How often can you wash your dog: recommendations and advice from experts

Caring owners take good care of their pets. They buy food with vitamins for them, try to walk them more often, but they remember the last thing that the dog needs to be washed. And then the question arises: how often can you wash a dog?

How often to bathe a dog

Bathing is the most affordable way to keep your dog clean. In addition, the room begins to become less polluted. But do not be too zealous with this procedure, otherwise the animal can only be harmed. Bathing removes natural oils from your pet’s skin and takes time to regenerate.

Exist three points of view How often should you bathe your pet:

• the dog needs to be washed several times a year;
• the animal should be bathed every 10 days;
• Wash your pet as needed.

Hygiene and bathing

If the dog constantly lives in a booth, then the owners practically do not wash it. And they do it right, because in their natural habitat dogs don’t swim. However, with the onset of severe frosts, the owners let the pet into the house for the night. In this case, it must be washed. Such rare bathing will not bring any harm to the animal, the most important thing is to let it dry before releasing it back into the street.

A dog that lives permanently in an apartment should be washed more oftenbut only if it’s really necessary. After a walk, it is enough to rinse her paws.

Dog walking and grooming

The dog at least once a day, but it is necessary to walk it so that it warms up and goes to the toilet. After that enough rub her paws. Decorative breeds do not need to walk along the street at all, and relieve themselves in a tray.

They should be washed very infrequently. However, it is with these types of dogs that the owners treat them like a toy, they begin to wash and bathe them for no reason. In this case, it is recommended to take it off your hands and take a short walk down the street. The coat of the dog is at least a little, but it will get dirty, and this will justify the subsequent bathing.

In autumn and spring, when the street is muddy and slushy, the dog should be washed as needed. In the summer, this should be done in cases where it is really necessary. These pets are allowed to splash freely in ponds and reservoirs, there will be no harm from this.

In winter, you should also bathe the animal in exceptional cases, otherwise the dog may catch a cold due to wet wool. In addition, the skin, devoid of fatty lubrication, does not save well from the cold. It’s best to have your pet outside a little wipe with freshly fallen snow and let him lie on it. Before returning home, you should simply brush off the remnants of snow from the wool.

It must be remembered that after a winter walk, the paw pads should be thoroughly rinsed, because in winter the streets are often sprinkled with chemicals that accelerate the melting of ice.

Dog breed and hygiene

Almost all breeds of dogs, both smooth and long-haired, are recommended to be washed once or twice a year. The exception is those breeds whose hairline requires special care. They bathe them once a week with the use of special detergents designed for sensitive skin, and which gently affect the hair structure.

They are washed after certain hygiene procedures, for example, after haircut. Breeds that shed very frequently should be bathed as little as possible.

Puppies, like children, often get dirty while walking and should be bathed once a month until they are six months old. The pet should get used to such procedures, and only after that they switch to the general regimen, bathing twice a year or as needed. While the puppy is constantly urinating at home, his should be washed awaybut do not bathe entirely.

old dogs doctors advise washing as little as possible, because the skin and coat become drier with age, and the natural grease is restored for a very long time.

You should also consider the dog’s love for the bathing process. If she loves to splash in the water, you should not follow her lead and wash her as needed, and not to please her.

Particularly worth highlighting such breeds of dogs, the glands of which exude a specific smell. The owners eventually “sniff” and stop paying attention to it, but if strangers come, they will immediately feel it. If you wash your pet every day, this will not solve the problem and will not make the glands work differently, but the animal can be harmed. The way out in this case will be as follows: you should purchase a special mild shampoo and wash the dog once a month.

Bathing rules

The frequency of water procedures depends on how well they were carried out. If everything is done correctly and does not violate veterinary rules, then washing will not cause any trouble to the dog. Therefore, it is necessary adhere to the following recommendations:

1. In the process of bathing, it is necessary to ensure that water and detergent do not get into the eyes, nose and ears of the animal. The water pressure should not be too strong, and it should be directed carefully. The dog’s head must be held. Before bathing puppies, you can put cotton swabs in their ears.
2. An animal may experience negative emotions about the bathing process after water accidentally gets on its head. Therefore, everything possible should be done so that bathing is not associated with fear or coercion. To accustom a puppy to water procedures should be from a very early age.
3. It is forbidden to wash dogs with human shampoos and gels. For them, special detergents are produced that gently cleanse the skin without overdrying it. Also on sale are shampoos and rinses for animals prone to allergies, which often have tangled hair and dandruff. In the most extreme cases, a pet can be washed with a human shampoo for dry and damaged hair.
4. Shampoo before lathering wool should be dissolved in a glass of warm water, and the resulting foam should be applied to the wool.
5. Rinse off the shampoo with warm water, very thoroughly, but not to the point of squeaking.

Conclusion

These recommendations are not accidental, because any wrong action in the process of bathing a dog might scare her and in the future it will be very difficult to get her to go bathing. Even if everything goes well, you should not wash your pet more than once a month.

Too frequent bathing makes the skin very dry, because of this, the sebaceous glands begin to work more intensively, restoring the balance of moisture. As a result, the coat acquires a greasy sheen, the lipid balance is disturbed, and the dog has to be bathed even more often.

Some dog owners advise alternating regular and dry shampoo. But in any case, it must be remembered that the main purpose of bathing the animal is to keep it clean.