dry skin from bathing

I need help. Sunshine goes to a local nursing home weekly. She must be clean for the visits and I have been bathing her weekly. I know this is not good for her but I don't know what else to do. She is combed out daily. Her skin has become flaky and has dandruff. I do bathe my dogs monthly due to my daughter having allergies. Does anyone know of a product that I can use to help sunshines skin or to elimenate the weekly bath.

Unless she has been rolling in mess, she should be clean enough, with a good grooming, not to need a weekly bath, which will strip the oil from hair and skin.

As has been said before, many people who are allergic to dogs are allergic to the dander. Regular baths will dry her skin and so produce more dander .

You don;t actually need to wash a dog to have them clean. Just rinsing her with warm water. letting her dry naturally or in a drying coat, and brushing her out should keep her more than clean.

It will be a combination of blowdrying and shampoo that is damaging her skin and will also damage her coat. Any type of soap is stripping all the natural oils that protect coat and skin.

She should really only be washed at most every month but if she is having skin problems probably not even that often using soap. Vets generally recommend every 3-4 months. I know lots of dogs that do therapy and they are only washed every few months. Brushing and the natural oils and an occasional rinse keeps them very clean.

PS She probably shouldn;'t be combed daily either -- that's a lot of pulling and tugging. I have a dog in rescue with serious behaviour problems stemming entirely from being overgroomed and spoke to some behaviouralists last week who have two more dogs they are working with because of overgrooming! They say this is a common and become a VERY serious problem as dogs eventually get reactive and start snapping when touched -- all three of these dogs were going to be ptsbecause they are so reactive and unpredictable when touched. Just be cautious about grooming too often. Combing especially as this tends to be painful to many dogs if done incorrectly.

Due to skin allergies my dogs have to be bathed 1 -2 times a week. This is recommended by thier dermatologist and is obviously due to a health problem, in a normal dog as has already been said it is not recommended to use frequent bathing due to the stripping of skin oils.

However we use virbac episoothe shampoo and virbac resisoothe leave in conditioner and it keeps their skin nice. It is oatmeal based and can be used on all dogs even puppies. Not sure if available where you live but if you have to bathe frequently you want a good quality oatmeal based shampoo and conditioner, another tip is to rinse really really well as any shampoo left in the coat can cause skin irritation.
Maybe even ring your vet and get their recommendation and where possible limit hairdrying. Hand dry as much as possible and keep in a warm place till completely dry or get a jumper or blanket to keep your baby warm and snuggley till completely dry. I personally brush about twice a week very gentle but I'm lucky as the dogs enjoy their bath and their brush so don't have any wigglers (sp?)

Thanks...I use a hairdryer to dry her off so maybe that is causing more of a problem than just the bathing alone.

I thought that maybe there might be a product that I could spray on her to clean but doesn't require rinsing...like a waterless bath. One time I did wipe her down with a babywipe.

Sunshine likes to play in the dirt when outside so I can feel a difference in her coat after a week and I was afraid that the nursing home residences (sp?) would be able to tell a difference as well and not enjoy petting her. We also were trained to bath and groom the dog before every therapy visit, so I assumed it was a must. Anyway, I am going to try just rinsing her and letting her dry on her own.

http://www.mysimon.com/9015-10992_8-29555998.html

you can use this in between bathing but dog must be wet first. You could just use a spray bottle of water though to get doggie damp rather than wet then massage in and leave. It also makes the coat soft and smells great.
You can also get pet wipes that avoid using water, never used them myself though ? I would avoid using baby wipes though as that in itself could irritate doggies skin as they have a different ph.