How often should dogs be bathed..?

harveybobbles

My mother in law is hell bent on bathng her dogs every few weeks. They are small dogs who never get dirty when out walking.

But she insists on bathing them. She says they smell. But bathing them makes them smell like wet dogs.

Two of her dogs are from the same litter as two of mine. My two have lovely, long, shiney coats. Where as her two have very dry coats that seem to molt lots.

All our dogs are on the same food (Symply dry)

I personally think she is washing the oils out of the dogs fur - hence the dryness.

pawsies

Tell her to add salmon oil to their food to restore some of the oils

harveybobbles

pawsies wrote: »

Tell her to add salmon oil to their food to restore some of the oils

..or just stop bathing them.

trolleyrun

I only bathe Pipsqueak (with shampoo) a few times a year. If she gets filthy with mud, I just rinse her in the shower, no soap/shampoo. She's very low to the ground so gets very muddy if it's raining. I'd never consider bathing her every few weeks.

Sukey

I have five terriers and all but one of them are bathed about once or twice a year. The other has a very greasy coat and therefore requires more frequent shampooing with a medicated product.
By bathing too frequently, your mother-in-law is stripping the coat of natural oils and can cause other skin issues.
Perhaps you could ask her to speak to a good groomer who could advise, in a professional capacity, how often to bathe them.
Good luck! My sister is the same with her dogs and they seem to be bathed almost every week - it drives me nuts and I've tried explaining until I'm blue in the face with her, LOL!! x

codemonkey

CD gets a bath 3 times a year when he goes to the groomer for his haircut. In between he gets bathed only when he's rolled in something stinky. Everything else can be dealt with by giving him a good brush. He has a lovely shiny coat.

zaksmum

My female dog Lucy gets bathed at the groomers every 8 to 10 weeks.

My male dog Jack doesn't go to the groomers as he's short haired so I bath him at home about once every 4 months.

His coat is lovely and shiny and strangers comment on how healthy it looks. I always think if you bath them too often it dries out their skin and so affects their coats.

MallyGirl

My adult malamute gets hosed down in the garden when she rolls in something stinky. I gave her one bath in the early days and we had neighbours asking what disaster had befallen our daughter to cause all that screaming! Never again.
I have bathed the 10 month old puppy twice now for similar reasons but it takes over an hour with a blaster to get him properly dry as he has a fairly long coat.
Both of my dogs have beautiful coats and do not smell.

harveybobbles

Also, her dogs now have dandruff.

She's doing my 4king head in

Indie_Kid

Ours get bathed when they need it. The puppy has had to be bathed quite a few times - she has the habit of going for a paddle in the pond...

Lieja

My malamute has been bathed twice (both as the result of some foul smelling incident) and you'd honestly think I was murdering him the noises he made. He's now twice the size and I wouldn't dare even attempt it on my own, and don't plan to ever do it again if I can help it. A good brushing (which he also hates but tolerates if I feed him at the same time) usually sorts him out and his coat is gorgeous.