How often do you bathe your dog?

[redfeather]

My dogs are kept in very long drop coats, and as so it is required that they get a bath and a full brush out once a week if I want to keep hair on them. (NEVER BRUSH A DRY DROP COAT UNLESS YOU WANT TO LOSE IT!).

Thankfully my dogs are tiny little things and baths don't take too long... blowdry/brushing usually takes 20-30 mins depending on the dog. I bathe them with my shampoo and get them with my conditioner too to help protect their coats from breakage. The frequent bathing is also neccesary, not only to keep coat, but also because they're so low to the ground that when they go outside they soak everything up... You would get dirty easily too if you were only 10'' tall!


As having had dogs and doing this for over six years, and talking with many show breeders of shih tzu and afghan hounds, and even samoyeds, I have concluded that it is a MYTH that frequent bathing will harm your dog. I think the majority of the problem stems from when people use shampoo on their dogs and fail to completely rinse it out... this can lead to irritatin and dandruff, scratching and hot spots. One way to help cleanse your dog's coat of shampoo (with waterproof dogs like labs and cocker spaniels this can be difficult) is to pour a conditioner and water solution through the coat and rinse out that.

 

[jeremy]

Every Sunday!

 

[Cats Critters]

Our beagle gets a bath maybe once or twice a year and he hates water so it is horrible to give him one when he needs one.

 

[Sassymygirl]

I give my Catahoula a bath about 6 times a year. Or everytime he rolls in something dead.

 

[BlacksheepCardigans]

Quote:
For sure. Every show dog (at least the ones who have any prospect of being in the ring soon) is bathed very regularly. Otherwise they get stains that won't come out, or they tangle on their own dirt. It's actually great for the skin as long as you use a gentle shampoo and ALWAYS ALWAYS rinse until you feel stupid about it.

Joanna
Blacksheepcardigans.com

 

[oesdog]

I try not to bath mine, very much at all!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Maybe 6 times a year tops!!!!!

I heard that too much bathing can distroy their natural oils in their skin. - I would bath mine more often if I had a flea issue or something like that.
In the winter I don;t tend to bath Murph at all unless it is really really imposible to get around it - like he rolled in poop!

Problem is the thick coat once it is wet it can take a couple of days to dry out naturally - he hates blow drying!!!!!!!
If it's really cold I don;t want him wet.

Oesdog -

 

[allanimals21]

I bath my dogs maybe 2 times a year. When the boxer is in the house over the winter she is bathed about every week and a half to 2 weeks. Just like my cat. I use Lavender baby shampoo on them all.

 

[redhen]

I dont bathe mine often enough..

And when i DO bathe them..they go outside and roll in the mud.. never fails..they stay clean for an hour at the most.
And they're saint bernards.. its a big project giving them a bath..

 

[hunterjumper999]

hailey every 4-5 days gets a 'shower' she gets a real bath every 2 weeks.

also a bed dog, under the covers head on a pillow so I like her clean.


The long coated ( labs) get bathed 1x a month if i'm not working and if i am ( im a groomer- so if i have the facilities) they get a deep bath and a high velocity blow out on Fridays

the outside dogs get a bath every few months- they are on concrete how dirty can they get? .

 

[redhen]

Quote:
The last groomer i took my male saint too..could not bathe him..(petco) cause they're tubs wernt big enough for him..

She had to tie him on the leg of the table on the ground... cause she wasnt getting him up there either...
He loved it.. the big ham... (it was his first time getting shaved..)

I said fine..just shave him down! I'll bathe him when we get home..*sigh* defeted the WHOLE purpose of bringing him there..
Still cost me around $60 for a basic quick shave down and no bath..
I'm buying my own clippers...