Yes, absolutely. Your dog should be on flea control, whether they go to the groomer or not. We do see fleas outside for nine months out of the year in this area. Fleas will live inside the other three months out of the year, meaning January, February, and March. Typically from April all the way to December, we do see fleas. You don't want your dogs to have fleas in the first place, and the groomer sure as heck doesn't want you bringing a flea-infested dog into their facility. Even though they would be able to bathe your dog, they may or may not have flea products. That's not what they're there for. The good news is we've got great flea products. We can take care of that problem. With vaccinations, there are a couple of considerations. Rabies, of course, is required by law. That's a given, and I promise you, every groomer will want to ensure that your dog is vaccinated for rabies. Why is that? Quite simply because people can get rabies as well. This is not just a dog or a cat problem. This is potentially a people problem as well. That's why it's mandated that every dog and cat be vaccinated for rabies. Horses too. They're vaccinated for rabies as well, for those of you who have horses.

For the other vaccines, we recommend distemper parvo for every dog and cat because it does not require contact with another dog to get the distemper and parvo. Lastly, the other one we strongly recommend is the Bordetella vaccine. Most groomers won't require a distemper parvo or the Bordetella because there's no human contagion with those. However, there is a high risk of transmission from one dog to another dog, even if they're not in direct contact with one another. If your kid is a kindergartner and two or three kids are coughing and sneezing, you probably don't want to take them to school that day because they're going to come down with something. The same thing goes for if somebody unknowingly takes their dog to a groomer and they might have an upper respiratory infection or kennel cough of some sort. They can easily spread it to the other dogs in the facility, even if they're not in direct contact. So, by all means, I highly recommend the distemper parvo as well as the Bordetella vaccine. And, of course, the rabies vaccine is required by law.

As far as getting a bath at home goes, it is up to you. Often, a lot of dogs just don't cooperate, and what should be a 20, or 25-minute experience turns into an hour circus. Nobody wins in that situation. Your dog's traumatized, and you're traumatized. No, don't do it. It's just easier to try to take them someplace else to be bathed. We often find that sometimes just getting your dog out of the environment helps. Maybe take them to a local farm supply or feed store, someplace where they do have do-it-yourself bathing. We have a couple of locations where that is available, and a lot of people love to take advantage of that because they don't have to destroy their own bathrooms and get them all wet, and dogs are shaking all over the place. Let them do it someplace else, not in your house. During the summertime, do it outside if you need to. But as far as the mechanics of actually doing it goes, it really boils down to if your dog cooperates or not. If they do great, try it yourself. If not, by all means, take them to a groomer. Especially if you are going to get a haircut, they will also be bathing them.

No. Contrary to the mythology that you hear or read on the internet or hear from a lot of veterinarians, there isn't a "too often" to bathe your pet. Think about it. You get the Labrador that goes into the water every day. Is that too much? No, not at all. What does matter if you're going to be bathing your pet is the shampoo. There are different shampoos for different purposes. We would have some shampoos for dogs with excessively oily skin, for example, if we had a Cocker spaniel with an oily texture to the coat. We want to dry those dogs out somehow. We want to degrease and get some of the oils out. But in general, the vast majority of the shampoos and the ones you would typically buy off the shelf, no, you could bath those dogs on a regular basis. There are a couple of considerations. We carry about three or four different shampoos for specific purposes. I have one that we use for general purposes. It's an aloe and oatmeal shampoo. You've got aloe in there, which is a skin moisturizer. The other component, oatmeal, has a little bit of an anti-itch benefit to it. You can bathe your dog every single day, and you're not going to dry their skin out if you use that combination.

I realize a lot of clients are not able to bathe their dogs with any regularity, and that's fine. Worst case scenario, you can at least take a wet cloth, not a pet wipe or not a baby wipe, a wet cloth, and just get your dog damp with a towel or a towelette. If you can do that regularly, at least that's something you can do to try to help with your dog's skin coat. You cannot bathe your dog too often if you're using an appropriate shampoo. Then it becomes a matter of how cooperative your dog is and how much time you have. If your dog isn't really cooperative with getting a bath, if it turns into a rodeo, I don't recommend it because everybody's exhausted from the experience. But if your dog likes to get in the shower with you, go for it. That's fine. Do it as often as you want to. I like an aloe oatmeal shampoo. It is the general shampoo that we do have other shampoos, uh, for specific, uh, health purposes for skin purposes.

I would call your veterinarian immediately if they do eat that and let them know what they ate, when they ate it, and how much they ate. Depending on what it is, we can go from there.