Puppy first bath age
Puppy bath time needn’t be a daily occurrence. Small puppies don’t need daily baths in the way that human babies do.
And you may be surprised to know that some folks with clean healthy dogs never bathe their puppies at all
Unless the puppy gets poop on themselves or steps in something equally unpleasant.
More of that in a moment
What that means in practical terms is that there is no specific date on which you should give your puppy his first bath.
Can you bathe a puppy at 8 weeks old
You can certainly bathe a puppy at 8 weeks old if he needs a bath.And most puppies will at some point as they are prone to falling and stepping in poops and puddles.
However, a small puppy’s fur doesn’t need washing with shampoo on a daily basis. And little marks, a bit of spilled food, for example, can be simply wiped off a short-coated puppy with a damp sponge.
When can you bathe a puppy regularly
You can bathe a puppy regularly from the day he arrives home. Whether you should or not is another question.
There are a couple of downsides to bathing dogs regularly, especially once they are out and about in the world.
There are some benefits too, so we’ll look at those too
The disadvantages of regular baths are that even the gentlest of shampoo is likely to disrupt the natural balance of your puppy’s skin and fur to some extent.
And that it disrupts the natural waterproofing that fur develops as the puppy matures.
Under your puppy’s fur is a little environment or microworld of friendly bacteria that help to maintain your puppy’s skin at exactly the right level of acidity. Altering that balance with shampoo may reduce your puppy’s natural resistance to skin problems and infections
Your puppy’s soft baby coat is replaced by a typical adult coat during the first few months of life.
Between six and twelve months old, most puppies will have grown their adult fur.
One of the characteristics of adult fur in many dogs is that it is fairly waterproof.
This waterproofing is created by oils from the skin. It helps keep your dog warm and comfortable when he swims or goes out in the rain. And makes the smears you’ll see on a white wall if your dog regularly sleeps up against it!
Shampoo strips out those natural oils allowing water to penetrate your dog’s coat right through to the skin.
For those reasons, regular baths are neither essential nor even a particularly good thing. But surely your pup needs a wash from time to time or he’ll get smelly? So just how often can you bathe a puppy?
How often can you bathe a puppy
Here’s a puppy bathing schedule for you to use as a guide.
- Once a week until three months old
- Once a month until six months old
- Twice a year thereafter or as necessary
Bear in mind that it probably won’t hurt your puppy if you never bathe them at all, but let’s explain the reasons for the schedule above
I mentioned that there were some benefits to regular bathing, let’s look at those now.
One of the benefits is to enable the puppy to get used to being bathed. Let’s face it. He’s almost certainly going to need a bath at some point in his life.
Your puppy may need a bath
- For medical reasons (infections, parasites, allergies)
- To remove nasty substances from fur
- To reduce odor
If a puppy has never experienced one before, a bath on his third birthday because he meets a skunk or steps in some engine oil, is going to be a pretty traumatic experience.
The other benefit is really for you.
Some breeds of dog, especially some of the sporting breeds have a naturally strong body odor.
Labradors and other gun dogs can be particularly smelly. With some individual dogs being affected more than others.
My yellow Lab, for example, smells very strong if not bathed occasionally, while my chocolate Lab has only the mildest body odor.
Many dogs smell stronger as they get older, and elderly dogs can get very smelly if not bathed occasionally
Sharing your home with a Lab that hasn’t had a bath for a couple of months can be a pretty intense experience.
So, to avoid upsetting your older dog if you need to start giving them baths from time to time, it’s a good idea to get a puppy used to baths right now.
This means it’s a good thing for all puppies to be accustomed to happy bath times from an early age.
If you bathe your puppy once a week for the first three or four weeks, then once a month until they are six months old, then at least twice a year thereafter, bath-time should be a peaceful non-event for your dog.
What to wash a puppy with
Don’t be tempted to use human shampoo on a puppy. If you get it in his eyes they will sting and he won’t want to have another bath, ever again.
Where to bath a puppy
Some puppies may panic if plunged into a giant white bathtub.
Which if you think about it, is hardly surprising.
You can help accustom your puppy to the big bath by standing him in it for a few seconds, a few times a day, and giving him some treats to eat while he’s in there.
A popular alternative for bathing a puppy is the kitchen sink. But be careful as wet puppies are slippery and if he wriggles out he may fall and hurt himself
A safer place is in a plastic washing up bowl on the kitchen floor!
