How Often Does a Dog Need to Be Bathed?
Dogs should be bathed as less often as possible and only as often as necessary. In long-haired dogs, it may be useful to bathe them regularly to prevent matting.
You will even probably give the dog sleeping in a bed inside your house a bath from time to time. In a similar manner, it is common for many dogs that visit the dog groomers every few months to be bathed because of their particular coat structure. Still, it is more ideal to bathe the dog only when it is needed. It is inevitable to bathe him when your dog contaminate himself with dirt or feces. On the other hand, it is usually not necessary to bathe the dog if he got only slightly dirty during the daily walk.
SELF-CLEANING OF DOG FUR
The fur of our dogs has some kind of self-cleaning system. The coat of the dogs is covered with an ultra-thin layer of oil, which doesn't allow the dirt to stick to them easily or allows the hairs to fall off relatively quickly. This cleaning system could be observed, particularly in dogs that love to play with the ground, by the accumulation of dried soil, leaf fragments and dirt around their favorite area. After these particles dry out, they completely fall off on their own, and the dog shakes once or twice. If there are still residues in the fur, they can usually be easily combed out. Therefore, you do not need to wash your dog every time he gets dirty.
DANGERS THAT YOU MAY FACE WHEN BATHING YOUR DOG
When it comes into question whether dogs should be bathed and how often they should be bathed, opinions sometimes differ significantly. Many people bathe their dogs almost every week, while others never bathe their dogs. Critics often say that bathing harms the dog's fur. Of course, this can be true if you use the wrong shampoo!
A shampoo made specifically for humans – no matter how minimum and light its ingredients are – can destroy the protective layer of a dog's skin and coat within a few weeks. This is due to the fact that the skin of dogs and humans has different ph values. While this value is about 5.5 for humans, it can be between 7 and 8 depending on the breed of the dog. The difference is quite high. The neutral pH of pure water is 7. Any value below this value is "acidic" and anything above this value is "alkaline". For this reason, the dog and human body react very differently to some products and it is essential to use special dog shampoos to bathe dogs.
PERFECTLY PREPARED
If your dog has rolled over, for example, on a pile of dirt, you have no choice but to bathe him. You should be more prepared for such emergencies, otherwise the bath you give your dog may cause him to suffer a trauma.
It is essential to have an anti-slip rubber mat in the shower or tub. If you do not have such a mat, you can lay a towel instead. We will also use this towel to dry your dog after bathing, a towel of the appropriate size should be ready for your dog. As already mentioned, due to the pH value, be sure to have a special dog shampoo at home. In addition, you can also place a hair sieve over the bathroom drain. Depending on the degree of contamination on your dog, even rubber gloves could make bathing a little more tolerable. If you are worried that your dog would jump out of the tub, you should put him on a collar or have him held by a second person.
DOG BATH
In order to conduct a successful bathing process, you must follow the following steps:
• If there is no reason to hurry, brush your dog's hair once more before entering into the bathroom. This process also allows you to roughly get rid of some dirt. Furthermore, hairs that may get knotted in long-haired dogs could be untied beforehand so that they do not continue getting knotted while bathing. Set the water temperature to such a level that it will be slightly warm and certainly not too hot. Make sure that the water pressure is light and start bathing your dog from his legs. Wet the dog's body afterwards and make sure that no water gets into your dog's eyes and ears. In case of doubt, it may be better not to bathe the dog's head completely and use a damp cloth instead.
• Shampoo the dog with an absolute high quality unscented dog shampoo and make sure you don't get it in his eyes. Bathe your dog thoroughly until all shampoo residues have been rinsed off. You can also bathe your dog with a nourishing dog conditioner, which helps the protective cover of his skin to regenerate faster. Then rinse thoroughly.
• Now dry your dog with a large towel, but avoid drying it rigorously. Drying rigorously may lead to the (long) hairs getting knotted, and in some cases even coming off. Let your dog shake well! The dogs do it to get rid of the water in their fur and probably in their ears.
• It is not so necessary to use a comb and a hairdryer. If you want to do this, be extremely careful when combing your dog and use a wide-toothed comb. The hair dryer should not be at very high heat. If your hairdryer has such a setting, use it at the level of blowing warm air and do not hold it too close to the dog. In summer, your dog's hair also dries completely on its own, and in winter, a warm environment is enough for your dog to dry out. If your dog's hair is still damp in cold weather, you should not take them to go for a walk! It is recommended that dogs with thick coats to be bathed in the evening so that their fur can dry out overnight.
