Tips for Whitening a Dog’s White Fur

Due to many causes including the accumulation of pollen, dirt and dust, the white coat a dog has can easily take on a soiled, yellow look. This is more common in puppies and younger dogs as they tend to enjoy rolling around in dirty places and getting up to all sorts of mischief. Often puppies will have darker areas of fur where other puppies in the litter have been grabbing a hold of with their mouth when they play and the build up of oils and possibly food remnants can give the coat a greyish tinge. This will abate on its own over time away from other dogs but if you have two dogs you may notice that their favourite place to play bite each other will always be a little darker than the rest of the coat.

Another area that may seem to be discoloured is the part of the back where the tip of the tail rubs on and again this may take a greyish tinge of can sometimes even seem a little bit yellow.

Monthly bathing and brushing daily helps to remove the most of the debris, if not all of it from the teflon-like coat of a Japanese Spitz but there are home remedies and specialty shampoos (formulated to whiten a dog’s fur safely) that when combined can leave your dog’s fur both a nice bright white and softer than it was. 

Step 1
Be sure to either comb or brush your dog with the aim of removing hairs that have been loosened by shedding and tangles.

Step 2
Run water (should be a bit warmer than room temperature) in a bath tub, laying a non-slip bath mat at the bottom.

Step 3
Put the dog in the bathtub and make sure his/her fur is thoroughly wet with water. After that, work up a lather after applying a whitening shampoo. Often, whitening shampoos will be blue in colour, but don’t panic, your Japanese Spitz will not turn blue unless you use the whole bottle!

Step 4
Use a good amount of clean water to rinse of all the shampoo from your dog as all the excess oils will come off with the shampoo. Get the dog out of the tub and use a towel to dry him/her off, after which you get him/her to air dry completely. You can also use a hair dryer to speed up the process or if it is cold but take care not to burn your puppy with the heat from the hair dryer.

Step 5
Rub cornstarch into your dog’s fur, ensuring it gets down to skin level through its fur. Be sure to first sprinkle it in your hands from which you then rub on your dog. From the skin to the tips of the dog’s hairs, cover your dog’s coat completely being careful to avoid the eyes.

Step 6
Brush your dog in the direction of his/her hair’s growth to remove excess cornstarch. As you brush him/her with one hand, use the other hand to stroke down his/her fur in the same direction.

Step 7
According to the directions specified by the shampoo manufacturers, repeat this process of bathing your dog using whitening shampoo as directed and apply cornstarch on a regular basis.