# How often should I give my puppy a bath?



## nolefan (Nov 6, 2009)

Give him a bath when he gets dirty, puppies don't really smell bad. If you keep your puppy as an indoor dog he should stay relatively clean. Sometimes paws get muddy and need dipped in a bucket of water and towel dried. The adult dogs do well if you keep long hair trimmed around the pads of their feet and neatly around toes, keeps them from tracking dirt in quite as much. Adult dogs might need once a month or so if they hike or swim during summer. Use the search feature and you can bring up previous threads on shampoo people like best. I like Earthbath Mango tango for a puppy but use Pantene 2 in 1 for my collie and Golden.


----------



## FUReverGolden (Nov 24, 2021)

Three Goldens...…My husband was obsessed with bathing our first (40 years ago) that he got a bath every Saturday. I totally agree with @nolefan 100%. Our first developed dry and seborrheic skin issues, we were probably drying out his natural oils. Our second and third only got baths if they rolled in something really stinky or they felt super dingy. I would say they could go without a bath for 6 to 8 weeks or more depending on the time of year. Having said that - I believe they need frequent brushing and watch their ears and nails. But their magnificent coats do not need the constant bathing some people think. Our last two boys were never stinky and had the most beautiful glorious shinny golden coats. We use natural "non-soap" shampoos, like oatmeal. Hope this clarifies.


----------



## nolefan (Nov 6, 2009)

FUReverGolden said:


> Three Goldens...…My husband was obsessed with bathing our first (40 years ago) that he got a bath every Saturday. I totally agree with @nolefan 100%. Our first developed dry and seborrheic skin issues, *we were probably drying out his natural oils*. ...Our last two boys were never stinky and had the most beautiful glorious shinny golden coats. We use natural "non-soap" shampoos, like oatmeal. Hope this clarifies.


Great post! I'm so glad you made this point - over washing is really not good for their skin. And ear cleaner is important - once ever two weeks or so, nails tipped once a week. Quick daily brush with treats. Train while they're little to accept this before they are too big.


----------



## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

Bathe as often as needed. That could be weekly. Could be every other week. Could be monthly...

Most pet goldens are not bathed often enough and experience the complete opposite of what is described above - especially if neutered or spayed. They have excess oils (ie seborrhea).

Bathing your dog frequently and just towel drying - and letting the dogs go sleep on their beddings right after causes yeast/bacteria growth on the dogs + on their beds. Which may definitely cause skin problems.

Other thing that will cause skin issues with an adult golden with a full coat is lack of grooming. This breed is NOT like rough collies or similar breeds where you can brush the dogs every day and not get down to the skin where the mats form. Thankfully goldens are easier keepers! But they do grow excess chunky fur around their necks, behind and under their ears and of course their feet get super hairy. And of course any time they shake, all loose hair travels down to collect around their butts. All these areas if allowed to have very thick fur will grow yeast and other gunk, especially if the dogs are normal goldens and jumping into the swimming pool or the lake quite often in summer. It's a reason why dogs may get a lot of ear infections - and the more ear infections they get, the more scar tissue forms in the ear and makes them more prone to ear infections. Or that's basically my understanding?

Your golden's breeder if they are up and up and involved with the breed will know how the dogs should be groomed - and that's a start if you want to do all this yourself.

Most people who are bathing their dogs on a weekly basis or like say 3 times a week if doing a show cluster, the dogs do not get off the grooming table unless they are completely dry to the skin. And typically moisture is added back to the coat. <= To do all that, you have to stock up on appropriate supplies. My list is below -











The above is a lot to spend and it takes experience to do it right. Basically lot of people just want their dogs to look nice - which case, you have to take the dogs to a groomer - and hopefully one that knows how to groom goldens vs whipping clippers out and following "patterns" from a how to book. 

I just pointed all that out as a sort of explanation as to why some people have problems when bathing the dogs weekly. There's a lot that goes into taking care of the coat and skin - and having all the right supplies.

Weekly baths are NOT going to work out if you do not have a dryer, the dog has a lot of untrimmed coat, and you are over your head in fur coming off that dog in clumps no matter how often you brush....  The dryer aside from getting a coat dry under 1/2 hour, also is a huge help for removing all the loose hair that's stuck in there because of static cling.

A dog that's not been bathed in a month or two - when they are bathed and dried, the tub is full of seaweedy clumps of fur and drying the coats you have a cloud of fur coming off the dogs. 

Dogs bathed/dried more frequently - you have less fur coming off, etc.


----------



## tobygraciemaddie (Jan 9, 2022)

Thank you for the help!!


----------

