washing my dog

how often should you wash your dog vegas is 5 months old and loves playing out in the garden and gets rather mucky also his ears are always straggly looking when i look at all your pics of your lovely dogs they look so clean and how often should you brush their teeth my vet said every day what do you think?

I've always heard not to give baths more frequently than once a month. When Kingston gets a little smelly, I use waterless bath wipes from Walmart to wipe him off. You can also just use a dampened rag. Simply brushing him everyday really helps too. As for the teeth, brush them everyday if you have the dedication.

Brushing and proper grooming are better than lots of baths. Basically daily gentle brushing and grooming will brush out dirt -- it just dries and comes out. Many vets don't feel a dog should be washed more than every couple of months -- it strips oils from their coat and skin. Obviously many do wash more frequently but there isn't much reason if you aren't showing -- rinsing in plain water will take out most dirt if the dog is really mucky, or just using a wipe.

I only wash mine every couple of months. They can get really dirty and once they are dry and are lightly brushed they come out looking pretty much the same as before they got muddy.

On teeth -- as with people brushing daily is better than brushing less frequently. I'd say most people who brush do their dogs several times weekly at least.