What is a good hygiene regimen for my dog?

It’s hard to put one schedule down and say, “This is the right way to do it.” There’s really no right answer to that question. I will tell you that a good hygiene regimen would include things like routine teeth cleaning or brushing, cleaning of their ears, and bathing (if and when needed), and nail trims. I think those are the things that would encompass every dog’s routine hygiene plan, but as far as the timing of it, that more depends on your dog and their lifestyle.

How does keeping my dog clean contribute to good health?

When I consider cleanliness of a dog, the first thing I think of is their skin. It’s primarily going to affect their skin. If you have a dog that is dirty, yeasty, or maybe has skin fold problems (like Pugs, Boston Terriers, Bulldogs, Shar Peis are the worst, they have skin folds everywhere) or other facial things around the ears, around the tail folds, and around the private area—those require very routine hygiene, bathing, and grooming, if you will.

The Spaniel breeds are really behind the eight ball for having ear problems. Not just Spaniels, I’m not trying to single them out, but I will tell you in general that Spaniels tend to be a little bit more prone to ear infections, so their hygienic plan would probably include a lot more regular ear cleaning than say an erect-eared dog that doesn’t have as many ear problems. Every dog should also be on some sort of a dental cleaning plan. Now, what does that look like? It could include specialty dental diets, it could include dental chews, brushing the dog’s teeth, whether on a daily basis or a couple of times a week, whatever you can muster there—all of that would be beneficial and very helpful to the overall hygiene of a dog.

When it comes to nails, that is another one that depends. It’s not that often that you have to trim the nails of outdoor dogs. Indoor dogs need to be done a lot more readily. If you’re walking the dogs on pavement or sidewalks, a lot they’re going to tend to do that for you to some degree, but it’s something you need to be aware of and just keep an eye on and perform if and when needed.

What about if my dog has skin infections regularly?

I’m glad you followed up with that one because that’s where I was going there. So, I talked about other shampoos, so if your dog is prone to have, say staph infections or something like that, there are various antibacterial or even antifungal shampoos that your veterinarian may prescribe. At the very beginning of this conversation, I talked about dogs with all the skin fold problems. Yeast is usually what grows in those skin folds, and in some cases bacteria as well, so a medicated shampoo in those settings would probably be beneficial.

For dogs with allergies, there are also shampoos that contain an antihistamine or things like that. The one that I carry has an antihistamine in it, so it helps decrease redness and irritation to the skin just by bathing. It doesn’t last forever, but you might get the effects for two or three days, and maybe you have to do that to supplement your dog’s skin issues through allergy season. So, those are all things that might be warranted as well.

Why is it important to clean my dog’s bed, bowls, collar, leash, and toys regularly?

The biggest thing I would say in general is just cleanliness. And not to throw around the word hygiene, but everything you just mentioned in that list will be colonized with bacteria. Would you wear the same outfit for six months in a row? No, of course, you wouldn’t. I won’t make any jokes here, but you would be pretty nasty and you wouldn’t have many friends. A dog that wears a collar for years on end, that collar’s going to be pretty nasty, whether you care to admit it or not. That’s got dirt, that’s got hair, I won’t even list all the other things it’s got. Do a culture and find out. It’s probably wise for you, your dog, and everybody that touches your dog to have a new collar on every so often.

Water bowls are going to get algae, they’re going to bacteria and things like that in them. This will happen even more so with food bowls because they have food particles there that bacteria might crave and try to feed on, as well as other parasites, and the list could go on and on. So, yes, it’s wise to clean those things often. Take dog collars off, wash them, and put them back on the dog. It doesn’t take but an hour that it’s off of your animal, but I think those are all good ideas to prevent the colonization of the skin and coat with bacteria and other parasites.