# German Shepard Puppy Bathing Schedule



## RuskosDad (Jul 10, 2010)

Hi all!

Does anyone know how often we should bathe our GSD puppy? He never really gets terribly dirty, but he smells a little 'funky'. We don't want to irritate his skin by bathing him too much, but we also don't want a smelly puppy wanting to play with everyone that comes by and us too. LOL. What's the right thing to do?

Thanks!


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## Xeph (May 7, 2007)

It's German Shepherd ;-) 

I don't bathe my Shepherds more than once a month unless they've gotten really nasty (rolled in mud/deer poo/some dead thing they found) or have a show coming up.


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## RuskosDad (Jul 10, 2010)

Whoops. "That" little typo won't happen again. LOL. Would it hurt his skin or bug him otherwise to bathe him more often? I mean, if it comes down to it I'm fine with just letting him run around a little "dusty puppy" smelling.


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## Xeph (May 7, 2007)

It's best not to worry over it. You could dry out his skin.

If he's still "smelly" it's likely because he's still damp. I have the luxury of a forced air dryer, so my dogs don't air dry.

You live about an hour and a half from me.

If you were closer, I'd give you my old dog house dryer xD Doesn't have a TON of power, but still cuts down on drying time.


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## RuskosDad (Jul 10, 2010)

thank you for the information! Drying his skin out and irritating him was my main concern. I'd be willing to make the journey for a sweet dryer for him. Is it big?


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## Xeph (May 7, 2007)

No, it looks like a small dog house, lol.

http://www.govacuum.com/medoghopetdr.html

They don't even make them anymore, lol.

I used it on my then 3 or 4 year old GSD (he's 6 now) and while not as nice as my current one (which is not as nice as the new one will be), it's still quite useful, and I prefer it to letting my dogs air dry (For a lot of reasons).

P.S. A shop vac that blows in reverse is also fabulous


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## RuskosDad (Jul 10, 2010)

Hmmmm....me thinks maybe a trip your way lies in the future. How much would you want for the dryer? I'm more than happy to ride out your way. 

As a german shepherd owner, How do you transport your dogs? My GF and I aren't originally from Reston and we travel down next to TN, in SWVA to visit family often. Our first trip down Rusko was sick 4 or 5 times in the back seat and seemed just MISERABLE the whole way even though we were stopping every hour and a half to two hours to let him walk and have a sip of water and use the bathroom. Our second trip down we continued to stop every 2 hours or so, gave him a sip of water when we stopped, and let him walk and use the bathroom and this time we also put his bed in the back seat to elevate him a little and give him somewhere comfortable and level to lie down. He seemed to like that better, but was still sick once. Is this just puppy car sickness or are we doing it wrong?

Thanks again for all your help and advice. We just want Rusko to be happy and healthy! He's soooooo cool!


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## Xeph (May 7, 2007)

You're welcome to really just have it if you want it. I haven't used it in over a year 



> How do you transport your dogs?


On short trips we just take the Honda Civic and the dogs ride quietly in the back seat (they sleep). For long trips that the dogs need to come on, we get into my Chevy Venture and they ride in their crates.

If your puppy gets carsick, try giving him a ginger capsule or two 30 minutes to an hour before you hit the road.

And you're not doing it wrong. Some dogs just get carsick, like people. Neither of mine do, but I think I just got lucky.


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## RuskosDad (Jul 10, 2010)

Wow! Really? Thats fantastic Thank You! I have to run out for a bit, but can I send you a PM later this afternoon and we'll square away meeting to transfer the dryer?


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## Xeph (May 7, 2007)

Just trying to pay it forward


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## Graco22 (Jul 16, 2007)

You can try to get him over the car sickness to by taking alot of short trips. When you are running thru the bank, take him with. Going to a petsomething, take him with. When its cooler and you can safely leave him in the car, put him in a crate, and take him to the grocery, etc..and leave him in the car while you are in the store. The more short trips you take, the better he will become on the longer ones. My standard barfed on every car ride as a puppy until he was 6 months old..Now, he never dogs, and rides great in the back of the van. He goes to work with me every day, and still goes everytime I run out for something quick. He LOVES to ride now..you want to get your pup to the point where the ride is fun, and not sick. ;-)


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## RinseAce (Aug 16, 2010)

I would ditto Xeph's comment, not too often (about once a month) unless the dog made a mess of her or him self in the mud. I would recommend a pet shower tho. The flexible hose and sprayer make it very easy to get all the shampoo out of the fur and allows for rinses of the belly (how are you going to do that with a bucket?) Also makes it easy to just clean the muddy feet!


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## Elana55 (Jan 7, 2008)

I agree.. 1X a month. I hand blow dry the dog.. and I have a GSD puppy (17 weeks tomorrow) and an adult GSD (4 years this coming December). It takes me about an hour and a half to blow dry using a slicker brush away from the lay of the hair. Getting the dog REALLY dry after a bath can help with Hot spots. 

I bathe outside almost all the time with an adult GSD. Hair clogs the drain if I don't......


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## Elana55 (Jan 7, 2008)

Not sure what you meant. I wet the dog (and hang onto the collar so they cannot shake) and then put the soap on and lather it in. The big issue is getting the dog wet to the skin and then the second bigh issue is getting the soap to the skin. 

After that I rinse thoroughly (and that can be a job because getting water/soap to the skin is difficult it is also harder to get it all rinsed off) and then let the dog shake off, run around a bit. I then towel dry (at least two big bath towels) and then do the blow drying.


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