Most dog shampoo smells like dog shampoo. This one is built around a blend of orange, lemon and nutmeg essential oils, and the result sits much closer to a designer fragrance than to the usual coconut and talc, which is the reason people buy it and then come back for it. The scent settles on a clean coat rather than papering over a dirty one, and it lasts a good deal longer than the drive home.

Underneath the fragrance it is a pH-balanced vegan formula, and the pH part matters more than the marketing usually lets on. Dog skin sits at a different pH to ours, so human shampoo strips it and leaves a dog itchy for days. A shampoo balanced for dogs cleans without carrying the coat's natural oils away with it, and this one conditions and moisturises in the same wash, so a long or curly coat combs out afterwards instead of matting.

• pH-balanced for dog skin
• Vegan formula
• Cleanses, conditions and moisturises in one wash
• Orange, lemon and nutmeg essential oils
• Antibacterial properties from the oil blend
• Deodorises as well as cleans
• 500ml bottle

Two things worth knowing. Essential oils are what give this its character, and a dog with genuinely sensitive or broken skin is better served by a plain unfragranced medicated wash. This is a grooming shampoo, not a treatment. And rinse for longer than feels necessary, because residue left deep in a thick coat causes far more post-bath itching than the shampoo itself ever does.

Who it's for: Owners of well-presented coats, Poodles, Bichons, Maltese, Samoyeds and Yorkshire Terriers among them, who want their dog to smell good for days rather than hours.