How to give the best bath to your dog

This is a short post but an important one. Do you know how to give the best dog bath and the ideal frequency?
First, do you know how many times a dog should have a bath?

The answer is it depends. It depends on the breed if it is an indoor or outdoor or family context.
I will explain with no further ado.

Breed

There are some breeds that have more genetic tendency to skin allergies than others. For example, breeds predisposed to developing allergies include French Bullgos, Chinese Shar-Peis, Wirehaired Fox Terriers, Golden Retrievers, Dalmatians, Boxers, Boston Terriers, Labrador Retrievers, Lhasa Apsos, Scottish Terriers, Shih Tzus, West Highland White Terriers, American Staffordshire Terrier, and Pitbulls. These breeds need more skincare than others. To prevent contact allergens such as environmental allergens (dust, pollen, and mold), it is key to give therapeutic baths.

Male french bulldog being tested for allergies, just like humans are tested directly on their skin. (https://happyfrenchbulldog.com/).

Indoor versus Outdoor
An outdoor dog has more probability of contacting other animals, grass, etc. In a way, being most of the time an outdoor dog is good to spend energy, doing exercise, be happier but it gets dirty more often with dirt and rain, the dog needs a bath with a higher frequency in order to be with its fellow humans, right?

Dog after playing with soil but happy. Photo by Matt Higham on Unsplash

Family context
A family member that has an auto-immune disease or is doing a treatment that compromises the immune system needs to be very careful with infectious agents. So in a way, it is important to keep the dog clean with good hygiene. Combing the dog hair and bathing more often reduces the prevalence of these agents.


How to give the bath step by step

Small dog having a bath. Notice the clear water after rinsing.

It is important to adequate the frequency of bathing according to the factors aforementioned... If it is a “normal dog”, goes only for walks two to three times a day and stays at home most of the time, it is a rule of thumb to give a bath with 2-month intervals using a normal shampoo. I advise combing in the middle of baths to remove the dead hair and to reduce the smell you can use sodium bicarbonate to neutralize odors. Can sprinkle the dog fur on his dorsum and then comb the hair. 

Otherwise, the dog can have baths every week. But in order to be able to do this, it is very important to choose a good shampoo. Always talk with your vet for their opinion. It is important to choose a shampoo for sensitive skin that respects pH skin. For example, from Douxo Calming Shampoo from Douxo, Dermocanis, and Kimiderm are the brands that I advise. These vet brands have physiologic shampoos or hypoallergenic. They are formulated for high-frequency baths.

- Tricks
Two tricks when giving a bath. First, dissolve the shampoo in a bowl with tepid water. Rinse the dog with clean water and then apply the solution. This a better way to remove the shampoo afterward. Since dogs can have very dense hair, removing all the shampoo can be hard and residues can leave an itchy dog skin. This way by dissolving it first and then using it on your dog can make this step very easy for you. Rinse well your pet’s hair guaranteeing that there are no more shampoo bubbles.

After is extremely important to dry the hair. You shouldn’t feel wet afterward. Beware that the dogs have primary hair which drys first and the undercoat more near the skin that takes more time to dry. You can see in the image below that shows the primary and secondary hair development.

Secondary hair or undercoat starting to form at three months of age.
(http://www.thedogplace.org)

 I advise buying a high potency hairdryer since can become very time consuming to completely dry well because of thick dog hair. I use a towel at the same time and a brush while drying the hair. I comb the hair in the opposite direction of the hair growth while using the hairdryer.

So this is my very best advice. Share your experiences.

Have a nice bath!!! :)

Simply Existing

About an hour ago I saw a small movie on YouTube about a 97-year-old Philosopher Herbert Fingarette talking about aging and death. Aging on how becoming dependent and losing capabilities and accepting that we now need help even for the habits we were so used to for most of our lives, like getting dressed, taking breakfast, ... 

Our bodies will never be better than the present moment we have; our beauty now is the best than tomorrow...we are aging!. I wish to know more stories about how elders feel and what advice they give us. I consider this to be important because in this century we get older just by turning 30, not 60, according to how difficult it is to get employed after a certain age, even certain jobs don’t accept you after this age, talking about sports, fashion, etc. In my opinion, in order to have full experience in our lives, we need to contact with youth and elders. Our time will come, so these elder mentors will get us prepared for what is about to come. I consider a blessing to be able to be here in this world for so many years. Of course, with quality of life and not in pain. Otherwise, as Thomas Shelby says in Peaky Blinders, “Sometimes, death is kindness”

This small movie is a changing life experience that I wanted to share. Thank you, for his grandson to make this movie. You can consult this on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qX6NztnPU-4 and soon enough you will begin to experience life differently, taking care of all small things and cherish the trees and who is next to you. Feel everything around you.

Death is all around us and is one of the mysteries of life we have to accept and there is no answer to it. It is part of life, but this acceptance is not easy. 

I’m one of the many people that fear death. I try to live every day to the fullest and listen to elders for their advice and not take things for granted.

I also want to share my experience with death as a veterinarian.

One of my everyday mentors is my companion pets and my clients’ pets also. They are so brave. 

Even in sickness, they don’t feel pity about themselves and they don’t give up. They keep trying. 

Pets do everyday mindfulness. They don’t think about tomorrow. 

As a veterinary practitioner for more than ten years, I deal with euthanasia and death so often. I also think about the meaning of death and life ..if biological we are here to reproduce, transmit our genes to the next generations and die to give them the next opportunity; if spiritual, God has a purpose for us all, and we are here to learn and evolve, or death is simply nothing ...but either way, we don’t know and what we don’t know makes us afraid….

Performing euthanasia is emotionally difficult for us veterinarians. For every euthanasia, I have done I pet the animal, talk to them and I’m always kind. I give the first anesthesia to put them to sleep and then, the second which stops their heart. Then comes the moment so hard for me. The exact middle moment, between the before and after. This moment when death occurs, part of me leaves...

Although I know it is kindness sometimes because they are sick...part of me goes with them. After I do a little prayer and I open the clinic window so their soul can leave in peace…some colleagues of mine may have other ways to cope with that but I deal like this and I would like the world to know. Saying GoodBye is the hardest thing for me to do.

After so many years of doing euthanasias for different motives, I thought it would be easier with time and I was very wrong. It occurred the opposite. I had nothing left. So now, if I need to perform euthanasia I ask my colleague and I’m doing part-time veterinary medicine and reduce my suffering by confronting death.

Being there watching the moment, near it and physically there when it happens and still is a mystery to me, why do we need to go through this?. I don’t have more pieces of me to give to them. 

So I’m just doing the good part of veterinary and I’m grateful. I will always be veterinary in my heart and learn with life has to offer.

This post is dedicated to the elders including my grandmother and grandfather and to my dear pets that passed away. I will be with you again.

Photo by freestocks.org on Unsplash

Introduction

Welcome,

My name is Tania, I'm from Portugal. I am a Veterinary Surgeon with ten years of experience, and I'm writing a blog cause I'm changing my career. I'm joining veterinary medicine with computer science. I will go to that later, but for now, my main objective is to share with the world, for example, pet owners, fellow veterinary colleagues, veterinary students, veterinary nurses, pet enthusiasts, you name it! I want to share my experience of how I started my career and how I became the best veterinary surgeon I can be. I just don’t want to leave Earth without feeling I did something to improve my passion for animals.
See you soon,
Tania.

P.S. I promise to keep my texts short but full of interesting content. I will go straight to the point.
Thank you for joining me on this journey.