans, this foaming mousse dry dog shampoo saves you the trouble of having to actually give your dog a bath. Especially good for the time between baths, this product actually cleans your dog’s fur better and more easily than wipes. Safe for sensitive skin and for use with flea treatments and derived from coconut.
If you have many dogs or wash frequently, you might want a larger bottle of shampoo. This one is a great value, giving you 64 ounces for the price of some much smaller bottles. This is an oatmeal-based formula with long-lasting French vanilla scent. You can even get a bottle pump so you don’t have to pour out of this large container.
With oatmeal and aloe vera, this all-in-one dog shampoo promotes soothing and healing. Made of 100 percent natural ingredients, this is a will relax your dog while you wash them. Comes with a useful hand pump for ease of use.
Nature’s Miracle is well-known as a pet odor neutralizer. Use this one for dogs with tough fur odor. This option is also soap free, and uses natural cocoa to clean and condition fur. This shampoo will give a long-lasting clean, with the added benefits of enhanced softness and reduced static.
Just like Head & Shoulders, this high-quality shampoo has conditioner blended into it, saving you a step. Oatmeal and neem oil soothes sore skin, including bug bites, while also contributing to a thicker coat. This U.S.-made shampoo is soap, detergent, and alcohol free. Neem oil is also a natural insect repellent, so it will help drive off ticks and fleas in concert with flea and tick prevention.
Billed as soap free shampoo, this is meant as a very gentle option. With a focus on optimal pH balance, this is made to nourish flaky skin. If your dog suffers from flaking and scaling, this formula could help ease that potentially painful condition. Dogs can be allergic to soap, so this option can help breeds prone to skin ailments.
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Here's our list of the best dog shampoos to help you keep your dog fresh and clean.