Removing Sap from a Dog's Coat

Recently, Milly and I spent a lot of time outside, and at some point during out nature romps Milly had a love affair with a pine tree, or at least that's what I'm thinking must have happened. I didn't notice it until we got home and was combing through her coat. She was covered in sap in small patches all over her coat and even on her face! If your dog has never gotten sap on their coat it is not something I would wish on anyone! First, it's sticky. You touch it and it gets on you. Second, the hair balls all together into a tangled mess. Bubble gum in my hair had nothing on my sap covered dog! It was an utter nightmare, and I had no idea what to use to remove it.

My gut said try something oil based - I went with bath oil (what I had on hand) - and this did work somewhat, but not as much as I'd like. I then e-mailed one of my favorite Golden Retriever breeders knowing she'd have the answer. Her response was to keep applying oil (but use baby oil) to the sappy spots, and then give a bath in Dawn dish soap. So lots of baby oil later (this is a timely process), and a bath in diluted Dawn dish soap (to remove the oil - you can use full strength in the super oily spots) Milly was good as new. Thank goodness I was able to get it out, because I really did not want to have to resort to cutting her coat, especially her feathers!

So before you hit the woods for a hike remember baby oil and Dawn dish soap will remove the sap!