# How often to give bath...



## clonewars222 (Oct 5, 2008)

Well, I take my puppy out to the dog park once a week, and he smells bad after he comes home usually... I don't know whether or not to use shampoo every week... since it might ruin his coat oils. I'm using Puppy Tearless Shampoo by MagicCoat. 

What do you guys suggest? Is once a week ok?


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## digits mama (Jun 13, 2007)

Hi Clone!!

Actually Cairns dont need to be bathed that much..I bath my girls about once a month. Cairns have that great semi wirey coat that seems to endure lots of mud and water, and within a hour they are dry and pristine It did take a full 7 or 8 months for me to start seeing how weather resistant their coats were. 

How old is your Cairn?

Do you plan on stripping the coat when it is time too? Or how do you plan on grooming him?

When my kids a little stinky between baths..I use baby wipes to freshen them up. 

BTW..I would like to see pictures


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## clonewars222 (Oct 5, 2008)

Thanks. He's almost 6 months old.

Here's all my pictures :]

http://www.dogster.com/dogs/903691


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## digits mama (Jun 13, 2007)

Awww He is adorable! He looks like my Puddles when she was a bit younger










He is adorable. Thanks for letting me see his pics!


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## lucygoose (Feb 11, 2008)

Willie gets a bath once a week, sometimes it's a week and a half......He seems fine with it......I use Cain & Able shampoo and conditioner......


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## Patt (Feb 12, 2008)

OMGosh he is adorable. I left Echo a bone. 

I bathe only when needed. Once a week seems too often to me, but if he smells bad I guess you have no choice. Please be sure you rinse him well and apply a coat conditioner. I would watch his skin and coat closely to make sure he can tolerate the once a week bathing. 

See if wipes would do the job instead of a bath. I wipe my dogs down with Perfect Coat (puppy bath wipes) they work great.


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## Kathyy (Jun 15, 2008)

I rinse the dogs off once a week. I was surprised at how clean the spaniel mix looks after just a rinse. If I comb out his furnishings they stay fluffy for a while even. The stinky dog loses some of her special smell too. Shampoo is for removing fatty stuff. Dog park gunk is saliva and mud, right? A rinse might work out fine.


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## cjac&mac (Feb 12, 2007)

Dogs should be *bathed* no more than 4 times per year. They are not 4-legged people. If your dog is dirty, rinse him off. Their are also grooming wipes that work wonders, (Earthbath products are extremely effective and are all natural). Dogs have completley different skin and hair than humans do. In every breed it takes anywhere between 1-2 weeks for a dogs coat to be fully oiled properly, so imagine what you are doing to it if you bathe him once a week.

Regardless of how good the dog shampoo is that you're using, everytime you bathe your pet, you complety strip him of his natural proteins and oils. Although to the naked eye, your pet may seem fine by it, I challenge you to put your dogs hair and hid skin, under a microscope.


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## B-doggy (Sep 19, 2008)

We personally give our dog a bath once a month- our vet recommended we don't do it more often than that, because he has a double coat and as long as he gets a good brushing every day, his coat stays shiny and healthy. It takes quite a while to get him fully rinsed and fully dry, and since he has sensitive skin and can develop hot spots, we were just told that it's not necessary to do it more often than once a month. If he's a little skanky from being outside we use petwipes to clean him up. A friend of ours on the other hand, has a little dachshund she bathes weekly religiously, and he has the softest fur ever! So I really think it depends on the dog you have- if his skin and coat are still healthy, and he is fully dried after each bath, it sounds like it should be ok.


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## digits mama (Jun 13, 2007)

http://www.cairnrescue.com/general/groom.htm

I forgot to post this site for you. It really answered alot of questions about my Cairns coat. Good Luck!


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## dleggs15 (Mar 4, 2008)

I have a bulldog which is prone to skin issues and we use Earthbath shampoo and conditioner on her! I give her a bath about every 2 weeks! she is much happier with her bathings since she has such irritable skin! So really it depends on your dog some dogs dont need bathed often and some do!


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## Sip (Sep 27, 2008)

So I've been doing it all wrong. I've been given Carson a bath every 2-3days, cause I do take him outside everyday. Two days later after a bath, he's usually very smelly and dirty. His white coat turns to light brown. What would you guys recommend? He is a 10 week old American Bulldog that loves to get his face dirty.


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## Tarekith (Mar 30, 2008)

We bath our lab about once a week to every two weeks depending on how smelly he gets. He goes to the dog park a lot and loves to tumble and get slobbered on, so the baths help a lot. We use a puppy shampoo with with conditioner, and it's never seemed to bother him in terms of dry skin.


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## Meghan&Pedro (Nov 6, 2006)

I rinse and spot wash if necessary (if we're at the beach, if one of my dogs rolls in someone's pee or a dead thing...) but I flat out refuse to wash my dogs with soap, from head to toe, more than once every three months.

It's just too hard on their skin and coat to do it more often than that. Every time you wash your dog you're stripping the necessary oils from their coats, and replacing them with a coating that the shampoo puts on the hair to make it FEEL softer...

Unless you're CLIPPING your dog every 6 weeks to keep the hair manageable, you shouldn't even bathe your dog every 6 weeks. The health of the dogs skin and coat is what's important. There's no need to do a full head to toe with soap wash more often than that.


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## Cake (Nov 4, 2008)

Hi. I just recently got a beagle puppy, and am currently potty training her. Sometimes she steps on her own mess, and it gets caught in her paws. What would be an appropriate way to clean her paws so I don't end up getting her wet too much?


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## Lonewolfblue (Oct 28, 2007)

I give my dogs a bath maybe once every 6 months, whether they need it or not. Chloe might be more often with her heavier coat. But we'll see. She's brushed at least once a week, sometimes more often. She's got a great coat on her.



Cake said:


> Hi. I just recently got a beagle puppy, and am currently potty training her. Sometimes she steps on her own mess, and it gets caught in her paws. What would be an appropriate way to clean her paws so I don't end up getting her wet too much?


Just rinse off the feet. Or you can use a small plastic container with warm water with doggie shampoo and wash the feet in it, then rinse off with a hose or another container of fresh water.


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## Cake (Nov 4, 2008)

Ok, thanks!


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## sheltiemom (Mar 13, 2007)

I bathe my dogs about every two to four weeks, but occasionally in between if they get dirty. We go to the lake in spring and fall and they get _nasty_, not to mention Georgia red clay that stains the coat if you don't get it off. I sometimes try to do just feet and butt because washing three long coated dogs is a pain, but I don't believe what I sometimes hear about only bathing once every x amount of months. Use a good shampoo, rinse them well, and personally I think they'll be fine.


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## kenRC51 (Mar 7, 2008)

I think it really depends on th dog and how they respond to being bathed. I bath my eglish bulldog every week and she does not have dry skin and looks fine but when i bath my cocker spaniel every week I noticed that she is starting to have dry hair. So i think bathing her every week is drying her skin so I will bath her less now.


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## Gryff'sMom (Aug 5, 2008)

We take our pup for a swim in the river once a week...I guess that counts as a rinse, huh?


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## Cooper's Mama (Sep 23, 2007)

Cooper only gets a bath if he's dirty or starts to stink. He HATES water and hardly gets dirty enough to need a bath, so it's not that often. Hard to believe he's part Lab, huh!


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## Anic (Oct 31, 2008)

I bathe my dogs once a week with flea and tick shampoo. Harley is horribly allergic to the topical meds (he turns into a walking itchy rash, he stops eating for a couple days and he sleeps all day, only waking up to get a drink, go outside or move from his crate to someone's bed) so every seven days me and two seriously cheesed off dogs are locked in the bathroom for about a half hour


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