The first thing I'm always going to suggest is to start young. Also, and this is so critically important, try to make it fun. How do you make a bath fun? Well, there are lots of different ways for a dog. If you have a favorite treat or some peanut butter, you'll see that some of our clinics will use some peanut butter or canned cheese; put it on your finger and let them lick it off, for example. They're making a positive association with being in the tub. That's one way you can try to do it. But the younger you start, the more they get used to having it done, and they're going to be more receptive to doing it down the road. Also, the frequency, the more often you do it, the less of an issue it is. I will mention a couple of other things. If your dog has high anxiety about the situation and it turns into an absolute rodeo, honestly, I recommend not doing it. If you're going to be exhausted from the experience and your dogs traumatized to some degree, just don't do it. As much as you like to bathe them, if you need to, you can always do a so-called spit bath or a sponge bath. Just take a washcloth and some soap. You can do it outside or on the bathroom floor, but don't try to do it in the tub because that puts them in a high anxiety situation. You can just try to wipe them down to the best of your ability. It's obviously easier if they've got short hair than if they have long hair, but that's one way of skirting around that issue with the high-anxiety dog.

There are some anti-anxiety medications that you can buy over the counter that I often recommend. There is a probiotic called Calming Care that can be really beneficial. Another product is called L-theanine, but the L-theanine and the probiotic need to be given for a while prior to the event. You can't wake up that morning and give it to them, and they will be fine. It doesn't work that way. CBD oil, for example, can be beneficial for dogs to help relieve anxiety. But I would suggest giving it a few days ahead if you feel you have to bathe them and if it's going to be a high-anxiety situation. But otherwise, if it's going to be a trauma for you and your dog, just don't do it. Period. Wipe them down as best you can as often as you can. This can be the best substitute for bathing without all the trauma.

Before I answer the question, I'm going to throw in a little bit of information. Some pet stores have do-it-yourself pet bathing. Those become quite popular because they'll often provide a towel for you, maybe $10 for a dog or something of that nature. So you take your dog, you bathe them there, so you don't have to deal with getting your own personal bathroom soaking wet, and the dog splatters all over the place, and you just have a big mess, and you have to bend over. These are elevated types of setups. So you get your dog up into this space or this tub area, and they provide the shampoo and towels, and it makes it so much easier for a lot of people.

However, if you're willing to do it at home, Awesome. I do have some customers who will walk into a shower with their dogs. That makes it really simple because their dogs don't mind being in there. Maybe the owners will put on a bathing suit or something like that, and they'll get down and get some knee pads so they can bathe their dog in the shower. They turn it off and turn it on when they need to. You've also generally got a handle, so you can use a little shower handle for bathing them. That makes it really simple. Otherwise, if you don't have that sort of a situation, or if your dog's timid about walking into the shower, then certainly don't hesitate to try to get them in the tub. Again, a lot of dogs don't like the bath, and a lot of it will be the intimidation of being in the tub as much as anything else. The bathing part, they usually don't mind. It's just that anxiety of being in this strange place and knowing something will happen to him. But there are ways of working around that.

Great question because there's so much misinformation about this. Basically, you can bathe them as often as you want. Let me say that again. You can bathe them as often as you want. Do not believe the mythology that you will dry their skin out every time you try to bathe them. There might be the case if you're using Dawn Dishwashing detergent. Don't use Dawn. It's great for your dishes, but it's detergent. You don't want to use detergent on your dogs. You wouldn't use detergent in your hair, so why would you want to use it for your dog? And no, it's not a flea product. I promise you that. Anyway, you can bathe them as often as you want, but obviously, there are some guidelines we'll get in here in just a second.

It absolutely can be. It depends on the intensity. Think about that dog that licks its feet every now and then. They're probably not too stressed by it, and you're not too bothered by it. But think about that dog that's constantly biting, scratching, licking, itching, and chewing at certain times of the year in particular, and where you have to turn around every few minutes, and you say, "Stop, stop, stop." If it bothers you, you can imagine how much your dog is bothered by it. Think about this too. If you had poison ivy, you could imagine how intensely an issue it is. Are you miserable from it? You bet you are, so imagine that same intensity of itching going on continuously from allergies, Sarcoptic Mange, flea allergies, or seasonal allergies where these dogs are just constantly biting, scratching, licking, itching, and chewing nonstop 24 7. Sometimes we will give them some Benadryl. I'm not recommending that you do that because it doesn't work for most dogs, but you can try it. At least that kind of chills them out a little bit so they can get temporary relief. Imagine the intensity or the itching and how uncomfortable you would be. Your dog's experiencing the same thing.

There could be lots of reasons. I'm going to think in terms of what we do and the pets that we see coming in. There could be lots of reasons for itching, but I will break down the four primary causes. Seasonal allergies are the most common cause, and they will occur during certain times of the year because pollens from certain plants trigger an allergic reaction. These are the same types of plants that cause people to have allergies, but in people, we think of upper respiratory conditions, like runny eyes or runny nose, and sinus headaches. With dogs, we can get biting, scratching, licking, itching, chewing, and ear problems. The second most common cause we see are indoor or environmental allergens. That is primarily from house dust, dust mites, molds, and mildew.

Next is food allergies. Food allergies are primarily caused by chicken or beef. There are other potential causes, but chicken and beef are the two primary triggers for food allergies, which can also make your dog really itchy. The last one is flea allergies. Flea allergies, of all these I just mentioned, are typically the most intensely itchy for your pet. The good news is it's also the easiest to get rid of because it just takes appropriate and effective flea control. Pets with flea allergies, dogs and cats, are totally miserable.

Two things come to mind in every situation that every veterinarian has to be aware of because of the public health concern, especially when you have children around. The first one we're always going to give consideration to is ringworm. A ringworm is not a worm. The name is misleading, but a fungus actually causes it. Kids can pick up ringworm from another classmate at school. A lot of times, we'll commonly see ringworm in cats than in dogs. So if you find a kitten on the side of the road, you bring them home, and after a couple of days, you start getting little red rings on your skin; we start looking into ringworm. Usually, you'll see areas of hair loss on the kitten.

It could show up on the face or anywhere on the body, but a fungus causes it. Unfortunately, they can be a bit of a nuisance to manage or eliminate. That's the more common type of skin condition that can be transmitted. The other one is called Sarcoptic Mange. We don't see a lot of it, and fortunately, it's very easy to treat, unlike ringworm, which could be a real nuisance. Sarcoptic Mange is highly contagious. It's caused by tiny little mites or insects that live in the skin, but it can primarily spread from our pets, our dogs. We don't really see it so much in cats. Our dogs may get it, transmit it to us, and likewise, we can spread it to another family member. You need that close contact for it to be transmitted because it is a mite in the skin, but it is easy to treat. That's the good news. Those will always be the first two considerations: ringworm or Sarcoptic Mange.

We don't see contact allergy dermatitis as much as we do the other forms of allergies. Contact allergies are primarily from either some sort of material or a plant that can cause an adverse reaction to the skin. The primary causes in dogs are drinking water or eating out of plastic or a stainless steel bowl, in which case, we recommend using a ceramic bowl. We generally see dogs with a lot of irritation around the face, nose, or chin. Those are common areas where contact allergy dermatitis from feeding bowls show up. Plants can also be responsible for contact allergies. We think of something like poison ivy. Obviously, we see a bad rash in people. It's possible to see that on a dog, but we generally don't see it nearly as often as in people.

Flea allergy dermatitis is an adverse reaction or reaction to a flea bite, causing your dog to have excruciating biting, scratching, licking, itching, chewing, hair loss, and developing sores. I want to make this very clear. Just because the dog has fleas does not mean they have an allergic reaction to flea bites. Every dog's going to bite and scratch and chew because of the fleas. But when we see these dogs coming in with hair loss, sores, and red and raw skin, they have true flea allergy dermatitis. Understand that not every dog that has fleas will have that intensive reaction, but those dogs that do have that adverse reaction are suffering a lot of discomfort.

Food allergy dermatitis is the third most common type of allergy we see. It is a reaction or what we call an adverse food reaction, which is primarily caused by the main protein in the diet that leads to skin problems for your pet. The most common skin problems we see are biting, scratching, licking, itching, and chewing, primarily on the face and around the feet, the armpits, up around the ears, and, in many cases, around the back half of the body or the groin area. So, tail end. That is the more common presentation of a food allergy. Common causes of food allergies are chicken and beef.

Dermatitis is the inflammation or irritation of the skin. It's as simple as that. We have a term called dermatology, which is the study of skin conditions.