How often do you bath your dog?

Cissi

Chimaera wrote: »

No, I was told every 3 weeks as a minimum, but longer than that between baths if possible. Obviously some dogs need bathing more often, or if they roll in something etc then obviously you would bath them. The tutor's advice was obviously a generalisation as there are so many coat types and they will all react differently to bathing frequency.

So you do mean as a maximum - "as a minimum" would mean "3 weeks at most between baths".

This corresponds pretty well to what we're doing with our 7-month old JRT - we try to go 4 weeks between baths but he does get pretty smelly... We use a little bit of puppy shampoo and I do love his fur the first few days after a bath!

My parents never used to bathe their springer spaniel, just hosed her down when she got muddy (pretty much after every walk) - brrr, that seems pretty cold to me...

patchwork_cat

Every 2 to 3 weeks she gets a shower in the bath. She absolutely loves the towelling after. I have noticed she doesn't roll in things until about 2 weeks after a bath - almost as if she is saying, bath time!! I read that they roll in smelly things to mask their own smell when hunting, so if she thinks she is getting a bit odiferous then she rolls in sh*t! http://www.school-for-champions.com/behavior/dogs_roll.htm - this doesn't really explain the fox poo as they aren't herbivorous!!!

lostinrates

cheeks wrote: »

More often than not it is the diet which makes a dog smelly.
Dogs don't generally need bathing more than twice a year (except when they have rolled in something disgusting).
You may be feeding a very good food, but it may contain something that the dog is slightly intolerant to.
I would suggest trying different food.
Some good ones to try are Burns, Arden Grange, Orijen or James Wellbeloved.
JWB do varieties which don't contain any grain, as some dogs are intolerant to grain.
Also chicken can cause allergies.

Yes, this is usually our experience. But grey hound thrives in all other ways....and I really do mean thrives...she just has slight BO connected to skin...her coat is incredibly fine, and rubs bare on the bit where chest hits the bed/floor and keeping it spotless is ctually important to stop any rubbing from little grains of dirt. Greyhounds, for all their athleticism can be delicate flowers Wouldn't be so much of an issue if she didn't also feel the total need for sleeping on my bed. She also wears a t shirt a lot to help protect that tiny patch. Its because its such a tiny bearing area for their body weight.

bertiebots

Chimaera wrote: »

I am currently doing a dog grooming course and the tutor, who has her own grooming business, has said that for the long haired dogs every 3 weeks or so as a minimum as more frequently will strip the coat.

She also recommended (although I see someone on this thread disagrees) no more tears shampoo, and also their baby wipes for wiping around their eyes if they are gunky.

Have you thought that the smell may perhaps be full glands?

Thanks ..its deffo not his glands as its not that smell! Isnt diet either as both dogs are fed the same diet and our other dog doesnt smell at all. Both have been done btw so we can only put it down to just being his "little" problem:D

RuthnJasper

POSSETTE wrote: »

rubbing tomato sauce in first before a bath does neutralise the smell very well

Just to back-up Possette - tomato juice (from tinned or fresh tomatoes, as opposed to ketchup) does GENUINELY work. I think it's to do with the kind of acid in tomatoes. Fresh lemon or lime juice works as well.

tsabo

Oh i'm DREADING this! We've just got our Scottie and he hates water. He is the only dog i've known to leap over puddles?
If he's out in the rain he'll stop and shake every few seconds and come home and rub his face up and down on the carpet. His little legs mean he gets very muddy but i'm just not sure what to do about a bath!

RuthnJasper

tsabo wrote: »

Oh i'm DREADING this! We've just got our Scottie and he hates water. He is the only dog i've known to leap over puddles?
If he's out in the rain he'll stop and shake every few seconds and come home and rub his face up and down on the carpet. His little legs mean he gets very muddy but i'm just not sure what to do about a bath!

Tsabo - A Scottie's fur is quite wiry and should just wipe clean. If not, wait until the muck dries and it will brush out with no problems. Don't waste your cash on expensive treatments. Trust me. He'll be fine - and he won't let you down in social situations!

When he's rubbing his face up and down on the carpet, he's wiping his whiskers. If you're worried about mud, wipe them with a tissue or bit of loo roll when you get back from your walk. He'll probably still give them a wipe anyway (for his own, doggy, peace of mind), but if you've wiped them beforehand you don't have to worry about mud being transferred from whiskers/doggybeard to carpet.

Come and visit Jasper's blog if you like (link in my profile) - our next-door-neighbour is a Scottie called Starsky!

Hope this helps to reassure you.

Good luck x

xx

tsabo

Haha what a great blog! He gets a good towelling down when we come in and has started to lift his back legs one at a time knowing what is coming - he's fantastic!

RuthnJasper

tsabo wrote: »

Haha what a great blog! He gets a good towelling down when we come in and has started to lift his back legs one at a time knowing what is coming - he's fantastic!

Haha! The sign of a civilized man! They're no good if they don't lift a leg, hee hee!

Jasper thanks you for the blog compliment - bless you. xx

Chimaera

Cissi wrote: »

So you do mean as a maximum - "as a minimum" would mean "3 weeks at most between baths".

I thought this forum was about helping people not giving a critique on fellow posters English language skills!

To set the record straight; I used minimum in this context to refer to the smallest amount of time that I was told should elapse between baths i.e. 3 weeks. If I had used maximum when referring to the three week period then this would have implied the most time that would elapse between baths i.e. the dog could be bathed sooner than three weeks.

Apologies to fellow posters, readers and especially Bertiebots for this going off subject and hopefully this will draw a line under it.