16aDogGroomingBad Grooming and making dogs unhappy

For me this is when people insist on not shaving their dogs down over summer, because they will ‘lose the look’. If you live in a cold climate sure, don’t shave. But if you walk your dog daily, which all dogs should have. Then there is a fair chance a European descended dog is going to get very hot at some time during a more temperate summer.

I will now extend grooming to washing methods.

Some people only wash dogs every couple of months or when they smell. In the wild dogs will get a chance to bath as often as they like, or roll in smelly stuff too. They run in a pack, eat meat based foods and basically have a very good clean running system.

If you dont walk your dog daily, you live in a hot climate, you feed it grain based manufactured dog foods, then you are going to most likely have to wash your dog more often as toxins leak out of its skin.

And of course fanatics can go too far and wash a dog too often. That for most dogs is more than once a week, or twice a week if you use medicated or high soap shampoos. Dogs skins are a very fine balance of oils that not only protect the skin from debris, but also stop them drying out and getting skin allergies. If you wash too often and don’t use a good medicated conditioner afterwards you are likely to strip the good natural oils and give your dogs skin rashes etc.


Because most people don’t walk their dog daily off lead, and feed them a raw diet, a dogs coat and skin are likely to be different than they would if they were a wild dog equivalent. This means most people should wash their dog (with mild dog shampoos and conditioners at least once a fortnight).
Dog coat length should be appropriate for climate and play.