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How often to bathe a puppy??

I bathe very frequently as well . I have 5 dogs ....the oldest is 11 the youngest is 3 months . I bathe Colby and Tia ( both longer coated dogs ) once a week to once every 10 days. I bathe the short coat chi's about once every 2-3 weeks . I bathe Calli about once a month . NONE of my dogs have ever had skin issues,dry skin,,dandruff ect . I bathe with Petsilk products which is healthy for their skin and coats. Every one of my dogs have beautiful coats .

I HATE doggy smell , and if you have dogs and they dont get bathed except every 2-3 months , they will have a doggy smell. I guess maybe some people are used to that ?? or doesnt notice it as much ?? I am just a fussy clean person and since my dogs sleep with me , they need to smell fresh and clean.

I think that its a personal issue and one that each person must decide how long they can go . Obviously if you are bathing frequently and your dog starts to have issues such as dry skin,,dandruff ect ........... than that particular dog may not be able to handle frequent bathing ....and you may not be able to bathe as frequently . But , if you are bathing frequently and are having no problems ...then its not a problem ;)
 
Roxanne wrote:
I HATE doggy smell , and if you have dogs and they dont get bathed except every 2-3 months , they will have a doggy smell. I guess maybe some people are used to that ?? or doesnt notice it as much ?? I am just a fussy clean person and since my dogs sleep with me , they need to smell fresh and clean.
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This is a bit generalized, and in fact, offensive in my opinion.
Abbey gets bathed every 6-8 weeks and she does not have a "doggy smell". Does she smell like perfume and unnatural scents that are often in shampoos? No, but that doesn't mean she has a "doggy smell". She's very clean, with regular brushing and a good diet. In fact, we've had a lot of people ask us how her white stays so white. I am a very clean person, to the point of being anal from what friends and family say, and we have three pets and you would never know it by the look AND smell of our house, clothes, etc.
Cavaliers are known to have many, many allergy issues. Over-washing can be attributed to skin conditions, regardless of the shampoo you use, ask any vet.
 
We've had little Maisie now for nearly 4 weeks, and I still haven't bathed her. She doesn't smell nasty, and when she has got a bit mucky it brushes out. My 4yr old son asks nearly every day can we bath her, but I really don't want to do it, just for the sake of doing it. I think part of me doesn't want to upset her as well icon_crying . After looking at all your posts, I think I better do it soon. Wish me luck.

Jo icon_crssedfingers
 
Jen, It wasnt meant to be an offensive statement . I apologize if you took offense .

I'm just saying that people have different opinions on when and how often to bathe and that it is a very persoanl decision . Just like I cant tell you that you are a bad pup parent for washing your dog every 6 weeks or 3 months ect , no-one should tell me that I am doing harm by washing them more frequently ..... as evidenced by me NOT having ANY skin and coat issues . This has just been MY experience and the experience of my friends who have the same bath schedule as I do .
 
I think it's individual. Some dogs w/ very bad skin conditions NEED to be bathed frequently -- for example w/ medicated shampoo. Other dogs have very oily coats that tend to attract dirt and smell. (like my parent's newfs.) Others have very dry coats that may be worsened by frequent bathing...

Rory on the other hand, smells yummy almost all the time, IMHO. :D I only bathe him when he gets very dirty or if there is a special occasion. :)

Same with Shiloh, our lab. Sometimes she gets stinky (after a few months), so I bathe her even if she doesn't appear dirty. But her short coat doesn't reallly hold on to dirt so she doesn't get noticeably "dirty".
 
Rory's right on the medicated shampoo angle -- a lot of skin conditions are treated by special shampoos designed to help problems and need to be used sometimes many times a week.

Roxanne, my point is simply this: vets feel fairly firmly about the issue of washing a dog weekly or even every two weeks and that is the perspective I am passing along as I think they know best about this issue. I can see a monthly wash vs every two months as a personal choice, but not something that is generally not considered to be a good choice for health and medical reasons -- like washing a dog every week. This really gets the thunmbs down on every vet related site I could find that discuss dogs and bathing (I'm sure there are dissenting vet viewpoints but we are really talking the vast majority). A dog is after all, a dog. They cannot help but to smell like a dog. :) Of course, a dog that has a strong odor *weekly* probably has some underlying problem worth investigating.
 
I tend to think that unless it's causing problems, wash your dog as much or as little as you want to.
 
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