Thanks! He is pretty beautiful, he does have some yellow tint to his coat, I just figured he was a creme/white color. I didn't know it could be removed.
Whether the yellow tint can be removed depends on it's source. If it's from accumulated dirt or dust then any decent shampoo can remove it. If it's just his natural coat coloring then no shampoo is going to "remove" that, including bluing shampoo. (Usually called "whitening" shampoos, but the shampoo itself does contain bluing and is a very deep blue color .. some are almost purplish.)
Should have clarified in the last post where I said "bluing shampoo has a hard time removing red stains" but would instead "turn a red stain purple-ish". Bluing shampoo does not actually "remove" any discoloration ... bluing is not any kind of bleaching agent. What it does is ADD a bit of blue coloring to the coat. Not enough to turn a white dog blue but just enough to off-set any wheaten or yellow-ish tinge, so when the light hits the dog's coat it appears bright white-white instead of yellowish.
That's why it would turn a red stain purple ... Red+Blue=Purple
Whitening shampoos (bluing) can look shockingly BLUE while lathering the dog ... they suds up very blue and it looks like the dog is going to be left blue tined! But once rinsed well the excess bluing rinses off and just enough is left. It's best to apply them as evenly as possible. Spead it around on your hands first, then apply to the dog. Don't squirt whitening shampoo directly on the dog or there may be blue spots where it first hit the white fur.
Another way to get a white dog looking whiter is to use any shampoo you prefer, but add a little bit of laundry bluing to the bath's rinse water. This is trickier because if you add too much bluing the white dog will turn out bluish to the point that it's noticeable. (Wears off in time.. but still, don't want any blue dogs!) The best one is Mrs. Stewart's Concentrated Liquid Bluing. It's available in laundry sections of most supermarkets, the web site is:
http://www.mrsstewart.com
This product is used on many white show dogs and will
not cause skin problems. You prepare the final rinse water first ... add only a very small amount of the liquid bluing and mix very well before putting the dog in the rinse water. How much bluing to add depends on amount of rinse water ... which depends on the size of the dog and the size of the bath container. The rinse water should appear a very light blue, never medium or dark blue! It should be light enough that the bottom of the bath container is still very clearly visible, if not sure then definitely err on the side of too little bluing ... not too much! Mrs. Stewart's liquid bluing comes in an 8 oz. squeeze bottle that should literally last for years ... generally you only need about 2 drops per quart of rinse water for bathing a white dog.
Once the rinse water is mixed, put the dog in and use a cup to pour the rinse water evenly over the coat. For face and head use a clean white wash cloth dipped into the rinse water and wrung slightly. (Pouring water over face and around ears can get water in them ... and turn the dog off baths.)
I bought his collar from gundogsonline.com
Guess you could email them or go back to their site and make sure the leather collar you bought is absolutely color-fast? Personally I would test it myself to make sure, regardless of what they said. Test separately with plain water, collected rain water, and salt water. Take the leather collar off the dog and wet the collar well, then rub very hard with a clean white cloth to see if any leather tanning comes off ... concentrate the rubbing especially on any seams and places where raw unfinished leather may be exposed. If you see any coloring at all on the clean white cloth then that collar will eventually stain your white dog's fur.
