Please Don't Bathe Your Dog

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We live in a small house in the woods. Our great room is the heart of our home, where everything except cooking and bathing is done. The room is so large that my husband and I have our offices, our tv and conversation area, and yes, our bed. When my husband suggested that, I thought he had lost his mind. Now I love it. And all four dogs spend their time in this room too, where their food, water, and beds are found.

My friend asked me why my house doesn't smell like "dogs". After all, I have four rather large ones and we tend to stay in one room. My friend also knows that I am not a fantastic housekeeper. I take my dogs for walks in the woods and for swims in our lake. They find all sorts of things on our excursions.

So she asks "Why don't your dogs smell like dogs? Why doesn't your house smell like dogs?"

My answer surprised her. "I seldom bathe my dogs." She was incredulous. I was serious.

I learned that rule from the breeder who sold me Virginia Jane. She is three years old and has had three baths: one when I brought her home, and one after each litter delivery. By bathing dogs regularly, you are actually doing them a disservice. Most dogs, especially those with undercoats, have a protective layer of oils since they spend time in the water. Regular bathing dissolves the oils and continued bathing eliminates them. Then the dog smells. Then, just like all of us, when your pooch gets dirty or enough time has passed, its skin smells and its fur has a distinctive odor that only gets worse.

When my dogs come home muddy from a romp, I might use the hose to get some of the mud off. Then I let them dry and brush them thoroughly. That's all it takes to have a clean-smelling dog. Brush your dog regularly to brush out anything that doesn't belong there.

Charlie Joe is three and a half years old and has been bathed twice. Once when we brought him home and once when he had rolled into something that could not be eliminated with brushing alone. When you do need to wash your dog, I recommend the new product RapidBath. It makes bathing easy and eliminates any mess.

After I learned about the bathing issue, I decided not to bathe our eldest dog. At that time she was nine.  We had always bathed her regularly. When we stopped, she started having an unpleasant smell. At first, brushing alone did not help  So I gave her sponge baths using very  mild soaps. I became impatient at times but stuck with it. Now Gracie is twelve years old and hasn't had a bath since last summer. 

I recommend this to all the buyers of our puppies. I don't know if any of them take me seriously. But it has been great for me and my dogs. They hate to get baths and I hate to give them.

When you do bathe your dog, make it easy with RapidBath (no, I get nothing for this suggestion. I just like to pass along dog stuff I like). To see how easy it is to use, check out the youtube video at the start of this post.