First bath?

[Judith and Griffin]

Griffin is 8 weeks and smells like an adult dog - blech. When should we do his first bath?  From his behavior with his water bowl and the water coming from a hose outside, I suspect he'll love baths lol!  I assume just wash, towel dry, and then wait for him to roll in the dirt again? :-)

Thanks!

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

We got Ned at about 13 weeks.  He stunk so we bathed him - about three times.  It turned out that he had infected ears from fox tails so the bathing didn't help, but he sure was clean.

[Patti]

Just make sure you dry his ears well, and use a tearless shampoo.

[Nicky, Riley & Boris]

Most breeders bathe the puppies before they go home but not always. I bathed both of mine the day after they arrived home. Be sure to use dog shampoo and rinse thoroughly. You can put some cotton wool in the ears to keep them dry inside. Towel dry and use a hair dryer on not too hot a setting. At this age they can usually fit in the sink :)

[Judith and Griffin]

Thanks All!

We gave him a quick first bath - he didn't enjoy it nearly as much as we had expected - ah well.
What are fox tails?

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

In California, fox tails are a weed that looks like a fox's tail, which, when it dries out, attaches itself to the dog's coat and travels.  They can burrow into the skin - between the toes, in the ears, eyes, throat, nose. They can cause infections and serious damage if not found.  Ned had numerous fox tails in his ears and in his throat that had become infected.

[Judith and Griffin]

Ouch!  We have lots of little burr type things here (VA) as well and I've been worried about how in the world we'll get them out of Griffin's coat after a hike, once he's bigger and has his adult coat :-/

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

We try to avoid these things.  More than these I hate those little corkscrew stickers.

[Judith and Griffin]

They make me hurt just looking at them!