Hi

Buffy (Lab) is now 9 weeks old and i want her to happy having a bath. She had one 2 weeks ago which went fine although she did try to get out when i started to rinse her off. Hoe often should i bath her so that she will be happy as an adult to have one?

Also she is a full lab but the women who breed her couldnt register the litter, somthing to do with the bitch being under 12 months when she got pregnant, is she still classed as a pedigree? I don't care but the insurance company wanted to know and i wasnt sure what to tell them. So i told them that she was a pedigree without papers, they seemed happy with this.

Thanks
Debbie

Insurance wise you should be fine... a dog can be pure bred without KC paperwork... a long old argument this one, so Ill not elaborate! lol! But you will be fine with your insurance.
I would not really bath a dog at all unless it was stinky in the extreme! To many baths can strip the coat of its natural oils, and create skin problems.
I think the only time I have bathed my staffs is when the foul little swines have rolled in fox muck!
if you want to get her used to a bath should she ever need one, Id just go thru the motions every few weeks or so with plain water, no suds. Make it fun with lots of praise, and keep calm and relaxed, if you flap and screech when you get splashed etc it will wind her up and make her nervy of the proceedure. gotta be like water of a ducks back, excusing the pun!
You could also get her in a kids paddling pool etc, to get her used to being in a confined space of water, but I suspect not liking water wont be a problem with a Lab!

In fact the kids paddling pool is the main reason we want her to be happy in water/baths. The kids cant wait to have a water fight with her in the summer and i think that if we leave it till then it may frigten her, 4 kids running around screaming and spraying water at her. lol

Debbie

Hi Debbie,
As long as both her parents were purebred labradors, then so is she. Whether she is KC registered is neither here nor there.

Re the bathing - generally, as little as possible! Too much bathing, especially with shampoos, can cause skin and coat problems.
:)

Both of her parents are kc reg, just the litter couldnt be reg because of the bitches age. I think that she was very young to be breeding, 11 months when she got pregnant.
I didnt really mind if she was registered or not, we wanted a pet.
Although i have come under fire by a few family members over the price we paid for her. The family members that have had a moan have said that they wouldnt pay that much for a lab without papers and that we paid the same as them and their dogs have papers ect ect.

All i say to them is that my lab is better looking and better behaved. (We never talk about her bad points, hehe)

Debbie

Saffy HATES baths - you only have to mention the 'B' word and she runs downstairs and hides.  However, she loves the hosepipe (tries to eat the water), loves the paddling pool (burst the new one this summer), and swims in the local lakes in all weathers (if I let her!).  She even likes it when my boys squirt her with water pistols.  I would just try and get your puppy used to water in other ways - the hosepipe, and lakes (when old enough) and so on.

Fiona

Thanks for all your advice.
I would much rather shower her in the garden anyway if she really really needed a wash.

I cant wait for the summer, will have to make sure that i have planty of repair kits for the paddling pool tho. lol

Debbie