Baths - How Often?

[Karen P]

How often do you bath your doodle? Does your doodle let you use the hair dryer? I live in Indiana and it is very cold right now. I cannot use the hair dryer on Chewie. It takes forever for him to air/towel dry and I was looking for any suggestions. Thanks !!

[Leslie, Dexter & Kirby]

We give ours baths once a month. If we go much longer than that they start to smell and start to get dirty (they chase/wrestle outside a lot). I used to blow dry Dex when we had only 1, but don't have the patience to do both of them. So we just towel dry them really well and let them air dry. They run around like lunatics right after a bath which helps them air dry more quickly :)

[Karen P]

Thanks for the information. When you towel dry does Dex get really matted? Chewie did and then it was a battle to get him to let me brush him !!! I need to win these battles because he is getting stronger by the day !!

[Leslie, Dexter & Kirby]

No neither doodles will matt from the towel drying. I do brush them out once they totally dry.

[Karen & Lucy]

Before I found the mobile groomer I would only bath Lucy when needed for the reason of drying her, esp. in the winter. Summer was not bad because I could just let her out on the deck and she would air dry. In the winter though she acts like a mad woman running all through the house rubbing on everything to get dry. Now that i have the mobile groomer she is getting bathed monthly with clipping every other month. It is wonderful! If you have one in your area you should try it.

[Karen P]

Thanks for the information. I have been trying to find a mobile groomer, but have not had much luck. I thought I found one, but she is not taking any new clients. That definetly seems the way to go. That way you can make sure that do not come back to a dog that was not clipped the way you had intended it to be.

[Doris]

We are in Ohio and have the same problem with the cold. Bodi goes to the groomer every 8 weeks, and we give him a bath in the middle of that time. (There are sometimes many foot washings in the tub, but only one full bath). When I bathe him in the winter I try to pick a "warmer" day. He gets a good long walk first so I know that he won't have to go out for awhile. We do use the hair dryer on him but never get him totally dry that way! You will find what works for you and your doodle will get used to it!

[Noble Vestal Labradoodles]

We only bathe once a year~ I too live in Indiana! I brush my dogs weekly which helps distribute their natural oils and repels dirt from the coat. My dogs do not have a foul smell from not being bathed. I do have clients who get puppies and they start bathing them weekly and comment that their dog smells~ when they back off on the bathing the doggie smell goes away.