How often should you wash a dog?

As little as possible.

The natural oils in dogs and cats skin work excellently to keep their skin and coat in fine condition. Washing them in anything upsets this balance. Hence you should only really wash an animal if it's rolled in something gross. Little pups tend to get pee and poo on them and need washing more often, but really only the soiled areas, not the whole body. You get get these wipes from pet shops that work well. If a pup has only soiled his legs, only wash his legs!

If the pup hasn't actually got anything dirty on him, don't wash him. Especially do not wash in flea shampoos, these don't work.

Chalice

You don't HAVE to wash a dog at all unless it is for medical reasons (some dogs need medicated baths) or it stinks to high heavens (and even then you don't have to wash it if you are happy to live with the smell!). However dogs do need regular grooming (daily for long haired breeds and 2 / 3 times a week for short haired breeds) in order to keep their coat and skin in good condition. Bathing too often removes all of the oils which are there to protect the skin and coat and act as a kind of waterproofing and too much bathing removes this.

Of my 3 dogs one has never been bathed (4yrs old), one only once (7yrs old) and one is bathed once a month due to a medical condition.

Well you should bath it whatever the cirmustances when its a pup so if you have to wash it in an emergency once it would be used to it. As an adult dog, if its a shaggy dog probs once a month, if its medium or short haired dog, then bath it whenever it needs it because there is no point otherwise. Also, if it needs a bath because of fleas, so i would say get it used to have a bath.

Not too often. It really depends on the breed, but generally over bathing a dog is bad because it dries out their skin.

Once every couple of months is usually good, but there are ways that you can "cheat" since washing dogs (especially bigger ones) can be a major pain! Sometimes sprinkling some baby powder on them, followed by a good brushing, will do the trick. If you live in an area with snow, you can also give your dog snow baths by rubbing him all over with a snowball.

hope that this helps!

frequent grooming is a big part of keeping your dog happy and healthy.

My nine year old always smell sweet and she has not had a bath for about two years. After she has had a dirty walk I clean off the mud with warm water. However I think that using shampoo just dries out the skin and creates problems.

Its a long time since we had a heatwave in the UK and I did bath her then. I then left her to romp around the garden to cool off.

If your puppy has rolled around in anything which is smelly, get a bowl of warm water and add lemon juice.Wring out a clean towel in this and sponge her all over and forget baths or showers.

Grooming is important and you must check your dogs ears and bum for problems

puppies and dogs should be washed as needed. But no more than once every 4 weeks. The natural essential oils need time to build up again. 10 week old puppies should not be bathed at all if you can help it. They can get sick. Upper Respiratory Infections.

It can depend on the breed (coat type) as to how often you should bathe a puppy. I would strongly advise you to pop into your local grooming shop and ask them. When you do bath your pup, make sure your puppy is not allergic to the shampoo and make sure you wash ALL the shampoo is washed out and towel dry them as best you can and keep them warm as puppies are more prone to conditions such as Hypothermia.

You don't need to bathe a puppy but about once a month. You are stripping all the natural oils out of his skin. This can cause many different skin problems. Don't bathe him but about once every 2 weeks when he gets older and if you have to bathe him more often make sure you are using a good quality shampoo, not a flea shampoo. There is an oatmeal bath you can get from the vet. It seems a little expensive but you don't have to use much and it last forever. It is very good for their skin.

Originally posted by rayne

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=200607...

Hi,

Here are some general guidelines:

* Bathing once a month works for most dogs.

* Dogs with an oily coat, like Basset Hounds, may need bathing as frequently as once a week.

* Many short-haired breeds with smooth coats, such as Beagles and Weimaraners, do just fine with less frequent baths. Short-coated Basenjis are fastidious in their personal hygiene and rarely need a bath.

* Breeds with water-repellent coats, such as Golden Retrievers and Great Pyrenees, should be bathed less often so as to preserve their natural oils.

* Dogs with thick, double coats--such as Samoyeds, Malamutes, and other Northern breeds--do best with fewer baths and a lot of extra brushing (which gets rid of loose, dead hair and helps distribute natural oils that keep your dog's skin and coat healthy)

Check out this link for more tips:

http://dogtime.com/bathing.html

every 6 weeks if needed use a good puppy shampoo take care of ears and eyes do the body first and rinse very well,dry body before doing head as when water goes on the head the pups body will shake[loads of mess!] some say 20 Min's after the last meal of the day.