Is it essential to bath my dogs before every show? I ask as I bathed Poppy a couple of days before the last one (our first) and as she has quite a curly coat it didn't lay as well as it usually does, despite me carefully combing it flat as I dried her by the fire (she hates the hairdrier!). I was thinking I could maybe bath her the week before our next show so it has time to settle again but she wouldn't be so stinky. (They like swimming and go in the sea often)  It looks fine on a day to day basis.

I bath mine the day before the show and put on a dry coat which is a netting kind of coat that stops the curls.  It depends on your dog, I have to bath mine because he gets stinky even though he is hosed and shampooed underneath nearly every day and his coat becomes tacky to touch.  If yours is ok then I wouldnt bother bathing - saves a whole load of hassle !

Really depends on the breed.

Often throughout the season I bath feathers only the day before a show and only full bath if really dirty

Vicky

Depends on the breed and the coat. I'd never show a Papillon not newly bathed, but usually only bath the Malinois for shows with CCs on offer -unless you stroke their backs and your hands come away feeling dirty. :) That's how I judge it -how will it feel for the judge when going over them, clean or dirty?

It depends on the breed and coat, but a 'coated breed' in my opinion should almost always be bathed before a show (I do). You just need to get the timing right, one of mind did, so I bathed him a few days earlier.

I always bath the day before a Champ show and put a drying coat on. If an Open show, then as long as not too dirty I just rub the coat through with a wet cloth.