Bathing, rinsing.... ?

[gomez]

Gomez has gotten a bath every 3 months or so, when he is really smelly, either by us or the groomer...

He got his latest bath last Thursday and he was lovely, clean, fluffy and shiny!

Saturday we went to the park and he dives into the duck pond, with loads of duck "stuff", green algae, etc... (he had never done this before, but hey, he knows how to swim, so that's a plus!!)

So, we get home and he gets rinsed off in the shower.

Today, Monday, we go to the beach and he gets wet in the sea and then rolls in sand, so he gets a rinsed off again...

My question is, when your dogs go swimming or the sandy beach, do you rinse them off every time? Do you bathe them? Is rinsing often without shampoo often bad for them?

Does their fur have to be completely dry before they go to bed? (Keep in mind Gomez has two layers of fur!)

thanks

[BMDLuver]

lol... sounds like Gomez prefers the "pigpen" look, maybe he's telling you something?

Rinsing doesn't hurt them at all. What would do harm was if you were using soap everytime as that destroys the natural lanolin's in their coat. He's also just fine to have a towel off and dry naturally. Continual blow drying will lead to dry skin.

[Trinitie]

IMO, rinsing your dog will not do damage, as you're not really stripping the oils from the hair. If you use shampoo too often, you can damage the skin and hair by removing benefitial moisturizing oils.

If my dog were swimming with duck "stuff" and rolling in sand, I'd rinse her too!

As far as how dry your dog should be when going to bed, it's up to you really. As long as he's in a draft free area, and won't get a chill, then I don't see the harm. If there's a window open, or a door, causing a breeze, then I would wait until he's completely dry.

[Puppyluv]

When layla was swimming daily in the St Laurence, she got rinsed daily, and (I'm pretty sure) she suffered no damage from it. I agree with the drying issue; a good towel dry should suffice, unless Gomez is going to be subject to drafts or cold.

[Prin]

It depends also on when his last bath was. You need to give him time to replenish all the oils that were stripped away from washing him. He could end up with dry skin if you rinse too much too close to his last bath.

[Beaglemom]

Anytime a dog goes swimming in salt water, they must be rinsed. Once they dry, the salt becomes extremely iritating on their skin.

We had a dog that loved to go in the water all the time. She would swim in the lake at our cottage and then roll around on the grass and sand. We didn't rinse her in this case, but she would get a good brushing to remove any sand and debris off her coat.

[StaceyB]

As everyone has mentioned rinsing is fine. Actually I would rinse every time they have been in places that may hold large amounts of bacteria. You may want to pick up a very gentle(mild) dog shampoo to use if necessary when they need a little more than just a rinse.

[gomez]

He is a little dirt trap. I don't think even serious brushing would remove the layers and layers of sand we had yesterday! He is one of thos doggies that needs to be stripped, so you can imagine how many layers of hair there are, and I'm not even sure his full coats have all come in yet!

We're still using a puppy shampoo on him, so that is very gentle, but it's good to know the rinsing off won't hurt him.

Thanks for your responses!