How often do you bath your dog?

[SoupDragon]

I bathed Dill before Christmas and he absolutely reeks again. presumably he's been having fun with the foxes.

How often should they be bathed? Is it bad for them to do it too often?

or you could use a butterfly hair clip to stop his ears going in his food....

At the two ends of the scale - my Mum's lab has never been bathed to my knowledge (and smells and looks great), DMILs westie gets bathed twice a week (with special shampoo) which she insists helps with his allergies..

We used to try and peg our childhood spaniel's ears out of the way. It never worked :o Perhaps a head band...?

I would love a dog that didn't need bathing . Which rminds me, I came across a dog in the woods once who had a waterproof coat. He was the same colour as Dill but very short haired and glossy and perfectly white on the white bits. [sigh]

a soft hair bobble can work too, or cutting the ear hair back ....(depending how long the actual ear is under th hair...)

or you can band and plait the ear hairs (don't cocker owners put show dogs ears in snoods or protective papers?)

I bath the cairn terrier every week she lives to roll and being so much closer to the ground her tummy hair always gets matted despite wearing a coat for walks at the moment.
My black lab gets bathed probably once a month as he gets smelly and makes house smell very doggy. The springer spaniel has a bath on ce a fortnightish as he hates being bathed.
The springer and the cairn gonto the groomers for a cut three times a year although had to ask he groomer to stop powdering the cairn as meant the lab wouldn't leave her alone even though he's been castrated.

I usually use a dog shampoo/conditioner but if I've run out I reach for the the childrens 2in1 shampoo.

Was supposed to be loves to roll but lives to roll is actually quite appropriate!

So, I have learnt that

1. No, I'm not bathing him too much if using a proper shampoo
2. I could spray him with tea tree oil mix (or ketchup)
3. All dogs roll in shit
4. I am never going to be able to show him

Thanks :)

My labs get hosed when muddy, or have a swim in the river - they prefer a cold swim to a cold hose, but what they really, really hate is a dip in warm water. When they roll in something gross it's doggy shampoo and the hose pipe - plain water just doesn't get the stink out. They then get dried and go into the utility room which has underfloor heating - lucky devils. This snow has been great as they just need drying, no mud and nothing stinky to roll in.

I was told by a vet that normal dogs only 'need' bathing once or twice a year, and that they definately don't need it more than once a month as it can be an irritant. However, I think that if you use a special dog formulated shampoo, a wash when they are smelly is fine! As it is with our GS, she has a chronic skin condition, so we have to fully wash her every 1-2 weekends with Malaseb, otherwise her skin gets very sore and bright red, with painful scabs and scaly flakes. When we first got her (resuce dog) she was a state, but now her coat is gleaming and full. x

Yellow lab has never been bathed, has never rolled in anything smelly and will come out of the boot of the car clean, if in it for 20 mins or more. He is a miricle self cleaning dog, who also tries to clean the black dog. Black dog has made it his life's work to roll shit. Fox usually, but favourite is human....

A friend of mine has a labradoodle who loves rolling in anything and everything.

When friend was heavily pregnant she couldn't cope with washing/grooming the dog so she bought her an all-in-one waterproof coat. I kid you not - fluorescent yellow with legs and a hood, just like the ones you buy toddlers. All you could see was the dogs nose and tail!

My ridgeback gets hosed and soaped down if he is totally covered (maybe three times in 18 months), but otherwise I stick an old towel on his bed while he's wet and then brush him off when it has dried.

I've never bathed any of my dogs - ie with shampoo etc. Occasionally, if I haven't been out on a route where they can take a quick dip in a pond, trough or river, I've hosed them off in the shower.

They have never rolled in fox poo, however.

My dog's Best Day Ever was when she found some human diarrhoea at the local play park. I'm assuming it was a small child who had been taken short, although on our estate you never can tell.

Anyway, I spotted her rolling, assumed it was fox crap (bad enough), yelled at her to come and she did, but obviously I was just that little bit too late. When she got to me she was dripping and stinking and I was nearly sick. It was that really pale, sloppy, sort of cheesy smelling diarrhoea. I'd have preferred fox.

I don't bath mine, thank god she doesn't need it. Very occasionally she gets a hose off and rubdown but only in dire circumstances.

My preferred method of cleaning is vacuum.

i havent bathed mine since the summer.

however they are off to the local college at the end of the month for a trim, wash, nail clip etc etc for the bargain price of £10 a dog.

ralph stinks though. he likes wet muddy stinky puddles. which my garden is atm as they have churned up the lawn completely due to how wet its been, plus snow adnd ice etc etc.

we are paving the garden this summer.

Both dogs roll in fox poo at every opportunity - they get hosed down in the garden when we get home, if they haven't been in the sea or the lake for a swim. But as they're lab/collie they jump in any water anytime - it just depends if it's deep enough to reach the poo! .

I feed them Burns and found that this keeps any doggy smell at bay. When I first rehomed them they had eaten any crap that was cheap and they smelt really doggy and yuck!

we've not bathed ours since we moved house, so that's just over 9 years!

she's not a poo roller though thankfully

every couple of months in winter (bloody foxes) and she squeals like I'm trying to drown her. In summer she gets a regular swim in the sea which apparently is fine and non life-threatening

Our family dogs got bathed only for medical reasons and hosed when they rolled. They were a springer and a fairly shaggy collie and I can't remember either of them smelling much. Plenty of mud of course, but that fell off with a brush. The collie really liked to be vacuumed.

Our pup (well dog now I guess as he's 14mths now) is very waterproof, and if we wash him after he's rolled (he likes dead fish best) the water just runs off. It takes a while to get his undercoat clean. Otherwise he seems to be fairly self cleaning (on the car, sofa, beds etc etc )

Well, at the moment, our lab gets clean with a daily dip in the pool (must post pics of her swimming!) and gets hosed off when she gets out. During the winter when it's too cold for swimming and she gets a bit pongy, I try to bathe her every other month. She hates it though. There's a mobile dog wash service round here that I might investigate.

It depends on the dog.

Old black dog doesn't need a bath
Younger black dog needs a bath whenever she's rolled in fox or badger - about every six months
Baby black dog needs a bath nearly every day. She rolls in a lot of poo.

This morning, she rolled in badger poo and to add a little extra deliciousness to her morning ablutions, she also secretly carried a large chunk of stinking peacock poo into the house. She put it on the kitchen floor and then decided that wasn't comfy enough for it so she picked it up and placed it carefully in the middle of one of the cushions on the (new) sofa.

Baby black dog is grim.