Five things to look at, once a month, with your hands and your nose. No kit needed — just you and the dog. From Myrven, a British skin & coat brand. We teach this stuff because the more you know, the better their coat gets — whoever you buy from.
1. The shine
Run your palm slowly from neck to tail, with the coat, in good light.
A healthy coat has an even, soft sheen and springs back where you've stroked it. A dull, brittle or greasy coat isn't a diagnosis — it's a prompt to look closer at the other four checks. Worth knowing: shine alone doesn't guarantee a healthy dog, and a coat is roughly 95% protein — it reflects what's been going on inside for weeks, not what happened today.
2. The skin underneath
Part the fur in three places — shoulders, base of the tail, one flank — and look at the skin itself.
You're hoping for calm, even-coloured skin. Redness, scabs, dark patches or lots of white flake are worth noting. One specific thing to check: if the "dandruff" seems to move, that can be a mite infestation (walking dandruff) — that one's a vet visit, not a bath.
3. The smell
Cup your hands into the coat and smell them, somewhere the dog can't easily lick.
Dogs smell like dogs — that's normal. A strong, sour or yeasty smell that comes back within days of a bath usually isn't dirt; it's often the skin itself, and worth a vet conversation. Don't fix a smell with more washing: frequent harsh baths strip the oils that make the coat shine in the first place.
4. The shedding pattern
Think about what you've hoovered up lately.
Steady, light shedding all year is normal for indoor dogs — shedding is driven more by daylight than temperature, so central heating and lamplight blur the old spring/autumn moults. What's never "just shedding": coin-sized bald patches, or thinning in symmetrical patches on both sides. Those go to the vet.
5. The behaviour
For one evening, just notice: how often do they scratch, lick their paws, or rub their face?
Every dog scratches sometimes. It's the pattern that tells you something — the same spot again and again, licking that interrupts sleep, chewing at paws until they're stained. Two honest notes from the research: most food reactions in dogs are to proteins like beef, dairy and chicken (rarely grain), and no supplement — ours included — treats or cures skin disease. If your dog seems uncomfortable, the vet comes first. Always.
What a coat needs from the inside
The skin builds itself from what's in the bowl. The omega-3s that matter most for skin are EPA and DHA — pre-formed, from fish — because dogs make very little of them from plant oils. They work slowly and quietly: fed daily, they're built into new skin cells over weeks. Expect a couple of months before you can see the difference in the coat — anyone promising overnight shine is selling you something.
That's the job Myrven was built for: a daily softgel with fish oil first on the label and EPA and DHA guaranteed per capsule, to support a healthy, comfortable skin and coat.
The Founding Pack is open. First access at launch, and a founding-customer offer, in your dog's name. Join at myrven.co.uk
Sources we drew on for this guide: Merck Veterinary Manual, VCA Animal Hospitals, PDSA, and published veterinary nutrition research on canine essential fatty acids. This guide is general education, not veterinary advice — for anything worrying, your vet knows your dog.