Dog Care Includes Bathing - Unfortunately

Giving your dog proper care includes bathing.  With most dogs, this is no picnic.  In our home it’s slightly easier with our sunken bathtub as the dogs have a much harder time getting out.  Ideally, using your bathtub or your backyard would be your best options.  Make sure if you’re in the bathroom to have a bucket or a bowl to help with rinsing because your dog most likely won’t cooperate.

To bathe our Keeshond (a VERY long and abundantly haired breed) is a very long process.  I tend to do it in steps.  An important point to note – with both the shampoo and conditioner, make sure it’s designed for dogs.  Using human grade is NOT a good idea, and can be quite bad for your dog’s skin and fur.  I start by wetting his head and neck and wash that.  I then go down the back and wash that.  I end with belly.  Then I thoroughly rinse (a fun part in itself) and often rinse again just to be sure.

Next step in the bathing process is applying conditioner, just like you would do to your own hair.  It’s not necessary for all breeds obviously; our Shar-pei’s fur is so short that there’s no need to.  Read the directions on the bottle for the length of time to leave the conditioner on.  I try to do it as long as possible – meaning as long as the dog will let me.  Of course the next step is to thoroughly rinse again.

Then the drying process begins.  I usually go through a few towels at this point, and the Keeshond is never dry at the end of it.  If it’s chilly out, I wait till he’s at least 75% dry before letting him outside.  It’s not difficult to bathe your dog, just time consuming.  And expect to get soaking wet yourself, if from nothing else when the dog gets out of the bath they will shake themselves silly!

If you need to pick up some dog care bathing supplies, visit our Dog Supplies page for links to stores with the best prices online!