Bathing Question

I have one dirty Basset and one clean one. My girl goes outside to potty ...she might survey the grounds for a few minutes but she's back inside pretty quickly. She doesn't like wet grass or weeds touching her on our walks.

Belvedere is my true hound dog. He stops, drops and rolls on anything good and smelly. It could be a rotting leaf, a dead bug, poo from another animal, a good patch of cool dirt ...whatever. I'm sure this happends numerous times a day so within three or four days of his Sunday bath, he's smelly again. He does't always tragically need a bath but even after a normal week, he's "oily" ...and my other one is not.

I think some dogs are just different and need more baths than others. I'd recommend you do it as needed. I can get by for quite a while without bathing Dixie but Belvedere ...he needs a bath if he's going to be in my house. He usually smells like a barn animal! I think if I didn't bathe him as needed, he'd have some kind of skin ooogies.

We adopted Moe from an animal rescue during the summer months of 1999. He smelled absolutely terrible from a combination of illness, former neglect, shelter living, and what I later learned was a normal "hound dog" smell. Washing him more frequently seemed to make the hound smell return more quickly so we were stuck in stinky cycle. When I read here that most people don't bathe thier hounds often, if at all, I was very surprised and doubtful. But to my surprise, the less I bathed him the less he smelled. :shock: We bathe him once every one to three months now, unless he rolls in something or gets especially dirty (from woods or beach walks).

It's my understanding that frequent bathing stips the natural oils from thier coat and skin. The oil production increases to make up for that, resulting in a strong odor much faster. It's also unhealthy for thier skin to be so dry. Dry skin can get very itchy. Some Bassets develope allergies that affect thier skin (I have no idea if frequent bathing CAUSES this but it may irritate the skin of a dog already prone to allergies, making him very uncomfortable).

Many people metnion using pet-wipes or baby wipes when thier dog gets dirty in-between baths. I believe some have mentioned wiping down with Listerine? to help with the hound smell. Anyone who does this could let you know what they do and if it works.

We use a gentle puppy deodorizing shampoo. It works on his smell and dosn't irritate his eyes when I wash his head (his ears and jowls get especially dirty - the ears from dragging and his jowls from drooling and eating :roll: ). It works for us. I think there may be many ways to handle the problem. Someone here may have a solution that works for you and your dog. Good luck!

Terry

I bathe Daisy whenever she needs it; with baby-wipe wipe-downs in between. It just kinda depends, I don't bathe her at regular intervals, really. I notice that more frequent bathing makes her more itchy, I presume it's dry skin, then she gets a squirt of hydrocortisone spray.
I also have to keep a close watch on her after a bath, because inevitably she will find poo to roll in after a bath. :roll: I'm pretty sure she actually goes out of her way to find poo to roll in!

I use Sauve Kids Strawberry Smoothie shampoo on her. A vet tech told me that baby shampoo works very well on dogs, because it is 'no-tears' and good for their skin, and it costs a LOT less. I really wanted dog shampoo for dry/sensitive skin, but couldn't find it when I needed it, so we're trying this stuff.

I really like the strawberry smoothie shampoo, it makes Daisy's coat really soft--the strawberry smell I'm not so wild about--strawberry and hound are not complimentary fragrances. :lol: But it wears off quickly.