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Bathing

6K views 46 replies 35 participants last post by  arycrest 
#1 ·
#6 ·
Only once. When we first brought our guy home, he REEKED to high heavens! It was enough to make you gag. (He was a neglected outdoor only dog)

We bathed him a week after we got him and haven't done it since.
Mind you, we do feed a raw diet, so that certainly helps keep the doggie smell down.
 
#12 ·
Before a dog show.
Or if they're blowing coat and I can't stand it another minute, then I'll bathe and blow dry them.

Carly hasn't had a bath since last November, right before the dog show. She'll get one next Friday because I'm showing her. :)
 
#14 ·
I've been bathing him once every 3-4 week's . And in between just taking a spray bottle spritzing him down and blowing him with the forced dryer.

He doesn't smelly doggy at all... I tell him all the time I love his musk.
It's more of just keeping his coat in good shape.

Just interesting to see everyone's different routines.

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#15 ·
Both of mine have great coats and no doggie smell at all. They don't live outside, but they're outdoors every day and I find no need to bathe more than a couple times a year.

Feed a good diet and brush regularly and you really shouldn't have to give so many baths. Their coats should be fine.
 
#19 ·
As needed for brushing and baths, which is about once a year for baths and brushing whenever I can feel fur in my hand when I pet them. I by no means even brush mine regularly, every couple months. They just don't seem to require it. They have shiny coats, smell good, clean ears and white teeth. I do not feed raw.
 
#22 ·
Once a year if you don't count the kiddie pool. Lisl likes to wade in the small pool in summer I bought for her when she was a puppy.

When she was a wee pup, she had three baths before she was ten weeks old.
 
#23 ·
A few times a year. If I am ambitious they might get bathed once a month or so through the summer. I bath them to control shedding more than anything. So they get a bath in the spring, and usually another in early summer, and then again in October or so. I hate brushing them when the blower works so well at removing coat so it usually gets to the point where they desperately need a good brush and I just bath/blow them instead lol.
 
#25 ·
Once or twice a year for Delgado, unless he gets into something that makes him reek :sick:
 
#30 ·
Fama has been having some allergy type reaction, itching and digging a lot. I gave her a bath today and I think she feels better. She's jumping around like an idiot :D
 
#31 ·
Baths make my dogs frisky too! Keefer has also been having some itchy issues, and a few months ago it was to the point where he was losing fur on his underside and the skin was discolored. He was put on some antibiotics and antihistamines, and has needed frequent baths. The vet wanted me to do it 3 times a week, which is not going to happen! KetoChlor shampoo is around $30 for a 16 oz bottle that I could get 3 or maybe 4 baths with, so I'm doing it more like every two weeks or so. It is helping, his skin looks great and the fur is growing back. His senior health panel showed a low normal thyroid, so he's also been taking thyroid meds too. A re-test about a month or month and a half later showed his levels right in the middle of normal, so he'll be on that for the duration. Fortunately, they're super cheap - a 3 month supply was $34.

Halo has been itchier than usual too, so I wonder if it's something environmental going on. I've been bathing her more frequently than usual too, but with MicroTek shampoo, which is much less expensive and goes further. Normally though, I'd be bathing them at most once a month, and usually more like every 3 or 4 months. We did it more often when we were going to Point Isabel every weekend because they'd swim in the SF Bay, which is pretty stinky, and it's very muddy in the winter.
 
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