Too Much Bathing Can Be Bad For Dogs

Frequent bathing is bad for dogs and possibly fatal for puppies. A young puppy born during winter months is going to get messy and your temptation is to bathe it. Don't!

Pups get chilled very easily and puppy chills tend to lead to illness and debilitation. During inclement weather brush puppy a lot and maybe do some spot cleaning. But hold off on bathing until puppy is older and the weather warmer. The more heavily coated puppy is the longer it's going to take to get them dry.

Bathing destroys the natural oils on a dogs skin and dries the coat out. Ensure that you have the correct shampoo & conditioner for your dogs coat. Sometimes, if a dog is losing a lot of coat, a bath will speed up the moulting process, though you will be faced with drifts of dog hair for a couple of days after the bath.

Teaching your puppy about bath time is important. The water should be little more than lukewarm and it should be shallow enough that puppy isn't afraid of drowning. Good footing in the bathtub or sink is important so puppy isn't afraid of falling. If your bathtub doesn't have non-skid strips, get some and apply them. Your manner throughout the process needs to be reassuringly cheerful; this is a new experience for puppy and one that's potentially threatening. Be careful not to get soap in the puppy's eyes and don't deluge it's ears with water.