dog bathing

[louisecheese]

i have a rather large dog who tends to get smelly rather fast. Does anybody know how often i can bath him without it damaging him?

[woofgang]

I just posted an answer to this but when i hit the submit button, it vanished...is it me?

[woofgang]

Second try. Contrary to what most dogs believe, no it won't hurt the dog provided that he is not expected to live, sleep work outside in all weathers (bathing strips natural oils from coat), please check that there is nothing actually wrong, eg ear infection, anal gland probs. Extra brushing with clean tools can control smell, as can those dog wipes you get in pet shops and supermarkets. Some of the cheaper dogfoods can make a dog smelly all over, not just breath so check diet. If you bathe in the garden please remember that hose water is COLD luke warm from a bucket will be tolerated better. If your dog is an oldie please keep him/ her warm while drying off. All of our dogs (weimaraners) have been fond of rolling in **** and have been bathed as often as tthree days on the trot with no ill effects (to the dog, I was knackered and my car stank) If you are bathing frequently (and the dog) use a gentle shampoo, I use aveda on ours, used dog shampoo once and the poor dog got a horrible rash

[Toglet]

Maybe you need to change his food if his coat gets smelly (greasy skin). Otherwise if you baththem too often the skin goes into overtime to replace the lost grease and you end up worse off than before! What are you feeding him?

[louisecheese]

he has beta complete dry food, he's only 18 months old and he's healthy, but the smell he gets is like a cheesy feet smell. Not very pleasant! I do bathe him indoors, he has a great fear of the hosepipe outside and he loves to sit in the bath! I got him in November last year and as of yet he hasn't stopped moulting. Do you think this could be anything to do with it?

[woofgang]

That cheesy feet smell rings a bell. One of ours had a sebbhorroeic (not sure of spelling) dermatitis on his back once caused him to moult and get greasy over his back and the smell was like feet. The vet said it was probably an allergy and treated it with medicated shampoo. As we were living in the US at the time and went home soon after, he never got it back but I do remember that smell. I'm sure that you have been to the vet but thought I'd mention it

[FredPuli]

There's only one thing to remember when bathing a dog , apart from try not to bother as the little B only goes rolling in muck to remove the 'clean smell'. Leave the ears and ear leathers ( the floppy 'ears' on some breeds) until last. Reason? It's wet ears that make the dog shake its head and then the rest of it so vigorously. It's bad enough getting wet at the end of the bathing without a free shower at the start !