Top 5 Dog Allergies and How to Treat them:

Food, Bacteria, Fleas, Atopy and Contact

by Xiomara Iraheta

You may have thought that allergies were reserved to humans, but unfortunately man’s best friend shares similar seasonal discomfort with us.  While dog’s don’t manifest their allergies in the same way as humans do (runny noses and puffy eyes) they suffer from allergies all the same. Here’s a guide to equip you on a quest in detecting your pet’s allergies with some suggestions as to how to address them.

1. Food - Unlike humans, dogs aren’t born with food allergies.  Most food allergies are developed in response to certain foods they’ve eaten for a long time; often times proteins and grains are at the root of the problem. Look for organic, no-grain and non-rendered meats from: Honest Kitchen and Dogswell .

2.     Bacteria - There are numerous germs or Staphylococcus common to dogs. The trouble rises when your dog becomes allergic to one of them. You will begin to see small, round bald spots. The easiest way to treat them is by applying an antibiotic.

3.     Fleas - Those small insects cause big problems!  If you get them inside your house make sure to wash all your bedding in hot water and vacuum carpet thoroughly.  Flea bites on your pets often irritate their skin causing inflammation and other types of skin infections.  Make sure you cover all your bases with a spray such as Flea the Scene , a skin soothing insect spray with sunscreen. This all natural spray helps to keep fleas, tick and mosquitoes away for up to four hours and it also has a sunscreen.

4.     Atopy - Atopic dermatitis, Atopy and Canine Dermatitis are names for skin conditions in dogs, often those allergic to airborne allergens. Potential allergens can include pollen, dust mites, trees, weeds, mould spores, even people dander.  So whether the dog is inside or outdoors many allergens lurk in the air.

To protect your canines make sure to bathe and brush them often to remove pollens grasses and other allergens. Bathing dogs every week or as often as is necessary depending on the breed is important.  Since environmental allergens are usually absorbed through the skin, weekly bathing can prevent itchiness , washing allergens away before they get a chance to penetrate the skin.  If an allergen cannot be washed away or avoided, fatty acid supplements in the diet can help reduce skin problems.

5.      Contact - Contact allergy isn’t too common in dogs but it often proves to be the toughest one to spot. Taking a careful look in choosing your dog’s flea collar and avoiding certain fabrics such as wool and down in pillows can save your dog from a terrible itch or skin irritation.

Hopefully this list informs you of something that can help protect your dog from certain allergies.  As always, make sure to consult your veterinarian for any serious problems.

At happytails we are believers in experiential marketing– that is creating memorable experiences for your customers while they shop in your store.

This email came across and I thought you might find it interesting

The In-Store Marketing Institute’s I-Seminar Series Presents:

Generate Excitement Through the In-Store Experience

Connecting with shoppers in-store is the ultimate goal of shopper marketing efforts, whether you’re a manufacturer or retailer. Now, more than ever, getting noticed by shoppers requires focus on the elements and executions that carry the most weight with shoppers. In this I-Seminar, you’ll:

§ Find out if today’s shoppers are getting excited by what they see in-store.

§ See what is connecting shoppers and getting them engaged and excited in-store and which retailers are generating in-store excitement.

§ Hear first hand what 1,200 shoppers have to say about these and other topics in the 1st and 2nd quarter 2008 issue findings of Shopper Waypoints , a new strategic insights service from The Capré Group.

Don’t miss this unique opportunity!

Date

August 21, 2008

Time

1 - 2pm CST

Cost

$155

Enroll today!

Speaker

Patrick Fitzmaurice

Principal
The Capré Group

Enroll today!

2008 I-Seminar Series Sponsored By:

TAMPA - No matter how high gas prices go or how tough the housing market is, Angie Todd’s dogs will never go without the best.

“I’ll do without a steak dinner so my dogs can get groomed, and I think most people are like that,” the Winter Haven resident said. “They used to be just an object, but now they’re part of the family.”

Humans may be suffering from a slumping economy, but life is good for many pets. Standard & Poor’s estimates that the pet industry will grow by at least 5 percent annually in the next five years, including projected growth of 5.3 percent in 2008. Spending has skyrocketed from $17 billion in 1994 to an estimated $43.4 billion this year.

The analysts are impressed.

“If pets are considered part of the family - and are treated as such - we think this subindustry should be able to weather the negative economic issues that are currently hurting most retailers,” Standard & Poor’s analyst Michael Souers wrote in BusinessWeek.

This ever-increasing spending on pets is fueling a growth in high-end pet services, from pet spas and day cares to gourmet pet food bakeries. And although horror stories persist about pets abandoned by people mired in foreclosure or hard times, there are also owners willing to spend lavishly on their pets.

At one local pet store, doggie raincoats and organic, vitamin-infused pet food top the list of hottest selling items. New luxury pet resorts offer $40 stays in air-conditioned kennels. And at some local grooming salons, manicures and pedicures complement the traditional trim. Groomers report round-the-clock bookings, and grooming schools say many are clamoring to join their lucrative ranks, all because pet owners seem to find new ways every year to show their pets - and themselves - the value of their animal companionship.

Maybe we should have seen it coming, says Lynnette Hart, a professor of behavior and human-animal interaction at the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of California at Davis.

“People are living in smaller families; more people are living alone,” she said. “We’re not living in a household with eight or 10 people, so we have more space available to build relationships with the animals that we have. The whole feeling about the human-animal bond - the awareness - really took off in the 1980s, and it’s just been steadily increasing, the understanding of the importance of the relationships.”

People are now finding a variety of ways to express that importance with their pocketbooks.

“We sell a lot of polo shirts. I’ve even seen dogs with shoes and lifejackets,” said Tiffany Williams, a Petco employee who is training to become a groomer. “It’s amazing. People will spend 100 or more dollars on their dogs at once.”

Groomers Report High-Volume Business

The students at the Bay Area Pet Grooming Academy, which has drawn students from as far away as South America and Europe for its nine-week program, are banking on that trend continuing.

“They say this industry is recession-resistant,” said Veronica Ancliffe, who runs the academy in Tampa and said she is seeing more and more people leave jobs at corporate firms such as JPMorgan Chase to join her field, in which groomers can make as much as $100,000 a year. “People will go hungry before they let their pets go.”

Amy Grove, who owns a Tampa pet grooming salon, said she thinks a proliferation of dog-friendly restaurants and parks has made the way owners treat their animals much more visible.

“I’ve talked to customers who told me that they sacrificed their own hair in order to get their dogs’ hair cut,” she said.

Though much money spent on pets is for food and veterinary care, boarding and grooming services comprise a growing niche. The American Pet Products Manufacturers Association estimates that pet owners will spend $3.2 billion on pet services this year, about as much as we spend on educational toys for toddlers.

Marcia Lewis, a grooming student from St. Petersburg, said the booming business isn’t the only reason to enter the field - the former hairstylist prefers the clientele.

“I like the dogs much better,” she said. “Dogs are much easier to work with. We can control them.”

Kennels Making Themselves At Home

Grooming is hardly the only high-end pet service finding a niche in the Bay area. Just last month, a new installation of Camp Bow Wow, which markets itself as a “Doggy Day Camp and Overnight Camp,” opened near Tampa International Airport. Owner Barbara Cardin said she hopes such amenities as climate-controlled facilities, classical music at night and around-the-clock webcams of play areas will draw owners sick of smelly, traditional kennels.

“This old lady told me that she dropped off her dog to get some chores done, but she didn’t get anything done because she was mesmerized by the camera,” she said.

“I truly think that for some people their dogs are their children. There are some double-income, no-child families. … They don’t mind spending the money to make sure their dogs are safe and well-cared for,” Cardin said.

John Shope of Just Dogs Gourmet, which began selling hand-decorated dog biscuits in Tampa last year, said he has seen products and services that 10 years ago might have been regarded as excessive - for example, dog sunglasses - cross over into the mainstream.

“These people are coming in with a perception that the sunglasses, there’s a purpose to them; they’re buying them for their eyes,” Shope said. “They’re not looking at it as a novelty thing or because it’s trendy.”

Veterinary care has boomed as animals are now treated for ailments that in the past might have been ignored. The amount of money spent on veterinary care has grown from $7.1 billion in 2001 to an estimated $10.9 billion this year, according to the American Pet Products Manufacturer’s Association. In addition, a growing number of pets - half a million, according to one firm’s estimates - are now covered by health insurance.

And perhaps the most telling sign that many dogs really do have all of the things their owners have: the growth of pet law.

“I get a client a day. You don’t get that in regular law practice,” said Tampa lawyer Jennifer Dietz, who a year ago converted her practice to handle exclusively pet cases in response to high demand. Dietz handles many cases in which pet owners allege injury to their pets, and she also helps owners set up pet trusts.

Although many may recall with dismay the $12 million inheritance that New York socialite Leona Helmsley left to her dog Trouble last year, Dietz said most owners leave a much more reasonable $10,000 to $15,000 to ensure that their pets are not euthanized after their deaths. She said the law is catching up to the changing attitudes of owners, who now see pets as valuable family members rather than pieces of property.

“Eighty-six percent of America considers pets to be members of the families. How does a judge disregard that?” she said. “The best thing is that almost everyone on the jury has a pet, so they’re in favor of giving damages to owners who have been harmed.”

Reporter Jacob Schneider can be reached at (813) 259-7850 or jschneider@tampatrib.com .

According to a recent study, EpiCor, the key ingredient in Eyemunity , helped to reduce arthritis in animals.

EpiCor appears to do this by modulating the animals’ immune signaling system resulting in more appropriate signals and a modified immune response by the animal.

This study showed the animals receiving EpiCor had significantly lower arthritis scores at the end of the study compared to the control group.

Researchers continue to study the connection between nutrition and arthritis related to unbalanced immune activation. EpiCor is an immune modulating compound associated with promoting beneficial immune responses for the body.

To read the full study, click here

EpiCor is used in Eyemunity to help reduce tear staining in dogs. It helps to boost the immune system to fight the bacteria that cause the tear stains.

Epicor is a high metabolite immunogen. If you don’t know what that means, watch this video .

If your dog has tear stains there is hope and you don’t have to compromise your dog’s health with harmful drugs or chemicals.

Here’s another amazing video about Epicor, the main ingredient in Eyemunity. It’s a news segment that gives the history of how the product is made, research, benefits and more.

Los Angeles, CA, June 18, 2008: –Happytails Canine Spa Line, Inc., a producer of natural spa, grooming and wellness products for dogs has ‘gone green’ with it’s recent move to carbon neutral status through Carbonfund.org, and has converted almost it’s entire line to more eco-friendly packaging, including labels made from FiberStone™, a tree-free, low carbon footprint material made from natural chalk.

Lorna Paxton, “Top Dog” of Happytails said, “Taking care of our furry friends has always been a top priority for us, and taking care of our planet just feels like the right thing to do.” Paxton adds, “We already use all-natural, earth friendly ingredients for our canine spa products so updating our packaging to more earth friendly materials was a perfect fit.”

One ton of FiberStone™, which is made from calcium carbonate (natural “chalk”), saves 16,000 gallons of water, 9,000 BTU’s of energy, and 20 trees! FiberStone™ papers can also be used for labels, tags, unit cartons, boxes, brochures, catalogs, banners, and many other printed products.

“Water has become a precious resource and I wanted to help conserve more of it,” Paxton said. “When Label Impressions, Inc. showed me FiberStone™ labels and explained that this material was waterproof yet used no water in the processing I knew I just had to use it for our product labels!”

To learn more about happytails’ and their corporate responsibility efforts just click!

Label Impressions, Inc. is a carbon neutral printer dubbed “America’s Greenest Resource for Labels, Tags, and Flexible Packaging”. FiberStone™ label material is unique to Label Impressions, Inc. To find out more information FiberStone™ Papers please contact Label Impressions, Inc. at (714) 634-3466

PAWTY, PAWTY!

by Fran McCaskill

Doggie Birthday Parties are becoming the latest trend among pet owners. You, as a business owner, can capitalize on this trend as a way to engage your customers, build community, and oh yeah, to increase your sales!

Encourage your Customers to pamper their faithful companions by throwing a birthday pawty at your facility. Here are some profitable considerations and suggestions for a fabulous doggie party.

LOCATION: Although a backyard party at a home is an ideal location, many people don’t have this option. A boutique or doggie day care are ideal places to have a party. Consider making some space available primarily for social events. You could put together a ‘pawty pack’ with your facility available to rent for blocks of time, along with all of the other pawty accoutrement.

INVITATIONS: Sell doggie invites in your store. The invites could be breed specific to the birthday dog of honor. Check out Barktalk.com for some cute invites. You can also offer doggie "evites" with your store logo. But don’t get carried away! The Client should be advised to keep the attendee list to a reasonable number. Too many dogs canbe a recipe for a chaotic disaster!

DÉCOR: Keep an abundance of dog themed balloons, banners, tablecloths, plates, cups, napkins in stock, these add to the ambience and spirit of the occasion. Some fun items can be found at: www.funstufffordogs.com and GoodDogexpress.com

FOOD: Doggie Bakeries are key to a happy Birthday dog’s heart. No pawty would be complete without Treat Platter’s and Birthday Cakes. Three Dog Bakery creates scrumptious treats and cakes for such an occasion. Promote these items with sample "tastings". Dogs can choose what cake they are partial to prior to the event. Dogs are loyal customers, they never forget their first experience eating a slice of Birthday cake and will be drooling at the thought of one for years to come. Owners should be prepared for dogs enthusiastically diving head first into their cake. Keep wet wipes on hand, they come in useful to remove frosting smeared all over the face.

REFRESHMENTS: Make sure there are plenty of water bowls scattered around the location for the dogs and keep an eye on them that they are replenished. You can offer your client the option of having distilled water. Alcohol for people should be limited, no need for unruly adults setting a bad example at a dog party! Wait a minute, what am I thinking? With 50 dogs running around, alcohol will come in very handy for the human set

HAVE ON HAND:

• A potty station- check out petapotty
• poop bags (for those who miss the potty station)
• A bath replacement spray like Dry Dog Instant Clean . Dogs get very stinky when frolicking and you don’t want to send them home smelly!
• first aid kit
• wet-wipes
• If outdoors, a sunscreen & flea repellent such as Flea the Scene ” that will repel those pesky fleas & provide sunscreen.
• In addition you might find Dog Smog Remedy valuable (for bad breath and gas)for the odd dog that cannot contain his excitement for the occasion and comes down with a bad case of anti-social gas.

Etiquette: Invited dogs and their owners should possess good manners, have compatible personalities and be well socialized. A badly behaved aggressive dog is not worth the invite, nothing like a back yard brawl to bring the worst out in everybody and put an abrupt end to a good time. To avoid any misunderstanding the invites should point out that doggie drop off’s are not optional, each dog is to be accompanied and supervised by a responsible parent.

ENTERTAINMENT: Depending on your Client’s budget you can keep it simple or go all out and have a pawty that will be talked about in the dog park for years to come. Provide a games-coordinator to entertain the dogs, there are plenty of team-building activities to choose from that can get all participants interacting. Here are some suggestions:

Fancy Dress - Pick a theme or leave it open the imagination. Doggie guests should arrive in their attire.

Agility - Set up a small agility course to include a tunnel, a few jumps, weave poles and a low table.

Paddling Pool – For those dogs who just can’t resist splish splashing around!

Activity Corner – Set up a box of fun to include Frisbees, balls, stuffed kongs, tug of war ropes.

Contest – A judge to nominate the best candidate for the dogs performance in the following categories:

• Best Outfit
• Friendliest Dog
• Best Kisser
• Most Obedient
• Best Trick
• Most Vocal
• Don’t forget to provide prizes!

Organized Games – These can be a lot of fun:

• Hide & seek: The owner hides while the dog is being held with his back turned, once let off his leash he is rewarded upon locating his owner.

• Musical Mats – Owners walk their pets around in a circle to music, when the music is turned off both owner and pet need to locate the nearest mat & sit on it. The last dog to sit on a mat is eliminated. The last dog standing gets a prize!

• Simon Says – Dogs are given commands such as “Sit”, “Lie Down”, “Roll Over”, “Shake”, “Stay”. Last dog to obey is out.

TRAINER: Provide a trainer for the day to teach the doggie guests tricks.

SPA DAY: A day of relaxation. Provide a doggie masseuse, the dogs will think they’ve gone to doggie heaven and will thank you for it! To add to the relaxation process combine the massage with lavender-infused Calming Aromatherapy Spritzer . Followed the massage with a pawdicure using bowWOW Butter Balm - a treatment for dry cracked noses and paws!

GROUP PHOTO: Have a photographer on hand. Picture this, the Birthday hound surrounded by his buddies, always a crowd pleaser, don’t forget the party hats!

GOODIE BAGS: Every good dog deserves to be sent home with a goodie bag, in addition to some jaw-licking good treats you can include non-food items such as a bandanna to mark the occasion or some grooming products such as gift packs “Travel Dog Collection” or “Spa on the Go” . You can find some cute “It’s my Birthday” bandanna’s at: www.good-doggie.com

THANK YOU NOTES: A well mannered pooch knows the importance of social etiquette, thank you cards should be sent out for all those lovely gifs, stamped with a paw of approval of course. Suggest that the group photo is turned into a thank you card, not only does is provide a nice memory for the guest but it is another service your business can profit from.

Why not put together a "Pawty in a Box" to sell to your customers incorporating the items in this article-everything they’ll need to throw a canine birthday party. For wholesale items check out one of the online pet wholesale ordering sites like: PetManufacturers.com , WholesalePet.com and GoToRovers.com .

For other ideas for events to throw in your store click here.

Since four of us occupy the same bed (2 humans & 2 dogs) neither human sleeps as well as we used to (or does anything else as well in bed!)

The dogs crowd us in so it’s hard to turn over, not to mention the occasional jolt out of bed when the dogs start barking at some imaginary sound! I didn’t even think that my tiredness could be due to the dogs until I read an article from the Mayo Clinic about how pets do, in fact, interrupt your sleep.

We started giving our Maltese, RiQui, an all-natural herbal remedy called Sleepytime Tonic to help calm her down. She used to get up every night for a ‘walk about’ and to have a pee, bark at birds, bugs and shadows. While our sleep still isn’t 100%, RiQui isn’t as excitable and does tend to have a more restful sleep when we give her Sleepytime Tonic . Both humans are very happy for more reasons than one!

(By the way, that really is a photo of my husband, and one of our dogs…not staged!)

Here is the article from the Mayo Clinic:

Dog Tired? It Could Be Your Pooch

ScienceDaily (Feb. 15, 2002) — ROCHESTER, MINN. — You’ve heard that your spouse’s snoring can cause you to lose sleep, but what about your pet’s? John Shepard, M.D., medical director of the Mayo Clinic Sleep Disorders Center, recently asked that question to 300 patients who came to the center for a routine consultation. He found that many people with sleep problems were sharing their bedrooms with their cats and dogs.

“The results indicate that 22 percent of our patients are likely to have pets sleeping on the bed with them,” Dr. Shepard says. “That’s a significant number.”

Dr. Shepard notes that many common things in daily life affect sleep. The sleeping environment — especially sound, movement, light, temperature and humidity in the bedroom — plays a significant role in the quality of people’s sleep. Dr. Shepard became interested in how pets can disrupt people’s sleep after one patient reported that she frequently got up in the middle of the night to let the dog out and waited up to 15 minutes before returning to bed with her pet.

“After hearing that anecdote, I began to wonder how many of my patients were sleeping with pets and how much the pet interrupted sleep,” he says.

Between February and September 2001, Dr. Shepard surveyed 300 patients seen at the Mayo Clinic Sleep Disorders Center to determine the frequency and severity of sleep disruption that may result from family pets. He found the following:

* 157 of 300 patients (52 percent) had one or more pets, primarily cats and dogs.

* Nearly 60 percent of the patients with pets slept with their pets in the bedroom. When a dog was permitted to sleep in the bedroom, it had a 57 percent chance of being allowed to sleep on the bed.

* Of the pet owners, 53 percent considered their sleep to be disrupted to some extent every night, but only one percent felt that their sleep was disrupted for more than 20 minutes per night on average.

* Snoring was reported in 21 percent of dogs and seven percent of cats.

* Cats were more likely to be allowed in the bedroom and on the bed.

“I suspect that the degree of sleep disruption experienced may be significantly greater than the owners admit, but I have no objective data,” says Dr. Shepard. “Every patient has to weigh the advantages and disadvantages of sleeping with pets and make a personal decision about the sleeping arrangements in the household. Some people are very attached to their pets and will tolerate poorer sleep in order to be near them at night.”

June 2008 <http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2002/02/020215070932.htm>

Your best friend may not be switching to white shoes and moving to Florida any time soon but as he approaches retirement age there are a few things you should consider. Not only are we living longer but are pets are too. Approximately 40% of the nations dogs are seniors; 18 million dogs over the age of 7.

The 18- to 20-year-old dog or cat will be a relatively common occurrence in the next 10 years," says Greg Troy, an internist at Virginia Tech’s College of veterinary medicine.

And whether it is human or canine, an aging population has special needs.

You are what you eat
The first thing to consider is diet, as dogs age, their nutritional needs change. As their energy level subsides so should their caloric intake. We all know what happens if it doesn’t. Obesity is a common health problem in older dogs. It can lead to joint problems, which decreases activity, which only exacerbates the problem. There are many really healthy foods out there one of our favorites is Verve from Honest Kitchen it’s a great all natural food specifically designed for older and less active dogs.

As your dog ages it’s important to exercise him regularly, any muscle, whether human or animal will atrophy if not used so it’s essential for your dog’s continued health to get off the couch and move.

You look marvelous
Another common development in older dogs is the graying and thinning of the hair. This is often accompanied by a dry coat and itchy skin. One way to mitigate these effects is to give your dog fatty acid supplements like Omega 3 and 6 ; they help provide essential nutrients that may otherwise be missing from his diet. Another great way to help is regular treatment with a high quality deep conditioner like Fur Butter or fur worse . The all-natural colloidal oatmeal will help relieve the dryness while shea butter and calendula improves the texture and softness of the coat.

It’s also very common for older dogs to develop calluses; they’re less active, spend more time laying down and therefore place a greater stress on the skin of the elbows and legs. If you don’t already have one, this is the perfect time to buy your little guy a bed, it will not only make him more comfortable bit will help prevent this problem. We suggest Jax and Bones or Eloise and of course it’s always smart to have a container of Bow wow butter Balm handy to help heal dry cracked paws, calluses and rough skin.

A little hope for arthritis
And no discussion of aging would be complete without a few words about arthritis and hip dysplasia. Both conditions are common in older dogs, especially the larger breeds that carry weight on their joints and breeds like Dachshunds and Bassets who are particularly prone to intervertebral (IV) disc disease. Of course Glucosamine is an excellent supplement for this problem but new research is pointing to collagen as a great way to help rejuvenate joints. A new product Joint Resolution has a particularly effective blend of BioCell Collagen II, chondroitin and organic herbs. It’s specially formulated for dogs.

And finally, there has been much discussion about the pro’s and cons of pet insurance. Obviously as your dog ages he will probably need to see the vet more often, need to take more medication and may even require expensive surgery. We have health insurance for the dogs at happytails and have found it a cost effective way to keep them healthy. I spoke to Lorna Paxton about the topic and she had this insight: "I was inspired to check out insurance after one $600 trip to the vet."
I found these two sites that really helped me pick the right plan"

www.petinsurance.com
www.aspcapetinsurance.com

Live long and prosper

The oldest dog on record lived to be 29, but with advances in veterinary science the era of 30, 40 and 50 year old dogs may not be far away. But as the saying goes "it’s not the years in your life that count it’s the life in your years ". With care and understanding your best friend can live not only a long life but also a healthy and enjoyable one.

References
www.peteducation.com

www.usaweekend.com

Most advice you find on the internet recommends washing your dog just several times per year!

Either these people have outdoor dogs or the articles were written a long time ago when the quality of pet shampoos was very poor! Times have changed! Today, dog’s enjoy shampoos and conditioners that are on par with the best human shampoos- that don’t have harsh chemicals and that don’t strip the hair of all of it’s oils.

The arguments against washing your dog too often are generally about stripping the coat of natural oils. The more often you wash something, the more often the sebum (oil) is going to be removed. Think about your own hair. If you don’t wash it, what happens? It gets oily. Is the oil good for your hair? Probably, but we wash our hair everyday anyway so that it’s clean!

There are several factors you should consider when deciding how often to wash your dog which include:

1. Does your dog live indoors or outdoors, and does your dog sleep in your bed?

If your dog lives in your house with you and more importantly, if he/she sleeps in your bed, then you are probably going to wash your dog regularly–depending on the breed anywhere from once a week to once a month. I know this is radical thinking, but, if your dog sits on your sofa, you probably don’t want him dragging in dirt, poop, insects and other grime onto your sofa. So, the trade off is that your dog’s coat ~might ~ be marginally drier but you will have a fresh smelling dog that you can cuddle without the fear that gross stuff is getting into the sheets.

2. Breed of dog

Dogs that have dry skin can be bathed less frequently than dogs with oily skin. Harsh-textured coats repel dirt pretty well so they don’t get as dirty as a soft-coated dog. Dogs like Maltese, Yorkies, Afghans and Shitzus should be bathed once a week. Harsh-coated breeds, like Shelties and Collies, can be bathed once a month. If you’re not sure, remember, a clean dog is a happy dog!

One of my dog’s is a Maltese and I can’t imagine washing her less than once every week. Little white dogs pick up lots of dirt and by weeks end they are looking brown instead of white. Also, I hate to mention it but long-coated dogs get those famous cling on poops stuck to their bottoms.

My other dog, a Westie, who has a thicker coat, doesn’t lget so dirty, but, I have to wash her every week due to the next point– allergies.

3. Is anyone in your household allergic to dogs?

If so, you SHOULD groom & bathe them as often as possible. According to the American Lung Association, doing so will help remove the dander that accumulates on a pet’s fur.

I am allergic to one of my dogs and when I don’t wash her once a week I get wheezy and sneezy.

4. What activities does your dog partake in?

Do you take your dog to the dog park? Does you dog play in the sand or dirt? Does your dog roll in the grass or go swimming or hiking? What about sniffing butts, eating poop or drooling?

Well, if you have a normal dog, she probably partakes in several of the above activities– all of which warrant regular bathing. Again, you have to think of the trade off. Your dog’s coat may be marginally drier HOWEVER, he will be cleaner, smell better, and most important you will be more likely to give a clean dog lots of love. Those smelly dogs we tend to keep at arms length.

5. Does your dog suffer from itchy skin?

Unlike humans who absorb most environmental allergens through their noses and mouths, dogs tend to absorb allergens through the skin. Weekly bathing can prevent itchiness , washing allergens away before they get a chance to penetrate the skin.

So at the conclusion of all of this — the answer for MOST dogs is to wash them once every week to once a month, depending on the above circumstances.

But remember, use a gentle pet shampoo and conditioner . Do not use your own shampoo. Click here for an article of why you should not use your own shampoo on your dog.

Also, if you simply can’t wash your dog for a prolonged period of time you can use a dry shampoo, like Dry Dog Instant Clean - This is a really effective spray on bath replacement that helps to get rid of bad odors. Also, if you feed your dog a non-commercial, all natural and organic diet chances are your canine companion will be less smelly. Our favorite is a dehydrated raw pet food from the Honest Kitchen .