# Sock Head??



## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

???? What are you talking about?


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## Hildae (Aug 15, 2012)

You mean the ear wrap? They put it on the dog so the blow dryer doesn't blow in their ears and scare the dog.


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## Hildae (Aug 15, 2012)

Megora said:


> ???? What are you talking about?


I had the same reaction at first.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

Hildae said:


> You mean the ear wrap? They put it on the dog so the blow dryer doesn't blow in their ears and scare the dog.


And I don't do that because I specifically work to get the hair around ears and cheek area dry because fungis love that area.


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## Allan Jacobs (3 mo ago)

I see some groomers or other wash their golden, put a piece of material that wraps arounf the dogs ears and neck. I guess it would be more like a neck gator, then they blow dry the dog. Is this to help dry, help calm, help hearing, help flaten coat?


Hildae said:


> You mean the ear wrap? They put it on the dog so the blow dryer doesn't blow in their ears and scare the dog.


gotcha, thanks 👍


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## Hildae (Aug 15, 2012)

Allan Jacobs said:


> I see some groomers or other wash their golden, put a piece of material that wraps arounf the dogs ears and neck. I guess it would be more like a neck gator, then they blow dry the dog. Is this to help dry, help calm, help hearing, help flaten coat?
> 
> gotcha, thanks 👍


It's mostly to avoid having air blown in the ears as many dogs do not react well to that. It also helps damped the noise of the dryer a bit.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

Allan Jacobs said:


> I see some groomers or other wash their golden, put a piece of material that wraps arounf the dogs ears and neck. I guess it would be more like a neck gator, then they blow dry the dog. Is this to help dry, help calm, help hearing, help flaten coat?
> 
> gotcha, thanks 👍


For conformation, we like floofing the fluff on the heads, not flattening it. And again, the preference is to get the ears/cheeks/necks completely dry to avoid skin infections. 

The dogs who are shown, typically have dryers used around them by the breeders so they are conditioned to be OK with the noise, etc.


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## Hildae (Aug 15, 2012)

Megora said:


> And I don't do that because I specifically work to get the hair around ears and cheek area dry because fungis love that area.


Groomers do it often. (Keeping in mind that they usually see mostly PET dogs, not show dogs) They still dry those areas, usually just on a lower setting after the rest is done or sometimes even with a human blow dryer that is quieter/less forceful than a typical coat blower is. Those are typical hotspot areas so drying them is very important.


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## mariartist (8 mo ago)

I believe they are called happy hoodies. I tried it with my pup it didn’t make a difference either way he hates blow drying. It’s a thick terry cloth material so it helps dry him before I use the blow dryer


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## SRW (Dec 21, 2018)

Golden people


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## Hildae (Aug 15, 2012)

mariartist said:


> I believe they are called happy hoodies. I tried it with my pup it didn’t make a difference either way he hates blow drying. It’s a thick terry cloth material so it helps dry him before I use the blow dryer


I've heard them called that before as well


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## Hildae (Aug 15, 2012)

SRW said:


> Golden people


My field girl is dry so fast there isn't a need for a blow dryer, but my other girl would still be wet 3 hours later without a blower.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

Hildae said:


> Groomers do it often. (Keeping in mind that they usually see mostly PET dogs, not show dogs) They still dry those areas, usually just on a lower setting after the rest is done or sometimes even with a human blow dryer that is quieter/less forceful than a typical coat blower is. Those are typical hotspot areas so drying them is very important.


Sounds like it would take a long time.... 🥴 How annoying if you need to bathe your dog every week or if showing, every day. 

Baths with mine take 5 minutes and they are completely dry in 30 minutes with a dryer.


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## Hildae (Aug 15, 2012)

Megora said:


> Sounds like it would take a long time.... 🥴 How annoying if you need to bathe your dog every week or if showing, every day.
> 
> Baths with mine take 5 minutes and they are completely dry in 30 minutes with a dryer.


I think the average pet owner probably only goes to the groomer every 4 to 6 weeks


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## SRW (Dec 21, 2018)

Hildae said:


> I think the average pet owner probably only goes to the groomer every 4 to 6 weeks


I think that's a very high estimate.
I know of dozens, possibly hundreds of dog owners like me that have never taken a dog to a groomer.


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## SRW (Dec 21, 2018)

Megora said:


> Baths with mine take 5 minutes and they are completely dry in 30 minutes with a dryer.


Baths with mine take about 30 minutes (in the pond) and they are dry after running around for about 5 minutes.


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## diane0905 (Aug 20, 2010)

Cute photo!

I’ve never seen a sock or anything used for their ears. When I blow dry around Logan’s (my Golden) ears I turn the dryer down so it doesn’t blast away at his ear area and take my time making sure to get him dry there.

This is an aside, but a man at our trial this past weekend suggested I use a Chamois cloth to dry Logan’s special bits (😃) because he’s been getting a pond rash there. I towel dried Logan off and used Veterycin in the area and it did the trick. Yay!

Logan and Abby have bath robes they put on (haha — Golden people! — they are monogrammed  ) for about five minutes after they swim in our pool to sop up some of the water, but after that it’s straight to be blow dried. To be honest, I don’t think about using them much anymore since I got a stronger blow dryer. Logan’s facial expression indicates how he feels about the indignity of wearing it:


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## Hildae (Aug 15, 2012)

SRW said:


> I think that's a very high estimate.
> I know of dozens, possibly hundreds of dog owners like me that have never taken a dog to a groomer.


You are not in the category of "average pet owner." You are a competition home.


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## Ontariodogsitter (Feb 23, 2020)

I am probably an average pet owner (with some agility thrown in lightly) and I have never taken any of my past ( 7dogs over 50 years) pets to a dog groomer.
Must be a family thing, I don't frequent a hairdresser very often either


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## Hildae (Aug 15, 2012)

Ontariodogsitter said:


> I am probably an average pet owner (with some agility thrown in lightly) and I have never taken any of my past ( 7dogs over 50 years) pets to a dog groomer.
> Must be a family thing, I don't frequent a hairdresser very often either


We don't either. I know there are lots of good groomers out there, but the news stories about the bad ones have made it so that I could never trust my dog being left at a groomer anyway.


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## mariartist (8 mo ago)

Hildae said:


> We don't either. I know there are lots of good groomers out there, but the news stories about the bad ones have made it so that I could never trust my dog being left at a groomer anyway.


I want to take my pup to the groomers at least once so I know what he should look like, he has very overly furry fluffy ears but I’m worried to take scissors to it myself. He doesn’t love the bathing process even though we’ve been doing it since day one. The good groomers who can groom goldens are not taking any new clients and I won’t go to petco :/ is it ok to leave his fur au naturale?


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

SRW said:


> I think that's a very high estimate.
> I know of dozens, possibly hundreds of dog owners like me that have never taken a dog to a groomer.


I would NEVER take my dogs to a groomer. Whole reason why my family got into this breed was because they are easy to groom and do not require much fuss. I think people who take their goldens to groomers and pay $$$ just to bathe them and trim ears and feet are nuts.

I know you and others make mountains out of molehill over what other people do, but it really is not much. Our dogs are easy care, and pretty basic when it comes to grooming. They do not matt, etc. And knock on wood - even with my dogs going out everywhere, swimming 1-2 times a week year round (we have not iced up too much yet here in MI so dogs are still swimming), etc.... we have not had any skin problems related to swimming. 

Why do they get bathed frequently? Because once you know what a clean dog feels and smells like, you prefer that. 



Ontariodogsitter said:


> Must be a family thing, I don't frequent a hairdresser very often either


I go get my hair done every month. Any money I save by NEVER taking my dog to a groomer is spent on my own hair.  When you have well water + texture to your hair, your hair collects minerals and turns brassy and is very difficult to brush otherwise.


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## SRW (Dec 21, 2018)

Megora said:


> I know you and others make mountains out of molehill over what other people do


I do?


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## Hildae (Aug 15, 2012)

mariartist said:


> I want to take my pup to the groomers at least once so I know what he should look like, he has very overly furry fluffy ears but I’m worried to take scissors to it myself. He doesn’t love the bathing process even though we’ve been doing it since day one. The good groomers who can groom goldens are not taking any new clients and I won’t go to petco :/ is it ok to leave his fur au naturale?


You can leave it as is. You can also go on youtube and find tutorials on how to trim it. It's not hard.


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## SRW (Dec 21, 2018)

Hildae said:


> You are not in the category of "average pet owner." You are a competition home.


I'm thinking about getting into conformation.


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## Hildae (Aug 15, 2012)

SRW said:


> I'm thinking about getting into conformation.


So I've heard


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## GoldenGirlMama (Jun 21, 2021)

Oh so it's just so they don't get scared?? I thought it was because dog ears got damaged from being blown. I created that scenario in my own mind, I didn't read it anywhere. So knowing this, if they are not scared by the noise, we can blow their ears (gently obviously)? Game changer for bath time.


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## Birdi (Nov 15, 2021)

GoldenGirlMama said:


> Oh so it's just so they don't get scared?? I thought it was because dog ears got damaged from being blown. I created that scenario in my own mind, I didn't read it anywhere. So knowing this, if they are not scared by the noise, we can blow their ears (gently obviously)? Game changer for bath time.


It probably provides some mild protection against the noise of a blow dryer (which frequent exposure to over a long period of time will damage a person or dog's hearing), but typically the risk (to both humans and dogs) is considered negligible. 

Typically, the point at which it becomes a concern is if you yourself are a hair dresser or dog groomer (much higher level of exposure)... but that's still just risk to the human, not the dog.


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## michaeldwilson (Aug 14, 2012)

I've heard them called snoods. People put them on Irish Setters to keep their ears from flopping into the water bowl.


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## diane0905 (Aug 20, 2010)

michaeldwilson said:


> I've heard them called snoods. People put them on Irish Setters to keep their ears from flopping into the water bowl.


I’ve used a snood for this reason for my Cavalier. If I only had one dog, a Cavalier bowl works. Abby will walk right over to Logan’s water bowl and drag her ears in it. I’ve given up. She looks hilarious in a snood though.

I should buy her this one.  I’m kidding. Abby is not a fan of a snood, although she will wear one.


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