Bathing/keep dog smelling clean

[coachd]

I'm geting used to my beautiful puppy, Nessie. She is so sweet. I'd like to know about bathing/cleaning her up. She does have a slight odor. What do you do for a 3 month old pup? Thanks.

Mike

[oscar's mom]

Just brush her, it should get that "dog smell" off of her. When my dog was a pup, i have to say he was in the kitchen sink almost daily for getting into something. Didn't use soap, just a good brushing and water. Enjoy your little one.

[Autumn & Lola]

Frequent brushing keeps my Molly smelling sweet. You don't want to bathe a Cairn often (some people never do, unless their dog rolls in mud or something else dirty or stinky), as it will ruin their coats and may cause skin problems as well. Getting her used to the brush as a pup is a good idea. As Oscar's Mom said, plain water is fine if you need to get dirt off of her.

[Malcolm's Dad]

Our weather suddenly got nice, sunny and warm. Malcolm has been outside quite a bit. Its been very windy. He likes to sit in the sun and enjoy the breeze. The other day he came in and smelled like fresh air, it was so pleasant. Malcolm does not get bathed, and he is brushed every 3 or 4 days. If he would sit still he would get brushed more often. He doesn't have any odor.

The sun seems to give him a fresh smell, maybe that could help your little one if its nice outside.

[Angieh]

I gave both Benny and Kimmy a bath the day they came home to me. I used an extra gentle shampoo. Benny has a soft coat, so he gets a bath about once a month, but Kimmy only gets bathed about four times a year...although her rear end gets washed a little more frequently than that...

Frequent brushing is the best way to keep your dog smelling nice and to keep their skin healthy. Also, search stripping on the forum or google. Be specific with your search terms, i.e. cairn terrier coat stripping, if you search on google or else you might get some interesting results. Stripping helps pull the dead hair off the cairn, which also helps them smelling nice.

[kintra]

I'm a firm believer that it doesn't matter *how* often you bathe your dog, but in the manner you go about doing it. I use Isle of Dog Coarse Coat shampoo and always force dry him completely after a bath. I've found as long as I'm doing this, it keeps his coat and skin healthy no matter how often I bathe him. Now that he is retired, he's really only bathed once every few months but it used to be much, much more often.

You can always mix listerene with water in a spray bottle and spritz/brush that through the coat.

[jimnconnie]

I'm geting used to my beautiful puppy, Nessie. She is so sweet. I'd like to know about bathing/cleaning her up. She does have a slight odor. What do you do for a 3 month old pup? Thanks.

Mike

Here's some good info on Cairn Terrier Grooming

[jodi0553]

Just looked up the Isle of Dog shampoo on Amazon and plopped it in my basket for when I have enough junk to get free shipping. What I loved is that all the things that were listed as "customers also bought" were cairn books and MCK. Not a single other breed was represented in the list! I've been meaning to buy some coarse coat shampoo for when we need it. Currently use a gentle oatmeal formula, but he still gets so soft for a couple of weeks after a bath. I give "soap baths" so infrequently that the bottle of shampoo I bought when we got him over 4 years ago is still 3/4 full!

[kintra]

I LOVE the Isle of Dog No. 33 formula, but sometimes it makes the coat "flake" a bit if you strip it soon after a bath. I usually bathe after stripping anyway though. When I was an Isle of Dog member, I bought 4 liters of the No. 33 shampoo and usually use one pump of shampoo per bath. I believe I've only gone through half of a liter in almost two years (with bathing once every few months)

#1 All Systems Crisp Coat is also great for Terriers and I used that for years before starting Isle of Dog products.

For my Min Pin, I use Isle of Dog's evening primrose oil shampoo (heavenly!) and use the evening primrose oil spray on all breeds. I'm really curious to try their supplements as well but I'll save that for when there aren't any college bills.