how often can I bath my pup?

[Ty Ty]

My 4 month old boxer seems to get filthy everytime I let him out. he stays inside most of the time so I try to keep him clean, but every time I let him outside for a little while he gets filthy. I have had to bath him almost everyday to keep him clean. Most of the baths I give him I dont use any soap or shampoo unless he just stinks horribly. I just rinse him with water. Ive noticed that his belly, toes and around his mouth have a pink tint latley and i just wanted to make sure I wasnt drying out his skin. Thanks for any input.

 

[suzyqdogsmom]

I might be weird, but SuzyQ is 6 and has never had a bath in her life. I've wiped her feet/legs/underside with a damp washcloth if she's gotten in mud, but never a bath. Now on the other side, she does not like the water and won't go swimming and really doesn't like to go out when it's raining so she doesn't get very dirty. Her exercise is running through fields, the yard and grassy vineyards. She always looks and smells clean to me.

 

[Aasha]

From my experience I would recommend that you bath only every two months or so. Boxers are prone to have skin problems and bathing to much can dry their skin out and irritate them. If your pup insist on getting dirty from playing outside, there are alternatives to clean him and and get him back to smelling good. You can give him a baby wipe bath. Just take some regular baby wipes and rub him down. This will remove dirt on his coat and take away the stinky smells. After you do that just give him a brushing. I do this to Aasha all the time and it works pretty good.

Some more ways you can keep your pup clean between baths are, to make sure to dry him off anytime he gets wet from outside (raining), brushing a couple of times a week to get rid of dead hair on his coat (makes him less stinky) and to use a doggie fragrance spray.

In a way their just like humans. If you keep the dead skin and hair off of them they wont stink.

Hope this helps some. Hugs and Slobbery kisses

 

[Biff]

Buttons needs bathed much more often than Biff ever did. The reason being twofold:-

1/ She is white and the dirt shows up more easily
2/ She is a mucky pup!!!!!


However, I only use shampoo if I really have to. A quick hose down with just warm water usually does the trick

 

[HaiducAgnita]

Haiduc only had 1 bath and he is 13 weeks now. I got a pack of the puppy wipes and we wipe him down with them. He seems to enjoy it and it gets him pretty clean and smelling nice.

 

[Ty Ty]

so will bathing without shampoo still dry his skin out?

 

[LokiLar]

I've bathed Loki once at 11 weeks (he's only 12 weeks now) and he loved it. But before being completly dry he insited on jumping into a dirt hole! haha.

 

[Coco'smommy]

Bathing really often with shampoo can dry their skin out, washing in just warm water wouldn't be as "harsh" as using shampoo everytime so it probably wouldn't happen as quickly. The thing is they have natural oils in their coat that they need, just like your hair needs some.

I think the baby wipes are a fine idea if that can handle the mess. I usually only bathe Coco about once every 8 weeks or so, sometimes a little longer. She really doesn't need one unless we've been down to the farm, then she always comes home stinky. Sometimes after the dog park, she needs a bath cause of all the other dogs yuck & slobber.

 

[DyckDogs]

I have always heard that you should not bathe your dog and use shampoo unless necessary.
They need the natural oils to protect their skin.
I would suggest just using plain water to get any dirt or mud off of them.
We only shampoo our dog once every 3 or 4 months.

 

[daizysmom]

Oh dear! I'm so glad I read this thread..... My poor Daizy has had a bath every week for 4 weeks. She's gonna love it that I'm getting some advice now!