How often do you wash your dog?

Hehehe..that is too funny. My dog is the same way when she rools in yuck, she jumps around and wags her tail like she just did something good but it never smells good that is for sure. We always say she likes to be stinky because when we give her a bath or even wash her doggie bed she doesn't lay on it until she gets it stinky LOL. We always tease her about her breath stining so bad and we will tease her and say "You need to go to the Walmart and get you some a*# breath be gone" LOL We think she knows to because she always crinkles her nose LOL

This is our first dog but I have known others that like to get their stink on as well. We like to tease our dog all the time about her stink as well.....I sometimes think she knows we are making fun of her because she gives us that look it is too funny...Thanks a bunch for the best response.

I think your approach is probably the best way to go, only washing as needed. Sometimes my boys really need it, like when they discovered a skunk in the yard a couple of months ago! They had baths daily for about a week until the smell was completely gone. My smaller dog wears an ear-to-ear smile after he finds something stinky to wallow in, hehe. When the dogs roll in the grass and lie in the sun, in our house we say that they are "putting their stink on," like perfume.:)

My Dog is like my Baby and all of them have been I love Dogs I was brought up with Dogs and have always had a Dog, mainly Dogs that I have got from bad Homes or Rescue Centre I also used to have Cats and they all got on lol there where 4 Cats and 1 Dog People do not realize that are like Humans they need love and care that is all they ask for

I love how you speak of your dogs, gabs! I feel the same way about my pets! They are family. I cannot bear to leave them outside, either, though they go in the backyard nearly any time they want. :)

Once a week is as much as I've ever bathed any of my dogs, too, but she was a tiny inside dog. With the outside dogs I had growing up, we almost never bathed them, unless they got sprayed by a skunk, rolled in cow poo, etc. Outside dogs can find the nastiest stuff to wallow in! Funny how we want to escape their odor or eliminate it, while they tend to love it!

Goodness, your dogs are very clean, yaashmin! :) I wish my dogs and I had the patience and tolerance for daily dog washing! Applause to your mom for doing it! Some people say that washing dogs too often gives them skin problems. Do you find that your dogs have skin problems, or are they OK with daily bathing?

Hi celestial bloom, Thanks for your beautiful comment.. I will admire my mom how she washes my pets... it was soooo funny.. Ya I didnt see any skin infection on my pets... If you find difficuilt in bathing your pets just pipe out water on them to make them cool and they will be fresh all day.. Its no need to put soap or anything daily to bath them.. And afterwards you just wipe them tomake them warm... thanks for your comments again... Take Care Byeee Regards yaashmin

Heheh, I hear ya! My guys only like bath time during the really hot part of the summer. But even then, and with treats, I always lose my status as #1 Mom for a few hours afterward. And all of the dogs I've ever had have thrown little parties after being released from their baths, like they just survived some horrible ordeal and are now wild with jubilation. I wish I felt like that after every bath! :)

I hope Blix's paw is better now, udnisak! I understand what you mean about bathtime sometimes being a disaster. Cleaning my Chihuahua's ears was always a big ordeal, and now brushing my Great Dane's teeth is the main struggle - he doesn't like it a bit! And yes, when they are bathed regularly, they get used to the process and quit fussing so much.

Oh, I like the idea of a no-rinse shampoo, alyssakenzie! Can you recommend a good brand? When I cannot wash my big dogs outside, I dilute a little Dr. Bronner's castile soap in a big bowl of warm water, and then I dip a rag in the solution and wipe down my freshly brushed dogs. I then wipe them down with a rinsed rag to get the soap off and towel dry. It would be nice to be able to skip the rinsing step!

When you say "get them cleaned," do you mean that you take them to a groomer? I used to take my Chihuahua in to have her nails clipped at the groomer's, but I always wash my own dogs. I think it would be better for my allergies if I bathed them more often, since they spend a lot of time outside. It would definitely be easier to keep them clean if I could take them to a groomer! I don't think they, or my pocketbook, would be cool with that, though... :(

Your dogs must stay very clean if they only go out once a day! Mine would rebel on me if I didn't let them out at least 5-6 times a day, hehe. In the winter, they go out a little less, so they stay cleaner, but in the warmer months, sometimes they spend hours outside every day. I have to wash them more often then.

A shihtzu should be fairly easy to wash every day... but I still don't know that I would ever have that type of motivation! :) Even when I had a little Chihuahua, I only washed her every Saturday. Kudos to you for your dedication! Some folks are saying that too much bathing (more than a couple of times a year) can destroy the dog's natural oils, leading to skin and fur problems. Would you disagree? Does your dog ever have skin problems from daily washing?

Washing every two weeks seems very reasonable to me, especially if he's in the house. Is your German Shepard in the house, swap? I tend to bathe my Great Dane a lot less in the colder months, even though he is in the house. For my dogs' winter baths I soak a cloth in a sink or large bowl filled will diluted castile soap and rub them down, followed by the same process with clean water to rinse them off. I do this with their ears, also. Then they get toweled and brushed. This is the tidiest way I can figure for cleaning my large indoor dogs in cooler months. :) If your German Shepard is indoors, how do you bathe him?

You raise some good points, vasudevan! You are right that shampoos and conditioners for both pets and people have greatly improved over the years. However, it is still difficult to find products without some of the more popular chemicals, like SLS and parabens, for folks who are sensitive to them (like myself). Just as with dogs, some folks advocate less shampooing for people, saying it throws off the body's natural oils. There are "no-poo" people (no shampoo, ever) and "low-poo" people (shampoo as needed, once or twice a week). The idea is that hair gets oily as a result of it being stripped of its oils - it goes into hypermode after washing, trying to replace all of the protective, natural oil that was removed. By minimalizing their shampoo use, the cycle should be broken. It's a little different with dogs, though, because they get into all sorts of stinky stuff! :P Sometimes they just need a good scrub lathering!

Haha, yes, some dogs are nearly impossible to bathe! I remember as a child once watching our family dog, a Shepard/Collie, drag my dad across the yard as he tried to wet her with the hose! My Chihuaha would put up a good struggle and make a huge mess when I tried to wash her in the bathroom sink, so I eventually got a detachable showerhead and started washing her in the tub. She almost liked that, but she would still burst out of the bathroom afterwards like I had been trying to murder her! :)

Wow, shhheila, I wish my dogs were as clean as yours! It is far too big of a hassle for me to try to wash my guys too often. They let me, but they don't make it easy and they make a decent sized mess, water and fur everywhere. :P

Whew! I've never owned a dog that needed to be washed that often! I try to own low maintenance pets. Your Lab must be very well behaved to take so many baths! My dogs don't mind too much, but they aren't crazy about it, act sulky and pitiful for a few hours afterward. Lots of brushing and some treats sweeten the deal for them, though. Do you have to bribe your Lab too?

I agree with you. I bathed my Chihuahua frequently, because she was just a naturally stinky little dog. My Dane and Border Collie/Blue Heeler mix don't get very smelly unless they spend a lot of time playing or lying in the sun, so they don't need as many baths. I focus more on brushing, which they love! :)