When did you give your puppy his/her first bath?

Everything I read says they don't need it very often at all. We are on our first camping trip right now and it's definitely been a fun filled trip with mud and water (ocean, rivers etc). I was thinking of giving Aurora her first bath when we get back home on Tuesday, she'll be 10 weeks old then. What do you all think?

We gave Miya her first bath her first day home, wasn't the best of ideas. Aurora is older, she'll be fine make sure you use warm water not cold or hot and properly dry her. There's a few threads here to give you info, btw, I learned a lot about baths here.

I'm itching to give Riley her first bath, but she simply does not need it. Especially since she just went swimming this weekend. Her fur is soft and clean.

The only thing I find myself constantly cleaning are her nails. They are always dirty.

There are so many thoughts and opinions about when to bathe them, it can get confusing. My take is give them a bath when they need it, not according to a schedule. Based on your camping trip it sounds Aurora will need it.

Good luck!

Jaimie, I'd wait til you are home to see if she needs a bath. Obviously if she's stinky from the water, etc then think about it. If her fur sheds the dirt, like most Husky's do, then take a pass on it. I've had my current two for the better part of three years and haven't needed to bathe them yet.
Avalanche will come in after digging a mud hole - he love to dig, and seems to enjoy it more when it's wet and muddy - then it seems like an hour or so after he doesn't have a drop of mud / dirt on him.
Bathing too often or with too strong a shampoo will strip the essential oils from their fur and then you can have the problem of having a dog who "needs" a bath, but the oils in their fur won't rebound for a while without a bath - typically called a catch-22.

Well, I'm in the minority here, but I tend to give Diz a bath every 2-4 weeks depending on what he's gotten himself into. I gave him his first bath the day he came home, at 9 weeks. For a while a bath was a weekly occurance with him, being a puppy, and low to the ground, well, he was often covered in city filth. I recently went the longest I have ever gone between baths (2 months), and although he didn't seem especially dirty, and wasn't stinky at all, my hubby had been having some pretty bad allergies recently. I figured it was the coat blow, and decided to give him a bath this weekend and use a hvd and blow out as much undercoat as I could. Well, the water running off Diz was full of this very fine, silky, dirt. It's just impossible to keep that from happening in the concrete jungle. Dizzy has that super dense, show type coat, and most dirt comes right off, but if its silt-like it will go right to his skin and stay there. I have not seen any adverse effects from frequent bathing, and his coat is healthy, soft, and shiney. Nutrition, genetics, and coat care are going to have a much greater effect on condition than is the frequency of baths.

Over-bathing causing coat and skin problems is a common misconception. If anyone can point me to a source that proves otherwise, I'll reconsider my opinion. Here is an article regarding common grooming myths among dog owners (written by a vet). Take it as you will, but you're not going to do your dog any harm by giving him/her a bath. If the dog's skin gets irritated from bathing, you should take look at the products you're using and the frequency, but if you don't seen any adverse reactions, then there is no harm done. See below the link for a quote from the article I mentioned.


http://www.vetstreet.com/our-pet-experts/this-veterinarians-five-most-annoying-pet-grooming-myths?page=2

3. Pets need baths only infrequently. It seems there’s high anxiety within American popular culture on the subject of over-bathing: “Bathing your pet every week is the worst thing you can do for your pet’s skin. It strips their skin of moisture!” is commonly overheard in our hospital’s lobby.

The truth, however, is that over-bathing is nowhere as common as under-bathing. Moreover, it’s unlikely to prove as problematic — especially when you consider that so many pets have skin diseases that require very frequent bathing.

Plus, it’s undeniably true that bathing every week or two (a typical vet recommendation) not only makes your dog or cat shed less and smell better, but also works to help prevent certain skin diseases. The key, however, is to use the right shampoo (ask your vet for a suggestion).

I'm guessing there is also a difference if you use shampoo or simply scrub with water and no product.

Vetsky wrote:

I'm guessing there is also a difference if you use shampoo or simply scrub with water and no product.

Exactly. Product is made to strip the natural oils from their hair. Water won't do that. We always bathed puppies when we first brought them home to get rid of anything foreign from the previous home and then it's just hose offs for mud and shampoo baths only if their fur gets an odor.

thanks for all the replies everyone! we got back home early this morning. She was definitely pretty dirty and even had some grass stains on her white areas haha but she does look fairly clean now (naturally) and doesn't smell bad.

I think part of me wants to give her a bath anyway. ya know, get that first bath moment in the books =) and I figured now would be a good time.

I did see a lot of info on how to bathe them and what to use but I would be having someone else (groomer) do it since I live in a dry cabin (no running water) up here in AK =)

Loki was first full day I had him at 12-13 weeks.  Ichigo will go soon as he was neutered when I got him and waiting for 2 weeks to be up.  Both mine were rescues and smelled like kennels when I got them.  Loki gets bath every month or so.  I like to do things often till they are older to know they are well versed.  

Thanks Jessica, yeah I definitely want her to be used to it and be comfortable with it. Aurora still isn't 100% OK with the idea of being brushed. she doesn't hate it but just wants to bite/eat the brush. My only time to brush her is when she is basically asleep and she 'puts up with it' haha