How Often Do You Bathe Your Dog?

Izzy

Once a month if that.

peanut100

You're only suppose to bath your dog twice a year unless its rolled in something not nice. Every time you bath them you are striping the natural oils from their coat.

KaidyKisses

My labrador - I think the last time he was bathed was last year about this time.

My Border Collie - I have only had her for 7 months and I've had to bathe her twice because she rolled in poop.

My Cocker Spaniel - I bath every couple of months.

My mom's Lab - I don't know if he has gotten a bath since the last time I bathed him, which was when he was a puppy and he's almost 4 years old now.

My mom's AWS gets a bath about once a month, not more than two months apart.

Binkalette

Once a week. Only crappy shampoos strip oils, and I wouldn't be caught dead using one on a dog in any circumstance.

Barb

Since my dog is white and has longish fur, we end up bathing him often...depending on how much fun he has had...



He got a bath tonight.

Leah

Wow, Barb. Thanks for sharing! That is a lovely dog!


Okay, now for my response to this long and oldish thread.

How often you bathe a dog should depend on the breed. Some dogs are oiler than others, some dryer. Some have allergies. Some shed, others don't really. Just like some need brushing often and some don't.

Those who have dogs with skin allergies should bathe more often. I learned a few tricks with our late cocker spaniel. 1. You can use fish oil supplements in his food. It works wonders. and 2. Bathe him more often. Allergens on the skin keep it itchy. You bathe the dog to wash them off. Just don't use a shampoo unless it's a really really good one. We actually used an iodine scrub to rid his coat of bacteria and fungus and all the microscopic junk. Then, we filled an old sock with instant oats and used it like a teabag in the bathwater. We even squished the sock underwater to make a lot of the stuff come out. We let him soak in there for a long time, and he loved it. Then, we rinsed him well (dried oatmeal left on the skin can cause more drying). And then we sometimes followed with a nice cream rinse and rinsed well again.

For our pomeranian, before she was put down, we simply brushed her coat clean. She had about 3 baths per year, but they were because she got muddy or something. She was tiny, and the grass was higher than her belly. After a good rain, she sometimes needed it. Usually though, she would dry, we would brush her, and it was fine.

Also, fungus can cause the skin to itch. Make sure your dogs do not stay wet for too long if they have itchy skin. If they are itchy because of fungus, their skin needs dried up. You can use powders to aid in drying. We always used a hairdryer on our pom because her hair was so thick, and we would sprinkle a little baby powder in her fur as we brushed it so that it was nice and soft and dry. She never had a problem.

Now all we have are poodle mixes. It's wonderful. No shedding, healthy skin, and baths only as needed (about 2-3 a year, when they roll in a dead mouse or something - eew!).

MydogJoy

I bathe my dog once a month, unless she gets something in her fur.

Tess

Only if they roll in something stinky, otherwise they both swim regularly in the nearby fresh water creek and stay pretty clean. Setters don't have oily coats, so they don't have a doggy odor and any dirt just dries up and falls off. We call them "the self cleaning model." They also don't have a downy undercoat, just the silky hair, so again they don't collect dirt.

tankstar

Then how would you expect to groom a poodle, a shihtzu and the other 100+ dogs who need regular grooming? I wouldnt use my very expensive clippers on a dirty dog.

Its a old wives tale that bathing to much ruins their coat. my dog somtimes gets 2 baths a week. He is fine his coat is fine. I see tons of dogs who I bathe monthly and all their coats are fine.

Sydney

Every few months or as needed.