Bathtime?..

[all that glitters]

I haven't ever bathed Shyla yet and she is 5 months old next week. Is it something you HAVE to do routinely, or if she isn't 'dirty' and doesn't smell, can I leave her be? Mum bathes her golden retriever monthly because she gets smelly and 'greasy' ew...

[Doggrooma]

You dont have to bathe her if you dont want to, but.......... If you dont get her used to it by the time she is fully grown and one day needs a bath, guess who will probably be wetter, just a hint it wont be the dog On a serious note I just like to expose mine from a young age to different things they will encounter in life, it does help

[Teebs]

agree, i dont wash my dogs often, but do so as puppies, so they learn what they can and cant do, and so they can get used to it

[ish]

I've got a couple who have 'greasy' coats and need bathing every month or 2, and others who get a couple of baths a year without ever seeming to need it!

Agree with the others though, get your pup used to being bathed while she's still little. My 2x 3.5 month old pups have been through the wash 4 or 5 times already - it really makes a big difference for when they're grown up and need a bath.

[all that glitters]

Ok thankies!

So.. how do I go about it? Theres a doggy hydrobath do it urself thing at the petrol station near our house, or as my family always do, can we just put her in the bathtub and wet, shampoo and rinse?

What shampoo is good to use - I don't want to use something that will set her up to be itchy all the time

[ish]

If you plan on using a hydrobath in the future, might as well get her used to it from the start - the bath part isn't much different to using the hose over the bathtub at home, but the dryer is loud and will take some getting used to in most cases. Because GSDs have an undercoat designed to keep them dry, once they're wet through, they can take ages to dry - so access to a dryer like at the do-it-yourself hydrobaths is great for colder weather. Puppy coats don't take long to dry though so I've just been bathing mine at home in the bathtub and toweling them off.

I like Fidos Puppy and Kitten shampoo Its very gentle and smells great. You can also have on hand a bottle of no more tears baby shampoo, for doing her face because it won't sting her eyes (I dilute it a bit, otherwise you have to rinse their face for ages and they hate it!)

[kitty]

we bath Molly in the laundry tub with a non slip bath mat on the bottom. We also have one of those rubber shower arm extender thingies that cost about 7 bucks from Bunnings (hahaha i can't explain it) which is perfect, because we can control where the water goes.

We use Aloveen Shampoo and Conditioner with Molly. It's especially good for sensitive skins, and it smells unbelieveably good!

[rubiton]

I also put a non slip mat in the bath and use a hose thing (probably came from Bunnings mat was Big W). Fidos Emu Oil - but she is an adult dog. The fidos is good though.

[Sankari]

I bath my Golden Retriever every 4-6 weeks. She goes to a groomer usually, but when my back is ok i bath her myself (i have my own hydrobath). I dont do her myself in cool weather as i dont have a dryer yet so she takes forever to dry. I used a hair dryer on her once which took 3 hrs to fully dry her.

When my puppy comes i will be exposing him to things from a young age, they do really need to be exposed to things they may encounter at some point in their life.

ETA: I use Aloveen shampoo and conditioner on her.

Edited July 20, 2009 by LucyCharzie

[Faolmor]

I get my pups used to the bath at around 10 weeks of age. I just put a tiny bit of water into the tub - literally enough to wet their toes - throw in some toys and let them splash around and play for a few minutes once a day. It's not a real bath...it's just a fun game in a bit of water. Once they're happy to play without thinking anything of it, I'll drip a little water over them and get them wet, always keeping it fun and happy. Gradually, we work up to the real deal.

I now have 3 adult dogs who will happily stand in the bath for as long as it takes to get them clean. They might not always be thrilled to hear the "b" word...but they behave nicely and that's all I require.

[4Kelpies]

I rarely bath my dogs once they are past the puppy stage. Then I use it more as a training exercise. If the dogs are healthy and don't have any allergies, they don't tend to have coat problems. It probably helps that my Kelpies all have short shiny coats and even if covered in mud from working in the yards, once the mud has dried and they shake themselves, their coats are clean again. The girl in my signature hasn't had a bath in about two years (last time was when she rolled in something unpleasant.) They all come inside and have no doggy smell. I probably do my German Shepherd about once a year - mainly to help shift his undercoat. I don't know enough about long haired breeds to know how often they might need baths.

[Tilly]

We have had our GSD pup for about 6/7 weeks and he has had 4 baths so far ... he had a bath on the first night he arrived because he smelt something awful when he arrived after his flight.

He had a bath a couple of weeks ago when he fell in the fish pond ... just as I was saying to my mother that he didn't need a lead as he would just follow her.

He then had another one on Friday night after falling in the fish pond again - I opened the gate (the backyard is seperated into two yards) to get the bin etc to do a poop scoop. I then noticed he had started to dig a hole under the fence and had passed his dinner bowl under the fence to our other dog. While I was moving a rock over the the area he was digging - I turned around just to see him take a big step into the middle of the pond. He was fished out of the pond and given a nice warm bath before being wrapped in towels and taken inside in front of the fire - it was freezing cold.

Then on Sunday night after playing with our other dog - he then ran straight into the pond again ... so it was another warm bath and wrapped up in towels in front of the fire to warm up again and dry off.

Thankfully he doesn't normally have access to that area of the yard ... he seems to head straight to the fish pond and just hasn't worked out he can't walk on water.