People who have dogs with a skin condition know that it’s a top priority to clear up the skin as quickly as possible. Pustules, inflamed skin, and skin raw from itching is not only uncomfortable for your dog, it also looks and smells terrible, and can promote infections. 

I’m on my second set of dogs . . . before my current dogs, Schnauzers and a Poodle, I had two Schnauzers, one of which had awful skin. He was a rescue, and when I brought him home his skin was sloughing off, he had very little fur, his sides were bloody from scratching, and he had open wounds in his “armpits” and on his belly. I tried everything to clear up his skin, including tar and sulfur shampoos (which smelled horrible) and homemade skin creams I bought on the Internet. It took six months until his skin cleared up enough for some of his fur to grow back. 

What I would have done for Splash Shampoo from TopVET! There was nothing on the market like Splash Shampoo back then. Now, many skin issues in dogs can be cleared up by simply bathing the dog with this product. 

What’s so different about Splash Shampoos? Splash was clinically tested by veterinary dermatologists to help treat skin conditions in dogs, and it’s also moisturizing for the coat and skin, as well as being a great cleanser, eliminating dirt and fungus. 

I have three tests when it comes to shampoos: the smell test, the lather test, and the doggy odor test. 

Both Splash and Splash Plus pass the smell test with flying colors. Splash, the version in the blue label bottle, has no odor whatsoever. You have you really get your nose inside the bottle to smell anything. Splash Plus, in the orange label bottle, smells slightly antiseptic, which to me equals clean.

My dogs aren’t a fan of the B-A-T-H, and no shampoo is going to make it any more pleasant for them, but it stands to reason that a shampoo’s scent can play a part in “bathing comfort,” given that dogs’ noses are much more sensitive than ours. A strongly scented medicated shampoo has got to be more unpleasant to the dogs than one that’s neutral in odor. 

I like Minties because the limited ingredients include five natural breath fresheners, some of which I regularly juice for myself using my Omega juicer: peppermint, parsley, fennel, dill, and alfalfa. These are all plant materials that are known to not only freshen breath, but to boost immunity. Minties doesn’t claim the latter, but I know it to be true, at least for humans.

The Minties bones are hard enough to give your dog a good chew, thus helping to remove tartar, but soft enough that they don’t damage teeth. They are completely edible and contain other nutritious ingredients, such as brewer’s yeast and a source of Vitamin D.

All of Minties products are sourced and manufactured in the USA, which is a big plus for me, and gives me the confidence that Minties stands 100% behind their product, as they say they do. Not only does feeding my dogs a product made in the USA give me peace of mind, but when you buy American you preserve and create American jobs. Just sayin’.

The bottom line: I’ve noticed that Minties does help with doggie breath. I'll keep using this product, much to my dogs' delight. Big paws up for Minties! 

Minties chews come in four different sizes: Tiny (under 10 lbs), Small (10-19 lbs), Medium (20-39 lbs), and Large (over 40 lbs). It’s recommended that you give your dog one per day. 

• Made in the USA 
• Helps maintain healthy teeth and gums
• Freshens breath using 5 natural breath fresheners: peppermint, parsley, fennel, dill and alfalfa
• Removes plaque and tartar 
• Digests easily 
• Ingredients: Rice Flour, Vegetable Glycerin, Water, Natural Chicken Flavor, Calcium Carbonate, Lecithin, Garlic, Tricalcium Phosphate, Brewers Dried Yeast, Chlorophyll (Sodium Copper Chloraphyllin) Parsley, Fennel, Dill, Peppermint, Cholecalciferol (Source of Vitamin D3), Mixed Tocopherols (Natural Source of Vitamin E).

I have to admit (as I’ve admitted in prior reviews) that I don’t bathe my dogs a lot. This isn’t because they don’t become dirty, or that they don’t emit a distinct doggie odor, because they do. It’s because they hate baths, and I hate to see their pitiful eyes looking at me from beneath a stream of water, eyes that seem to say, “If you truly loved me, you wouldn’t be doing this.”

Because of this too-far-in-between bathing schedule, I’m always looking for products that can freshen up my dogs easily between baths. Recently, I found The Total Pet Spa bath-less cleaning system. Anything “bath-less” catches my attention.

This product takes the canine “bath wipe” to another level. Most bath wipes are made from thin material similar to that of a human hand wipe. The Total Pet Spa’s wipe pads are made from a material taken from the cosmetic industry, so they’re thick and plush and don’t tear while in use. The pad is very moist and doesn’t dry out while you're using it.

And to take the bath-less idea one step further, The Total Pet Spa’s cleansing pad is easily attached to a hand grip and used similar to a brush, but gentler—even dogs who don’t like to be brushed will not balk at being stroked with this product.

There’s also a brush attachment made from plastic with large, blunt bristles for the comfort of the dog. I tried this product on all four of my dogs—two white Schnauzers, one mixed breed, and one Poodle—and all of them readily accepted both the brush attachment and the cleansing pad attachment. Pearl, the mutt, usually runs and hides when I break out a brush; she has very cottony fur that tangles easily. Using The Total Pet Spa brush, she lay down on her belly and enjoyed the attention—she must have thought it was spa day and time for a massage! 

I used the first cleansing pad on one of the white Schnauzers, Delilah, who is notoriously a brat about being groomed. She’ll even nip at the brush. She enjoyed being wiped down, and after a few minutes the pad became black with dirt. I hadn’t realized how filthy she was! I turned the dirty side of the pad over and used the clean side, only to pick up more dirt.

I’m very chemically sensitive and can’t use products with too much scent, so I was worried about having a reaction to the cleansing product inside the pads. They are supposedly “unscented,” but they do have a fresh scent, and I didn’t react to it at all, so I’ll be able to continue to use this product. Actually, I won’t unless I get another set—my mom stole it from me to use with her dogs! 

Once you purchase the set, which comes with the hand grip, a brush attachment, a pad attachment, and three pads, you have to continue to purchase the cleansing pads from the company, which is fine for me, considering that I wait even more time between baths. My dogs are happy about that! The pad attachment has a kind of springy feel to it, so it contours to the dog's body, making cleaning that much more comfortable. 

Disclaimer: I may have received products and/or compensation for this review. I only review products I like, so this review reflects my honest appraisal of this product. 

At $39.99, The Total Pet Spa system isn’t cheap, but if you use it twice a month for a couple of years, you’ll be paying about $1.64 cents per use (including cost of the replacement pads). Considering the cost of good dog shampoo, and the fact that most people use way more shampoo than needed per bath, that’s pretty economical. Plus, imagine that your mother-in-law calls and says she’ll be coming over in ten minutes—and your dog looks and smells slightly homeless. A quick brush up with the Total Pet Spa system and Fido will pass for squeaky clean. Well worth it. You absolutely can use the system every day, however, because it's gentle on the skin and coat. 

There is a tiny bit of a learning curve for using this product, so watch the videos on their site (or below) for directions. Believe me, once you know how to put the pad onto the product and change out the pad attachment to the brush attachment, it's very easy. 

Paws up for The Total Pet Spa bath-less cleaning system! Saving dog owners everywhere from embarrassment and saving dogs from the dreaded B-A-T-H T-I-M-E.

From the Total Pet Spa website:

The Total Pet Spa is a revolutionary way to clean your pets without water. The unique hand grip is easy to hold and features a unique bristle texture that both massages and cleans your pet. This hand grip includes a cleaning pad that locks gently inside the grip, trapping fur, dirt and other particles that are commonly found on pets. The cleansing pads are thick pads made from material that’s utilized in the cosmetic industry. Each pad contains five times the solution as the standard pet wipe. The solution included in these cleansing pads is unscented and is made from natural ingredients. Say goodbye to fur on your clothing or unpleasant pet odors without a bath! The Total Pet Spa allows you to save time and money. This patented product removes germs and odors with ease. It is a simple and comfortable hand grip that any pet owner will love. The Total Pet Spa comes with: • Contoured Hand Grip • 1 Arched-Bristled Brush Attachment • 1 Patented Lift and Cleaning Attachment • 1 Starter Pad Pouch (3X).