How Often Does My Dog Need a Bath?
Do you ever enter your home and notice a slight dog scent? Maybe it is time to give your dog a bath.
If you are wondering how often your dog needs a bath, then you have come to the right place.
Typically, the frequency of baths depends on your dog’s coat structure. Keep reading to find out how often you should bathe your dog based on their coat type.
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Reasons to Bathe Your Dog
Your dog has developed a smell.
Your dog looks dirty.
Your dog is shedding.
Your dog has parasites.
Puppies might need more regular baths because they are still being house-trained.
How often do you need to bathe your dog based on their coat?
If your dog has no parasites and doesn’t smell or look dirty, the frequency of baths depends on your dog’s coat type. These recommendations are based on adult dogs since most puppies might step in their own excreted matter, like urine or feces, and need a bath more often.
Short Coats
Short-coated breeds like Doberman Pinschers, French Bulldogs, German Shorthaired Pointers, Dachshunds, and American Staffordshire Terriers, among others, have rather oily coats and require frequent baths. It is recommended to bathe your dog once every two weeks to prevent skin infections. Since these breeds constantly lose hair, their skin is prone to absorbing bacteria from the loose hair in their coat.
Long Coats
Long-coated breeds include larger dogs like Bearded Collies and Bernese Mountain Dogs, as well as smaller breeds like Shih Tzus, Havanese, Yorkshire Terriers, and Maltese. Oils and debris stick easily to their soft coats due to the structure of their hair. These breeds need frequent baths to ensure healthy skin and clean fur. You should bathe long-coated breeds every 3 to 8 weeks. Due to the frequency of needed baths, these breeds tend to be high maintenance compared to others.
Wire-haired Coats
Breeds with a rough, bristly hair structure include Affenpinschers, Airedales, Wire Hair Fox Terriers, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons, Schnauzers (Miniature, Giant, Standard), Wirehaired Dachshunds, and several terrier breeds, among others. These breeds are considered high maintenance due to the need for stripping or trimming of their coats. Bathing recommendations for these breeds range from once a week to once every 12 weeks.
Double Coats
Double-coated dogs, like Australian Shepherds, Newfoundlands, Shetland Sheepdogs, Pomeranians, Shiba Inus, and Akita Inus, shed their undercoat twice a year.
Their coats naturally repel dirt and typically do not smell. These breeds shed unnecessary skin cells and dirt by losing their loose fur. It is helpful to bathe your dog during their shedding season. The bath will help to loosen excess fur and make the shedding period go by quicker. Since double-coated breeds typically shed twice a year, two baths per year are sufficient for their hygiene. In no instance should you shave off their coat. Their fur has a natural self-cleaning process, and shaving it can cause more harm than good.
This is my dog Luke after digging out our sprinkler. He definitely needed a bath afterwards!
If you would like to find out how to bathe your dog, click here to read about it.
Sometimes a good brush with a comb can help clean your dog’s coat and remove some of the smell and dirt.
The frequency of baths also depends on your individual dog. Every dog is different, and some dogs might need more or fewer baths than recommended.
Happy bathing!
