It’s OK for Dogs to Get Dirty Sometimes
The following post was originally published by Karen on KP’s Dog Blog, September 27, 2007.
I was at a large dog park recently on a hot day, and there was just one puddle in the entire park (from a leaky pipe).
Naturally, all the dogs kept gravitating toward the mud as inexorably as a moth to a flame, and this set the dog guardians to screaming, “Max, get away from that!” “Don’t even think about it, Sasha!” I was standing nearby and tried to advocate in behalf of the hot dogs: “But it’s so hot out! You can just let the mud dry and then brush it out of her coat.”
I don’t understand why muddy dogs cause such freak-outs. If you’ve got a blanket or a tarp over your back seat, your dog will be dry by the time you get home and will probably have licked most of the dirt off too. But what’s left can easily be brushed or combed out.
And for those unfortunate inevitable incidents when Fido merrily rolls in something really fetid, you can just use enzyme wipes (Nature’s Miracle makes nice ones). Try that first before going to all the trouble of lathering up your little Lucifer.
People are always so shocked to find out that I almost never bathe my dogs. Yet, they smell fine. They really do. The truth is that chronic bad doggie odor usually comes from within (from a diet that is not agreeing with the dog), so frequent baths are just masking a serious health issue that requires a dietary change, not shampoo.
