[LuckyOne]

Hi everyone.

I am new here so please bear with me. Can anyone give me advice on bathing my two new Have's? They seem to like them, especially when they are over! But I think it may dry out their skin. I have used shampoo with conditioner and oatmeal shampoos. Have gone to the "quick and undirty" bathing routine when needed (butt bath)

Secondly, my pups scratch at their ears. Watson was checked and he has a bacterial ear infection. Einstein checked out alright. I will go broke if I take them to the vet everytime they scratch at their ears. Qtips come out clean on Einstein. Do your pups scratch a lot and what about ear scratching? How often do you get them groomed if it's just a pet grooming? I brush them daily and keep them in a medium cut. They have been to the groomer once and they will go about every 8 weeks. How often does the hair have to be plucked from their ears? Does that really help with the infections? I really don't understand this. Please advise.

Lastly, both pups do not soil their crate. They have gone at least 8 hours in the crate and no accident. They don't even seem anxious to get outside, just excited to see us. Almost as excited as we are to see them! When I do take them out I have to drag them into the wet grass. I understand that the cold wet grass is probably not pleasant for them but are they going to get over it? What's it going to be like in the middle of an Ohio winter?!?!? I have used treats to try and entice them into the grass (even chicken) no luck. When the grass is wet they don't hear the command "Come!" Any advice would be appreciated. I love this site. Don't know why I can't post pictures?

Thanks so much,
Trudy

 

[Renee]

Your pups are adorable! I use photobucket. Then you copy and paste the "IMG" line into your message on here....

I can answer your question about the wet grass. I've had this problem with Miley. The little princess does not like to squat in the wet grass so will go on my brick patio instead. So I've been putting a leash on her to take her outside. At first, I kind of had to pull her to the grass. Then she would get rewarded with a treat if she went in the grass. Now when I put the leash on her, she goes straight to the grass and does her thing. I will keep doing this til it gets really cold (Nebraska). Hopefully by then she'll know to go in the grass.

It is important to keep their ear hairs pulled if you don't go to the groomer often. I haven't mastered this yet, but I'm working on it myself.

How often are you bathing them?? I think the advice around here is every 7-10 days for baths. Miley usually gets a bath every Friday night.

 

[HavaBaloo]

Oh my, your little ones are just too cute! You must be having a ball with them.

I bath Baloo about every 10 - 12 days, if you are using a good shampoo and conditioner there shouldn't be a problem. I also take him to the groomers every 3 or 4 months.

They will get used to getting their paws wet and cold.

 

[DanielBMe]

You might also want to keep an eye out on possible allergies. Many times, ear infections are a direct result of allergies. Are you Havs scratching their underarms and or face/neck? Chewing on their paws? Keep an eye out on these things. It could be a food allergy or seasonal allergy. What food are you feeding your Havs?

I'm going through seasonal allergies right now with my two Havs.

 

[Jill in Mich]

You might want to put cotton balls in their ears when bathing them so they don't get water/soap in their ears, which can lead to infections. Also, I don't think you're supposed to use Q-Tips on pups because you can damage the ear drum?

There are differing opinions on plucking ear hairs. Some people/groomers feel it is unnecessary and no longer do it. Tess suffers from chronic ear infections because of her allergies but her allergist has never recommended plucking her ear hair.

Tess gets bathed weekly (or more often) in a medicated shampoo because of her allergies but Cody only gets a bath about once every 3 weeks.

You might find your pups don't mind the snow nearly as much as they do the wet grass although you may have to shovel a path through the snow so they can get through it.

And Welcome! Your pups are adorable.

 

[LuckyOne]

Thanks for getting back to me so quickly! They could have allergies. We have tried four different foods (slow changes) over the past two months. All kinds of foods including quite natural ones. The vet hates the raw food diet as they have found it has produced deformed puppies more than once. They are now on Purina One Puppy. We tried IIams, Nutro Natural Choice and Natural Balance brands. Their stools are finally good!!! Yeah!

The vet says the hair needs to be kept out of the ears. I guess I don't quite understand this. I have never done that for my Lab, Newfie or Saint Bernard! Is this a difference in a little dog or the breed? The vet showed me how to clean the ears and especially with an infection I must use the Qtips. If you go straight in and down it is almost impossible to get near the ear drum. He doesn't mind it at all. The one without the infection goes crazy and it takes three people. Watson I can do on my own! Go figure! How often do you wash their ears out? I have cleaner from the vet that I also use on the other dogs.

Jill where do you get the medicated shampoo? I would love to bathe at least once a week. Is that possible? Perhaps I should just try that. Yes Renee my pups will pee in the mulch in the morning but go into a flying squat when I go near that wet cold grass! Their 9 lbs suddenly becomes 90! lol

I pray that they like the snow because we can get a ton. Hopefully our Saint Bernard will be willing to forge a path for them!

Thanks again everyone. I love looking at your pups! It's my birthday so I will check in later for more advice. If you could recommend products too that would be great!

 

[Scooter's Family]

Hi Trudy and welcome! Cute doggies!!!

There's a site, www.dogfoodanalysis.com , that will give you information on food and the ratings for them. We use Merrick food, and Evo in the past, so you might want to visit that site and look at the ratings.

I do pull the hair from our dog's ears because Scooter had two infections. Since we've been cleaning their ears well neither has had one. You can buy ear cleaner at Petsmart or Petco, or find it online or at your vet, and I do that every time I bathe them. After you clean their ears with the cleaner it's much easier to pull the hair. Mine really don't mind it. If they're being groomed often you can also ask the groomer to do it.

I agree with placing a cotton ball in their ears during a bath, it will help keep the ears dry. Havs are more prone to infection because their ears flap over, a great place for bacteria to grow. YUK! What kind of products are you using to bathe them? We use Tropiclean because I love the way they smell and feel afterwards. I believe there was a thread about shampoo brands at one time, you could try the Search function and you'll get lots of info. My guys are usually bathed every 7 - 10 days unless they get really dirty in between. Make sure you brush out all matts before a bath or they'll just get worse. There was also a thread on favorite grooming tools if you want to search for that too.

Hope I don't sound like a "know-it-all", I'm far from it! Just passing on some stuff we've learned in the past year or so!

Looking forward to seeing more photos!!!hoto:

 

[murphymoesmamma]

Murphy gets bathed every week. Since he comes to work with me and goes in and out of the warehouse area he gets dirtier than when he is at home. I love Murphy's bath time, it is a great bonding time for us even though he isn't especially fond of getting wet. He sits very nicely for me to brush him but he gets really snarly when I have to work a mat out of his fur.

 

[rdanielle]

Hi Trudy! Your boys are adorable Welcome to the forum!

If your pictures don't upload it is likely that they are too big.

For the ears you can use Tea Tree Oil or find a Ear cleaner with that in the formula. It is very important that you pluck the hair in the ears as it can lead to infection and deafness over time. This happened to our families Silky Terrier when I was growing up.

Grooming:
Does the oatmeal formula have any oils in it? I haven't had much success with shampoos that are strictly oatmeal. Shea Pet makes a shampoo that has shea butter, oatmeal, lanolin & orange oils that always gets away the flakes and dander and leaves them shiny and soft.
http://www.sheapet.com/products.html

You might also look into a leave in conditioner or grooming spray as you can apply daily to help combat dryness. This is my new favorite spray! It made my girl smell like a sugar cookie & made her coat soft.
http://www.petco.com/product/103113...Spa-Spritz-for-Dogs.aspx?CoreCat=OnSiteSearch

Renee

 

[DanielBMe]

Thanks for getting back to me so quickly! They could have allergies. We have tried four different foods (slow changes) over the past two months. All kinds of foods including quite natural ones. The vet hates the raw food diet as they have found it has produced deformed puppies more than once. They are now on Purina One Puppy. We tried IIams, Nutro Natural Choice and Natural Balance brands. Their stools are finally good!!! Yeah!

If your vet told you that RAW has let to deformed puppies then I'd find another vet. I've never heard of anything so ridiculous lol. While I am a raw feeder, I do realize it isn't for everyone but everyone I've talked to finds that there dog does better on raw than kibble in general. You'll find most vets are against raw. But this book is a good read http://www.amazon.com/Pitcairns-Complete-Guide-Natural-Health/dp/157954973X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1253754483&sr=1-1

The problem is you are switching between very similiar low quality foods that all contain grains which is the leading cause of allergies in food. The number one thing you can do for your dogs health is providing a good quality food. As mentioned above, I can't stress this enough, do check out www.dogfoodanalysis.com and try to find a 5 star rated kibble or better yet a 6 star one (those are the grain free kibbles).