How often do you give your pup a bath?

Thanks! She IS a princess. True. Long haired dogs are different. You have to keep them clean. Trudy is in full coat.

Ya know, everyone does what they feel is right, but I didn't bath my cockers, who were also in full coat, except their ears, that often.  It was typically every 6-8 weeks, but only when they NEEDED a bath.  I truely do think that often a good brushing daily will accomplish the same thing.

I bath both of my girls about once every week.   Sometimes I will go for once every two weeks but never longer than that.  These gals get so dirty outside playing that they are mud pits half the time, but they so love the mud puddles and rolling in the dirt.  And for some reason Daisy, maybe its a beagle thing, will really stink after awhile with no bath.  Both of the dogs do Ok with the bath and dont seem to mind it.  I use baby shampoo on them.    In fact they are due for a bath in the AM. 

ORIGINAL: jeano

Maybe people are going to jump on me here, but.........

I love the way my dogs smell. I always have. Why would you have a dog if you don't like everything about them?

They are dogs. They smell like dogs.
I don't think they should be perfumed or overbathed just for being dogs.
I don't get it.

I'm with you here jeano.  With a couple of the family dogs, I was so in tune with their smell, that I could tell when one of them was sick.  Kind of funny and a bit gross, but it was quite helpful.

I bathe mine about every 3 months or so. They dont play in the mud or anything though, it's hard enough to get them to go outside in the rain to pee. LOL
 
Call me crazy but Darci's feet smell like doritios.......

Probably around 4 times a year, just when he gets really dirty like during thaw.  I use Lush Freeze body gel on him, my thought is if it's good for me it can't be that bad for him, plus I really like the smell Aloe and Peppermint.  Of course they no longer make it and I just ran out, so. . . 
 

We give Kobi a bath whenever we feel he gets gross dirty.  And since we spend a lot of time at dog parks, we bath him at least once a week, sometimes two. Those places are so nasty and kobi likes to roll around.  Then he likes to roll around in the house. So...bath it is....
 
He does have bad dandruff, so we are going to try and tone it down a bit.

ORIGINAL: glenmar

Ya know, everyone does what they feel is right, but I didn't bath my cockers, who were also in full coat, except their ears, that often. It was typically every 6-8 weeks, but only when they NEEDED a bath. I truely do think that often a good brushing daily will accomplish the same thing.

Hear hear! A good brushing does loads of good things. I think it's lots better bonding with a dog than giving them a bath. I'm sure they like being brushed a lot more than being sudsed up, LOL.

And my dogs always cleaned themselves. Don't your dogs do that? Sofia, Hunter, Stevie...they are/were always very clean dogs. Maybe I'm just lucky? Stevie was very very clean until the day he died at age (somewhere around) 17 or 18. And he was arthritic and had cancer. I'd help him wash his face, he did the rest.

Maybe I have just had dogs with more natural instinct left intact?

I think frequent bathing actually makes the dog get dirtier and smell worse-- same thing with horses. The horses that only get bathed twice a year are so easy to groom and polish to shiny perfection; the poor show-horses who get bathed every week, well, they tend to get stained and have dull coats. The coat oils that repel dirt get stripped out every bath, the skin dries out, the dog compensates by cranking up oil production. A good brushing can remove most dirt. White animals should return to being white after brushing, unless they somehow managed to stain themselves.

You don't get much whiter than a white german shepherd.  And Sheba absolutely HATES a bath, but she loves being brushed.  They all got baths on Saturday.....boy, THAT was a chore....and honestly?  Sheba is no whiter AFTER a bath than she was before.

Each dog breed and type of hair is different. I would never go more that one week and expect Trudys long coat to be free of tangles. Makes brushing harder. Clean hair is easy to comb.  It looks like we all do what each dog needs.

And my dogs always cleaned themselves. Don't your dogs do that? Sofia, Hunter, Stevie...they are/were always very clean dogs. Maybe I'm just lucky?
 
Russell does clean himself. He's very good at getting burrs and sticks and whatnot out of his fur. Mud in the leg hair is another story though... I've given him baths where the water in the tub looked like black tea. [sm=eek.gif] Before his most recent bath he managed to get into some mystery substance that was almost exactly like rubber cement. It dried into nasty crust and then in the bath it reactivated to become a boogery glue again. WTF??? [:'(]

I wash my greyhounds 1-2 times a month, they usually don't need it that often, but I love to cuddle up next to a clean doggie!  [] 
 
We take ours a do-it yourself doggie wash since our tub will not suffice and my FAVORITE shampoo to use is called AVODERM by breeders choice (I get mine at Petco). Excellent shampoo in my opinion!  I have also used equine shampoos in the past and had good luck with those.
 
I HAVE A SUGGESTION FOR ANYONE WHO HAS PROBLEMS WASHING THEIR DOGS FACES!!  []
 
One of my local area do it yourself dog washes has come up with a fantastic product because they noticed that most owners didn't wash their dogs faces because the pups didn't like it! They created this soap free(so it is tearless) facial scrub and as part of the service, they will give your doggie a wonderful face, ear and neck massage with this stuff  and it sits on your pups face for a few minutes while you wash the rest of the body. The doggies smell like fresh blueberries and it works so well! The pups don't seem to mind it either (especially if you give a  nice face massage!).   
JJ doesn't ever clean his face after eating so he gets lots of food "crusties"!   [:'(]   They sell this stuff in their store so I just buy it and use it at home every week.   If your dog doesn't let you get his face clean, you may want to consider this stuff!  Below is the info about it.     [linkhttp://www.southbark.com/SBwebdoc.pdf]http://www.southbark.com/SBwebdoc.pdf[/link]
 
 
 

I don't give them a bath all that often. In the winter I usually don't  at all, unless Cassidy rolls in something and she's going to be going somewhere the next day ( that's only happened once) . They only get baths a couple times during the summer. I just gave Cassidy and Mirelle a bath a couple days ago, and I always use the kiddie pool outside in warm weather, but I have used the bathroom inside if I have to. I'm not real picky about what shampoo I use; I have several different kinds right now, and I use whatever smell I like best[]

the only time my dog ever gets a bath is when he rolls in turkey poop and he only does this while visiting grandma, otherwise he would pretty much never get one because he is a shorter haired dog that doesnt really get too dirty. the only shampoo i ever use on him is baby shampoo, for some reason im just real weary about dog shampoo. the baby stuff seems to make him real soft too.