How Often do you Bathe your dogs??

I am also a outlier I think! We bath about every 2 weeks (Sometimes every 3 if shows/trials fall on the 2 week mark).

You wouldn't think chihuahuas would get that dirty, but they love mud and snow and anything to make you icky - all terrain Idaho chihuahuas I guess! Angus and rightfully followed suit and loves mud and dirt so much.

As a side note the kitties also get bathed at the same time two....bath day is a big day in our house! :lol:
 
Ok so, this is going to sound bad, but I bathe my 9 year old sheltie about 2-3 times a year. She does not have an undercoat really at all. We jokingly call her a short-haired sheltie because in reality, that is what she is. She does shed a lot though, so I brush her about 3 times a week with all of them lasting probably 30 minutes. I do her paw hairs every two months or so and her nails every other week (she doesn't like it, so I just do a little over the course of time). With the puppy I'm getting, I am sure will be a lot more since he should have a full fluffy coat when older.
 
There is truly no rule of thumb. It depends on your dog's coat and your dog's activity level and what products you use, and your environment.

Bottom line....if the dog stinks, feels sticky or is tracking dirt everywhere, then bath! I think most dogs do fine with 4 times per year, with feet and bum wipes periodically. But if you need need to bath more often (e.g. more than once per month please make sure you use a super gentle shampoo else you will strip the essential oils from their skin).
 
Chauncey was groomed last week, I paid 69 to have a deshedding grooming and his tail looks like steel wool and I cant get a brush through it, ( think someone at the groomer forgot it?) he doesnt really like to be brushed, he runs when he sees the brush and looks like he is going to nip at me through out it. My question is should he have the doggie smell so strongly already. My neighbor who has a "mini" sheltie says she doesnt smell it but I think he kinda stinks, have since day I picked him up.
Is there something that I can put in the water bottle when brushing that would make him smell cleaner? He comes out of his kennel and I feel the kennel needs washed again and only 2nd night he slept in it.
 
Internette said:
Chauncey was groomed last week, I paid 69 to have a deshedding grooming and his tail looks like steel wool and I cant get a brush through it, ( think someone at the groomer forgot it?) he doesnt really like to be brushed, he runs when he sees the brush and looks like he is going to nip at me through out it. My question is should he have the doggie smell so strongly already. My neighbor who has a "mini" sheltie says she doesnt smell it but I think he kinda stinks, have since day I picked him up.
Is there something that I can put in the water bottle when brushing that would make him smell cleaner? He comes out of his kennel and I feel the kennel needs washed again and only 2nd night he slept in it.
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several things..one that irks me, no such thing as a "mini" sheltie...its an undersize, runt..etc...ok now that ive got that off my chest:wink2: I will continue on.

Have you had his thyroid checked? Not sure how old he is..also you may want to have him vetted could be a fungal infection causing the "stink".

As far as brushing dropping him off the groomer and expecting them to give a through job is not going to happen when you said he likes to nip while being groomed...You need to work on brushing him and get him used to be handled and groomed. There is no exception. I can tell you no groomer will continue on while being nipped at. You are not going to get a good grooming job no matter where you go until he knows that nipping is NOT and will NOT be tolerated.
 
Thanks
I know there isnt such a thing as a mini sheltie, where I live the owners came to tell me all about shelties and theirs was a mini and the breeder was finding him a mate etc.( that was the intention of my ( ) adding on the word,) as I find it humorous someone feels the need to title it as such to me or that they paid a breeder for a mixed breed. He assumed I had never seen a sheltie or knew anything and told me about their intelligence and how his can go off leash and never run away and so on. I just smiled and didn't argue. Where I live there is a small cliche and they are in the "group" and I dont argue to prevent being an outcast. I cringed while he talked about off leash and they took him off to show me he will run home and I was suppose to watch how he never runs away but runs to his yard.
He didnt nip the groomer, he stood on the table and was good, then we left then came back and watched the feet trimming and ear trimming. The girl said she thought he was wonderful and had been used to grooming and told me she could tell he had been groomed previously by the condition of his feet but he was matted underneath the belly.
When I brush him he doesnt nip so much as looked back annoyed and has pushed me away with his muzzle, I am unsure and think it looks like he is going to nip me, but he has not nipped once. I just kinda feel nervous, which I realize I am and it doesnt help him. I am really new at grooming and he has so so much fur. I get the rake stuck in his fur and have pulled on some knots. I realize I am really bad at this and he doesnt like me brushing him so much now, he kinda goes the other way when he sees me with the brush. I have to admit I really screwed up and forgot about the water bottle, so I think he knows I suck at this and I should leave him alone. But his tail looks like steel wool. I saw a sheltie at a dog park we went to last night and she had a silky tail like her coat and I knew then his tail shouldn't look all kinky. But his smell is like a dog in the rain and I kinda thought the bath would last longer. Is there something I can put in the water spritzer to make him smell nice in between baths?
 
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Back to the bathing regime.....Even during the muddy season, I don't bath my dogs more than normal. I find that if I towel them down or in in extreme cases, hose them down and towel dry them then they are good to go. No bath required. The mud just seems to flake off without shampoo.

A full bath in my opinion is only required a few times per year. Anything more and your are stripping the coat of moisture. If you do bathe more often, make sure that you also brush regularly to help distribute oils.
 
Therae are lots of grooming sprays out there. My favourite is the Spa line by Troplicean. They have a "man scent' to die for!!!

That being said, as was already posted, if you have funky smell even after bath, them definitely time to look into thyroid.

My boy is hypo thyroid. In the last 6 months he went from smelling funky to losing his entire undercoat on his trunk. His skins is flaking off constantly. This disease is no joke. Shelties are in the top 10 for having this. I won't go into the symptoms again. It's already posted.
 
Internette said:
Chauncey was groomed last week, I paid 69 to have a deshedding grooming and his tail looks like steel wool and I cant get a brush through it, ( think someone at the groomer forgot it?) he doesnt really like to be brushed, he runs when he sees the brush and looks like he is going to nip at me through out it. My question is should he have the doggie smell so strongly already. My neighbor who has a "mini" sheltie says she doesnt smell it but I think he kinda stinks, have since day I picked him up.
Is there something that I can put in the water bottle when brushing that would make him smell cleaner? He comes out of his kennel and I feel the kennel needs washed again and only 2nd night he slept in it.
Click to expand...

Internette, your story sounds exactly the same as the one I have with my rescued sheltie Mia. When we first rescued her, she was barely 19 lbs and was shaved with a 0" cut due to bad matted fur full of her own faeces (puppy mill rescue). She also came with a bad stench. We took to bathing her biweekly because initially I thought it was all the walking around in the rain that did it (Oregon, sheesh).

But I figured it was just her after a while! I give my cats Nutra oil to help with their thick coats, and I had just started giving Mia that too when we first got her. After about a month of double the daily dosage (to help with the weight and other issues as well) her stink just dissipated, and in another couple of weeks it went away almost completely.

Maybe consider adding a pump of fish oil to Chauncey's food? I like to add it to 2 tablespoons of wet food for Mia. Maybe that would help :)
 
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