[Jthomas0385]

Hello everybody,
I was wondering how often I should brush my dog, bathe my dog, and brush my dogs teeth. She is a 5 month old German Shepherd/Terrier mix, and her coat is pretty short.

[CorkyMax]

Originally Posted by Jthomas0385

Hello everybody,
I was wondering how often I should brush my dog, bathe my dog, and brush my dogs teeth. She is a 5 month old German Shepherd/Terrier mix, and her coat is pretty short.

Have any pics. to show of your puppy?

Is the coat thick (I didn't say long or short here!) and coarse like the German Shepherd's? What kind of terrier--Do you know? There are a lot of dif. types of terriers. In my breeds book --for what it says about grooming the GSD---Daily combing and brushing of the thick, coarse coat is important, and take extra care when the dog is shedding its dense undercoat. At this time, the dead woolly hair clings to the new hair and must be removed with a slicker brush designed for the task. Bathe or dry shampoo only when necessary. The bathing is prob. same info for the terrier part. Am pasting here a link to a thread done in this forum to do with bathing that was written a while back. There are 2 pages in this thread--but pay particular attention to the posts that are numbers: 3, 4, 6, 9, and 12. Just click on this link:
itchy cocker (pay no attention to the title-the bathing info pertains to dogs in general!)

As far as brushing teeth---Think I remember that it should be at least once or twice a week. Check on the web--Just put brushing teeth/dogs in your browser and it should bring up some info on it.

This is a link to a site on brushing the dog's teeth--And it does state doing it at least twice a week.------->
You want me to brush my DOGS teeth?

[Gusty Acres]

Get them used to all of these grooming habits now. There's nothing worse then a fussy full grown dog that wont stand to be brushed/ nails trimmed/ teeth cleaned.

I would strongly recommend staying consistent with the teeth brushing. Not only does it help prevent bad breath, but the tooth decay is severally reduced as well. A lot of folks are dropping $150-$250 to get their dog's teeth cleaned. However most if not all vets have to put the dog under in order to do this. Of course this is a huge risk which could all be prevented by at least bi-weekly teeth cleaning. I'd suggest even more often if your dog is on a softer food.

[sniff-sniff]

Check these answers, it may prove helpful to you


* Brush My Dogs Teeth – I try to do this twice a week. We’ve had vet assistants and doggy dental professionals come to our meetings and recommend anywhere from once a day to once a week. I think the majority of people don’t brush their dogs teeth at all.

* Brush My Dogs Coat - I try to do this twice a week also. This will vary greatly depending on your dogs coat. A long coat requires much more attention and can often require daily brushing if not more….unless you like the dreadlock look. Some dogs may require professional grooming and cuts as well. We have several dog brushes, but prefer the FURminator deShedding Tool

* Trimming My Dogs Coat – I have never trimmed my dogs coat either myself or professionally. None of my three dogs have a coat that requires trimming. Or family dogs (Golden Retriever, Border Collie, Cairn Terrier) have all required somewhat regular trimmings, but lucky for me my three dogs do just fine without a regular hair cut.

* Clip My Dogs Nails – I try to do this a minimum of once a week. I don’t think I’m cutting the dig nails often enough. The real problem is I just don’t cut them short enough because I’m afraid of cutting the quick. I’m going to look into using a Dremel to grind the nail rather then the clippers to cut. We like the scissor style nail clippers and find them more effective then the guillotine clippers. We use the Bamboo Dog Nail Clipper with Styptic and File

* Ear Cleaning – Once a week. If you have a floppy eared dog then you need to keep a close eye on his ears. Stetson has had four ear infections in about 1 1/2 years. Derby has had one. Luckily (knock on wood), Linus hasn’t had one in almost 4 years. The ear cleaning product we currently use was prescribed by our vet.

* Doggy Baths – The controversial topic…how often should I bathe my dog? This is probable the topic I’ve heard most varying opinions. Once a week, once a month, once a year. I’m going with the safe answer again…it depends. Long coats and short coats will require more or less bathing. Dog lifestyles like camping and hunting dogs who often trot through the mud versus the toy dog breeds who never step foot outside a purse. As I mentioned earlier my vet has recommended bathing Stetson every other week or twice a month. I’m going to do the same for Derby and Linus.

Courtesy of - Colby Morita How Often Do You Groom Your Dog?

[Yogi]

The simple truth in bathing is solely dependent on the breed. I have Miniature Pinschers and though classified as a toy breed the do not live in a purse and can get just as dirty as any breed out there. With this being said, they still whether dirty or not cannot tolerate more than 4 bathes a year. Many short coated breeds or single coated breeds are subject to skin issues where excessive bathing no matter what shampoo is used is harmful as all to one degree or another remove the natural oils in the skin and coat. Therefore it is best that you read up on your breed and if it is a mixed breed and you know what the mix is, read up on those with regards to grooming, bathing etc.
Don't ever assume that because it is a long hair or short hair that there is a main staple when it comes to bathing. Veterinarians are the last ones to determine bathing issues as simply put, they are not breed specialists they are Animal doctors trained to treat illness'. Even my vets find it odd when their patients have told them that prior vets have instructed them to bath their dogs a specific number of times a year without any real knowledge of the breed. We have breed clubs out there that you can find online or just look on line for you breed and it will give you all you need to know with regards to these topics and from those who actually own the breed. You do not want generic answers as these tend to more often than not lead to problems.