# Bathing Question



## neal_is_king (Feb 1, 2015)

Hi all.

Having gone my entire life with basically no allergies whatsoever, I am for the first time dealing with really bad seasonal allergies. At least I hope they're seasonal. According to testing I had done, I'm pretty allergic to grass. I'm quickly learning the truth of that old adage, that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, as none of the cures I've tried work terribly well for me, or at least not without substantial side effects.

So with that in mind, I'm looking at what's bringing grass inside my home and it pretty much comes down to my feet and my beautiful, sweet, kind, amazing best friend, half human, half golden retriever, Amy. For the past month or so I've been wiping her down with a wet cloth at the end of the day to remove whatever grass pollen I might be able to, but it's not making a noticeable difference. Pre-COVID she was bathed and groomed monthly, more recently it's more like every other month.

I plan to try bathing her on my own once a week. I wanted to ask you all, is that too often? Is there some kind of a shampoo I can use that's gentler on her skin that would work best for that weekly frequency? I once worked with a guy who lived on a boat and his golden was in and out of the Pacific daily. Something went haywire with his skin or natural oil secretions or something, and he always kind of smelled bad and felt oily despite being clean somehow. I'm looking to avoid that or any other ill effect of frequent washing.

Any thoughts?


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## Dunmar (Apr 15, 2020)

Finding a good moisturizing shampoo will be crucial and completely drying him to avoid hot spots.
Have you considered wipes? Maybe just hosing him down and bathing every other week?


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## Ffcmm (May 4, 2016)

I'm in Singapore and its pretty humid here but my dogs shower weekly and have no issues. I do dry them well with a pet blower of course, i think thats the most important.


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## neal_is_king (Feb 1, 2015)

Dunmar said:


> Finding a good moisturizing shampoo will be crucial and completely drying him to avoid hot spots.
> Have you considered wipes? Maybe just hosing him down and bathing every other week?


What are wipes? Moisturizing shampoo sounds like what I'm looking for, do you have a recommendation? Currently I use Burts Bees tearless shampoo for puppies. I'm in no way set on using it; she's 6 and I didn't realize it was for puppies when I bought it. 

Every other week for a bath is a good idea, I will try that first with thorough wetting in between, thanks!


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## neal_is_king (Feb 1, 2015)

Ffcmm said:


> I'm in Singapore and its pretty humid here but my dogs shower weekly and have no issues. I do dry them well with a pet blower of course, i think thats the most important.


Awesome, I had never heard of such a thing but having gone through about 5 towels today I will definitely get one. Do you suppose there's much of a difference between them?


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## Prism Goldens (May 27, 2011)

Drying properly is more important to not having skin issues than frequency of bathing. My dogs are all bathed weekly, puppies more often if they have been naughty and dug a hole or whatnot... there is a thread by SoCal on dryers this month- check that.


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## Ontariodogsitter (Feb 23, 2020)

Brushing after every outing and wiping feet with a damp dish cloth may go a long way towards keeping grass and seeds out of the house.
Good vacuum cleaner helps too.


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## Maggie'sVoice (Apr 4, 2018)

As long as you get a soap or detergent free shampoo like Tropiclean or similar, you wont strip the oils off the skin and coat like you would a reg shampoo. That is the big issue with bathing weekly is the constant heavy removal of the oils.

I bathe my golden weekly without any issues of drying the skin and coat out. I also use a pet dryer to get them dry, that is very important, not hot air though


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## tikiandme (May 16, 2010)

Two good shampoos to try are Hylyt and Veterinary Formula Clinical Care. They are both hypoallergenic. Hylyt is also moisturizing. Both available on Chewy.com. I dilute with water about 1 part shampoo, 8 parts water.....


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