How often should we bathe our pet dogs?

I think once a week is enough for their fur not to get loose. Bathing them as frequent as daily will probably cause an adverse effect on their appearance specially if your dog has a thick coat. I am no vet but I think it make sense.

I think it really depends on the dog as to how long you should go between bathing. At work, I like to bathe one of our housepets every other week, usually on a slow day. I work in a veterinary clinic, and we have two dogs and two cats that live at the clinic year-round. This specific dog loves getting dirty. So far, there does not seem to be any issue with him having irritated or dry skin, so the schedule that we have him on is working perfectly for him. One of the dogs that I have at home we bathe every week or two depending on what she gets into and how bad she smells. She has periods where she gets dry skin, but it is not necessarily due to the baths. We rub a small amount of a leave-on lotion into her fur/skin after her bath that the doctor prescribed to her, and she does fine. My other dog we bathe every month, or even every other month depending. She plays outside often, but she is older (an 11 year old Labrador mix) and less likely to roll around in the dirt. I actually just brought her into work today for a bath after two months, and like the dog that lives here at the clinic, her skin is just fine and this schedule seems to be working well for her. Really, it is about finding a schedule that works best for you and your dog, and setting aside a specific amount of time on a certain day to do it. Your vet may be able to give you better advice as to what schedule may be best for your dog.

I thought that dogs should get baths as human do. But a vet friend told me it was not so. He said that washing dogs so much could improve their appearence, but not their health. They have a protective layer of good bacteria over their coat that helps them fight allergies and harmful pests. So that it is better not to wash them too much but it is ok to brush them as that is also a moment of bonding.

Nothing bad i guess, in my home there is no pet dog, tons of stray dogs move here and there, some enter your home, if door is kept open by mistake, they pee , poo, i hate this, when it happens.. my neighbor has a pet dog, small one, white and hairy, i see her washing its body, applying special shampoo, combing its hair, she takes more care of the pet than her own body.. Best of luck. Professor

Hello Cutie, You are not a bad dog owner, relax! 15 years ago, when I got my first dog, all the books about dogs said a dog must not be washed too frequently. They recommended one or two shampoo baths a year! The idea was that frequent shampoo baths could dry the dog's skin and cause irritations or itching. But things evolved in all this years. Now there are shampoos special designed for frequent bathing so we can bath our dogs as often as we need. Me, I have no rule for bathing my dog. I bath her whenever she's dirty. This means she can have a bath once a week, once a month or even the next day after she had the last bath (this happened once: she was clean and well-smelling but she thought it was a good idea to roll over in some ash during a hike in the woods. So she got another bath when we got home.). I think you can do the same. Bath your dogs whenever you feel they are dirty or smelly. Make sure they have clean bedding and they don't roll over in dirt. I don't see any reason why anybody would think you are a bad owner because you wash your dogs only once in two weeks.

I think it's not bad as I usually give my dogs a bath too whenever I got the time. I usually do it once a week or once in two weeks too. Depends on my time... I apply a good dog soap and shampoo to them and put on dog powder once the they're dried up.

To be honest, I really cannot say a given amount of time! I have been on this planet quite some time...Growing up, we always had dogs, of every size and deportment! They were NEVER bathed...NOR did they ever have "doggy smell"! The only got soaped and hosed down if they had a chance encounter with a skunk or smelly carcass! My dogs of younger years...only had DRY dog food made with names of products you could pronounce...and table foods! It has only been in recent years...with all the additives, and horrendous ingredients that pet food is made out of, that I find they need bathes...all the toxins coming out in their skin! Same with us..LOL! So, today..I pay closer attention to their foods, to reduce bathing..as I really don't believe it is part of their agenda! It also helps that I live rurally, and my dogs spend a lot of time outdoors! I use "cedar shavings" in their bedding to reduce parasites of all kinds...and it imparts a nice odor from the cedar oils! Just my take on things. Cheers!

I read it somewhere that it's best to bathe the dog once a week, exactly what I do with my dog since I also work 5 days a week plus my dog is very hard to be clean, he hates bathing, he hates water. I just took a good timing to corner him for bathing.

HI cutie! We don't have pets here as we don't have space for anyone else now plus most of us are allergic to animal furs.(^^) It make sense to bath them once in two weeks but if you want them to be more clean for sure you need to bathe them more than that so your dog won't have bad smell...(^^)

Hehehe...I not like to bath the pet dog but my husband's brother like this and he try to bath our pet dog at least once in week.