Well the time has come and Breeze is shedding, do you give your dogs a bath when they shed

Also. how often do you give your dogs a bath. Our vet suggested that we should do bath her reguarly to help to prevent hot spots.

Would like to hear your views on bathing.

Depends on definition of bath....

Bath inc hot water, shampoo conditioner etc... as little as possible.

Bath involving hose and friction when required.

Bathing is frequently not good for skin and coat, better is regular and thorough grooming getting right down to the skin. This will remove undercoat, stimulate the skin increasing bloodflow, which improves the skin condition no end, and spreads natural oils through the coat.

Re hot spots I would say Baths, especially if the dog isn't throughly dried in humid weather are more likely to cause them.

My own double coated bred I would only Bath before a major show if I thought they looked grubby (say after prolonged muddy weather) and when shedding.

In practise it will be less than 6 times a year.

My dog knows where some smelly water is :rolleyes: I don't know where it is exactly but she does.  I have to hose her underneath but a couple of days ago I got a bucket of warm water and washed her with some shampoo and gave her a rinsing with the hose. It was much quicker, easier and less messy than plonking her in the bath.

I have taken to bathing mine outside using warm water in a watering can with rose attached., for wetting and rinsing off.

I mix up the shampoo in a water spray bottle and mist it onto the coat which helps get it evenly through the coat.

My Malinois will stop shedding at least twice as fast if bathed just when they start.It removes the dead hair pretty much in one go, and I brush them whilst wet in the bath. It can make a difference of a few weeks. :)

> mix up the shampoo in a water spray bottle and mist it onto the coat which helps get it evenly through the coat

Fantastic tip.  I'm going to try that next time. :)

Yep I found it stops getting concentrated shampoo in some places and it running off the dog before getting into the coat.

That's a very excellent tip! Thanks, Barbara.

As for bathing the dog, as rarely as possible and almost always because he's managed to roll in so much fox poo that there's no alternative. Or, like the other week, when the daft mutt mistook grass cuttings that had fallen into a stream for actual grass and leapt into the spectacularly smelly water!

I mix mine in an old (clean!) fairy liquid bottle.

Will try to remember that one :) :) Thanks ! However bathtime for our two is as infrequent as possible - only if they have got extremely smelly and it is just too cold outside to hose and shampoo them down - once in a blue moon :D :D :D

Daisy

MY GR gets bathed no more than 3 times even less a year He has one just before his goes to discover dogs then if he gets into a pickle (ie the stinky stuff) otherwise I just groom him everyday, however he is a swimmer so always looks quite clean ! But that also adds to element of him shedding his coat more, this last few weeks with all the extra rain I have found it tough to keep on top of the hairs in the house - feel like i have ten of them not ONE