How Often Should I Bathe My Dog Factors To Consider
Generally speaking, a healthy dog with a short, smooth coat and no skin problems doesn’t need to be bathed often. In most cases, dog baths are more for the benefit of their pet parents than for the dogs themselves. Even so, it’s a good idea to bathe your pooch at least once every two to three months. Bathing your dog gives you an excellent opportunity to check them over for signs of skin problems or lumps that could indicate a more serious health issue.
In some cases, though, your dog could benefit from having baths on a more regular basis. Here are several factors to consider when deciding if you should increase your dog bath frequency.
Bathing Tips For Your Golden Retriever
Its a good idea to introduce baths to your Golden as soon as possible. If you have a new puppy, you should start baths at six weeks of age. Early on, these baths can even be fake baths so to speak. Just run some water on them, so they grow accustomed to the process and learn to enjoy their bath time routine.
Its also important to note that you should praise and reward your dog during and after a bath. So, I say after a successful and well-behaved bath time routine, that your pup be rewarded with a treat or two!
I also highly recommend giving them lots of snuggles and play time after their bath as this will help them relieve the stress they had before or during this event. In time, your Golden Retriever may even come to look forward to bath time!
Bathing A Golden Retriever
Do you need a bathing schedule for your Golden Retriever? You really do not need a bathing schedule for your golden retriever, and even if you have one, you probably wont stick to it.
Why? Because Goldens are, and I say this with love, messy animals. My Golden retriever will go willingly into a mud puddle which means I now have to clean my schedule and give them a bath once we get home.
This means I never, not even for a month, was able to stick to the bathing schedule, and believe me I have tried. I have found that keeping things simple is the best solution just bathe them when they need it.
If you have the golden retriever that doesnt get themselves suddenly dirty by jumping in the mud, first off congratulations, and secondly, giving them baths every 6 weeks should be more than enough.
You May Like: How To Take Care Of Golden Retriever Newborn Puppies
Where Is The Best Place To Bath Your Golden Retriever
Where to should you bath your Golden? It is an important question because if you do it in the house or apartment, you could end up with wet paw prints racing through the house and on the furniture.
Maybe you already have your Golden accustomed to baths and you are not worried about her bolting for another location.
If that is the case, then great job. Keep it up.
On the other hand, I know that if my dog gets out and runs through the house leaving behind her a trail of soap suds and dirty paw prints, I know how much trouble I will be in.
I would rather not risk it. So, I simply set up somewhere that, if my dog does break loose, I dont have to worry about what my wife is thinking.
There are two places that I like to go.
The first one is an actual doggy wash near my home. This one might be the best because there are leashes that keep her where I need her in order to vacuum out her hair.
If you cant get to an official doggy wash, then try your backyard with a hose, or, better yet, a swimming pool
This will keep your dog cool in the summer months. Additionally, when she gets used to the pool, she will be easier to bath.
When Is The Best Time To Groom A Golden Retriever
Actually for show grooming, I prefer trimming the dog before bathing, then doing any touch-up work after the bath and blow drying. If you wonder how those show dogs get those nice straight coats.it is from the blow drying.
Heres a quick guide on how to groom a Golden Retriever: Brush your Goldens coat once every week. Bathe your retriever at least once every three months and at most once every two weeks. Trim your Golden Retrievers coat whenever there is overgrown and unkempt fur.
Read Also: How Long Does It Take To Potty Train A Golden Retriever Puppy
Buy The Shampoo And Other Supplies
Use a dog-specific shampoo or baby shampoo to prevent sweats from stinging their eyes. We suggest that you use hypoallergenic and all-natural shampoos to minimize the risk of skin irritation and dryness. Have a rubber or non-stick bath mat ready for the tub prevents them from sliding and slipping too much . Often have cotton balls ready to put gently in their ears to block out the water.
Why Shaving A Golden Retriever Is Bad
While grooming a Golden is a must, there are rarely good reasons for shaving or clipping a Goldens coat. Shaving or significant clipping can be harmful because it now leaves the skin exposed to potential sunburn. Shaving can also bring about hot spots which are very painful to the dog and difficult to heal.
Recommended Reading: Sanitary Trim Golden Retriever
Read Also: Golden Retriever Haircut
How Often To Bathe Your Golden Retriever 5 Tips No One Tells You
Animals in the wild know how to clean themselves very well, and while this is somehow still true with dogs, they do need to take baths every now and then and Goldens are not an exception.
However, due to their unique coats, bathing a golden retriever is more than just hosing them down. But we need to first answer an important question
How often do you need to bathe your Golden Retriever? Golden Retrievers should be bathed only every 6-8 weeks or when needed. Bathing them too often could cause serious harm to their double coat. Daily brushing and regular grooming are crucial to keeping their coats clean and healthy.
Some golden retrievers give their pups baths every couple of weeks, but this is just too often for me, especially in winter, when its cold and giving your dog a bath can do them more harm than good.
Dogs are often good at keeping themselves clean, so the baths main job is to clean their coats.
Now that we have this out of the way, lets really dig deep into the topic, because I think theres more to the discussion than just telling you to not over-bathe your golden retriever to not ruin their beautiful coats because you probably already know that.
Instead, lets do something different like answer those questions you have right now and dont want to ask.
- Find my list of recommendations here.
Why Do Golden Retrievers Have A Double Coat
Golden retrievers are known for their beautiful, long, dense coat. This density is largely due to the fact that they actually have two coats or a double coat. The purpose of the double coat is to trap air between the top coat and undercoat so that your Golden is warm during the cold months and cool in the warm months.
Recommended Reading: Are Golden Retrievers Easy To Potty Train
Golden Retriever Bathing What You Should Know
All dogs need baths, it should be part of their grooming routine but are all dogs the same in how often should they should get a bath?
Do you know the who, what, when, where and whys? For those who have or will be getting a Golden Retriever the answers are important . . .
Not all dogs are alike, and yes, goldens are a special breed who have special needs. Lets look at a few things before getting to all the important stuff!
The WHO – Golden Retrievers are water dogs and are known for their long double coat. They are happy being clean and tidy indoors as well as being wet and dirty outdoors.
WHAT to do? Occasional bathing is going to be necessary to help keep your golden retriever happy and healthy. Bathing your golden should be just another task to check off in the grooming routine you set for your pet.
WHEN to bathe? There are different thoughts on when to bathe your Golden Retriever, but the basis for the different thoughts is this You 100% CAN bath a golden retriever too often. Be careful you are not doing more harm than good by irritating their skin, washing away important oils, and causing painful skin issues down the road.
Its also important to mention here that you should start getting your pup use to a bath early on. The more comfortable they are with the routine, the easier it will be when they are older.
WHY bathe? Every dog needs a bath, its part of a healthy grooming routine and it helps keep them from smelling like a pig pen.
How Should I Bathe My Puppy
Follow these tips on how to bathe a puppy for a bath that will keep you and your puppy happy:
You May Like: What Is The Best Way To Groom A Golden Retriever
What Products Are Best For Bathing Your Dog
These are the products that are generally recommended for bathing:
Pet shampoo: Bathing your dog with a dog shampoo is the best option. If your pup has askin problem, regular shampoo can be uncomfortable, so your veterinarian might give you a special dog wash or puppy shampoo to limit the risk of irritation on your dogs skin.
Puppy shampoo is recommended for any dogs breed or coat, including Boston terrier, Golden retriever, Basset hound, or Dachshund. A thorough, sulfate-free, hypoallergenic bathing shampoo made for puppies and dogs with severe allergies can be recommended.
What Should My Bathing Schedule Be
Plan on giving your Retriever a bath about once every six weeks. Depending on circumstances you may need to hit the suds once each month.
However, some dogs, especially older, less active ones, can get by with scrub downs as infrequently as every 8 weeks, or possibly longer. By
Depending on circumstances you may need to hit the suds once each month. However, some dogs, especially older, less active ones, can get by with scrub downs as infrequently as every 8 weeks, or possibly longer. By
By maintaining good grooming, especially brushing, between baths, youll become familiar with your dogs hair and skin condition and be able to tell if your schedule needs to be adjusted.
Also Check: Classic Heritage Golden Retrievers
How To Tell If A Golden Retriever Is A Good Puppy
1 Personality: Intelligent, friendly, and devoted. 2 Energy Level: Very Active This dog is active and energetic, and needs daily exercise. 3 Good with Children: Yes 4 Good with other Dogs: Yes 5 Shedding: Seasonal 6 Grooming: Occasional 7 Trainability: Eager To Please 8 Height: 23-24 inches , 21.5-22.5 inches
Recent Posts
How Often Should I Take My Goldendoodle To The Groomer
How often you visit the groomer is dependent upon the coat that your Goldendoodle inherits. For Poodle coats, you can probably get away with visiting the groomer three times a year.
For those who inherited the Golden Retriever coat, then the hair will be longer and will require more grooming. Visits should occur around four or five times a year.
While professional grooming is great for sprucing up your Doodle and getting a picture-perfect trim, remember that routine brushing is super important to prevent tiny tangles from morphing into horrific mats.
Head over to this article to see our top recommendations for brushes that work best on Goldendoodles.
Recommended Reading: Best Golden Retriever Breeders California
Incredibly Useful Tips For A Peaceful Bath
Here are the things I havent seen other websites talk much about but that every golden retriever owner should really know about. These will save you a lot of time and energy:
Tire your dog out BEFORE bath time
You want your golden retriever to go into the bath with ZERO energy. No, seriously. Some goldens are too excited by baths and they splash around too much and get shampoo everywhere, including their eyes.
I always take my dog on the longest run I could, give them toys before hand, have someone else play fetch with them, and tire them anyway I can. Only when they are exhausted do I take them to the bath.
Make sure they are as calm as possible
Find out what calms down your dog and do it to make sure they are as calm as possible during the bath. I found out that classical music can really calm down some dogs.
Golden retriever puppies also calm down, you can find out when and how to calm your golden retriever here.
Have someone ready to help at first
At the first few baths, you should have someone else in the house ready to step in and help. The extra hands can do a significant difference. They can help distract the dog while youre doing the rinsing, calm them down, or even make the bath go more quickly.
This is very useful at the first few times of you giving them a bath to get the dog acquainted to the routine.
Shut the bathroom door
You cant imagine how crucial this is. After you get your dog in the bathroom, shut the door immediately. I even lock it with a click .
What Is The Problem With Not Enough Baths
There are a lot of problems that can arise if you dont bath your Golden Retriever enough.
The biggest concern is a problem for youespecially if you keep your Golden Retriever inside. If your dog does not get enough baths, she will probably start to stink and shed even more than normal.
Another problem with not bathing your Golden enough is that her coat will become matted and gross.
Because shedding and smelling are pretty high on peoples YUCK list, the problem when baths is not that owners do them too infrequently. The opposite is usually more likely to be true: PEOPLE TYPICALLY BATH THEIR DOG TOO OFTEN.
Recommended Reading: How Often Should You Groom Your Golden Retriever
How To Bathe Your Golden Retriever
Goldens are energetic dogs, and to have a peaceful time giving them a bath, you need to know what youre doing.
To spare you the troubles of the first couple of baths with your dog, here is what Ive gained through experience over the years by giving my dog baths:
- Always Gather supplies first
Get together everything you will need in the bath in the bathroom first. Thats for two main reasons the first is that you never want to open the bathroom door and get out while youre in there to grab something you forgot you will need.
Trust me your dog will become Bolt and will run out of there in lightning speed.
The second is that you dont want to make the baths take longer time than needed. You want to make sure your baths are as efficient as possible.
- Check the water temperature
The water should be lukewarm so its not too hot or too cold. If its cold outside, your dog must take the bath indoors, but if its warm and your dog is well trained, you can give them the bath outside.
Lukewarm water temperature ranges between 100 and 110 F
- Start with a shampoo rinsefrom the neck down
Start by rinsing your dog with the shampoo. You should start from the neck and go down. Lather everything except for the dogs head and face. Never let shampoo get on their head, so be sure if your dog is too excited and keeps moving around.
- Rinse really well
Leaving shampoo or soap on the dogs skin will get them really irritated and may cause issues if left for long.
- Dry really well
Where Should You Give Your Golden Retriever A Bath
Puppies are usually small enough where they can get baths in the sink or a large bin.
But when they get bigger you can wash them in the tub or shower.
Ive even seen people make grooming stations for their backyard that consists of a raised platform and hooks to attach their collar to, then they just bring over the hose and blow dryer.
You May Like: How To Bathe A Golden Retriever Puppy
Don’t Miss: How To Groom A Golden Retriever At Home