Good breeding

Origins has launched a dog shampoo called Doggy Dip. Not being a dog owner myself, I found this baffling, so I consulted my chief canine correspondent, the proud owner of two lab/collie crosses. She loves her dogs – and she loves Origins, not least because their mail-order service (www.origins.co.uk ) means she can exfoliate in the dead of winter, when the Cairngorms are snowed in and even the hardy local folk wear extra socks.

Anyway, Doggy Dip sounded like two favourite passions in one handy bottle, so I sent her some. She kept one dog as nature intended, sacrificing the other to vanity. Only the smallest amount of shampoo was required to transform a working dog into a virtual princess. Her sister (the dog’s, not my friend’s) appeared quite put out by the other’s bouncy, silken coat; and the stuff smelt so divine my friend was tempted to try it herself.

The idea of selling dog shampoo alongside face cream is quite a clever one. No WAG worth her salt leaves home these days without a pampered pooch in her oversized It-bag. Such high-maintenance dog owners will surely be queuing up for the chance to apply their own exacting grooming standards to their new best friends – even if the rest of us find the concept of a £25 dog shampoo ridiculous.

In this, Origins may well have taken inspiration from the buoyant market in baby cosmetics – not that I am equating dogs with babies, although there are some unavoidable similarities. Many of these products are marketed for their purity which, given the general hysteria about chemicals and the natural paranoia of parents, is a shrewd strategy. The difficulty is separating the good stuff from the stuff that is either bogus – or so innocuous as to be useless.

Personally, I have never had the slightest trouble using Johnson’s on my kids. That said, Johnson’s No More Tears shampoo makes my daughter’s hair lank, as well as tangled and matted. Much better is Daniel Galvin Junior Organic Hair Juice (£3.49), which melts knots and leaves hair fragrant and weightless. Better still is MOP Pear shampoo (from £2.99, www.mop hair.com ). It is very mild, so it doesn’t lather much, and the combination of soothing aloe and pear purée is perfectly suited to fine hair.

One last thing: if you have a smelly little boy, you might like to use a powder. Little Twig Unscented Baby Powder (£9; www.urbanapothecary.co.uk ) contains kaolin and corn starch to absorb moisture and aloe juice to soothe nappy rash; while Burt’s Bees Dusting Powder (£6.99; www.my burtsbees.co.uk ) contains flowers and herbs. Ideal for all mucky pups, whatever their breed.

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