Embora Pets – Dedicated to pets of all kinds, with information from pet lovers and experts to help you know how to best take care of your family pet.

As a pet owner, you may worry about the proper way to take care of them and make sure they are healthy and happy. With a Sheltie, they have that thick coat that may seem like it holds onto almost everything that they may try to get into. If you own a Sheltie, you may wonder how often you should give them a bath. The recommendation for how often to bathe your Sheltie is just once every one to two months, unless your Sheltie gets dirty rolling around in the mud in the meantime. Shelties are really good at grooming themselves and giving them a bath more often will cause their skin to get dry and itchy. An occasional bath can be a good thing. Doing it too often can be harmful to your dog. Let’s take a closer look at how often you should consider bathing your Sheltie and why an occasional bath is more than enough to help them keep clean and feel amazing. How Often Should I Bathe My Sheltie? It is often recommended that you give your Sheltie a bath every one to two months at most. This may not sound like a lot, but it is plenty for this kind of dog. While many pet owners worry that only bathing their Sheltie a few times a year may make them dirty or may cause illness, your Sheltie is actually really good at grooming themselves so bathing is not needed as much as with other dogs. Most Shelties are good at doing their own grooming when they feel dirty, and it is not uncommon to see them do this once a day or so. Since your Sheltie is already taking care of their own grooming, you do not want to give them a bath too often. Doing so is going to strip away all of those natural oils in the coat, which can cause itching, flaking, and dryness on the dog. How Do I Know It Is Time to Give My Sheltie a Bath? There are a few methods that you can use to help you know whether your Sheltie is in need of a bath. You can keep it simple and write down a date on the calendar once every month or two months. When that day comes around, you can get everything ready to give your Sheltie the bath that they need. If you ever need to miss that date because of being busy, it is better to push the bath back a few days rather than have it early. Your Sheltie is good at keeping themselves clean and can make it a few extra days. Another method that works well is when your Sheltie gets smelly and dirty. If they run through the woods and they get all muddy, then it is time to give them a bath to keep their coat clean. If you notice that your dog is kind of smelly and you can hardly be around them for the smell, then it may be time to give them a bath as well. You can use this kind of test to help give your dog the bath when they need it, without doing it too often. How Do I Give My Sheltie a Bath? Bathing a Sheltie does not need to be difficult. To start, get them into the bathroom. Remember to make this into a positive experience that they are going to enjoy. Once they are in the bath, you will want to use some warm water to show them in the tub, putting the nozzle right against the skin. If you do not get the nozzle near the skin, then the outercoat will keep the water away and nothing will get clean. While you do this, take some extra caution around the ears of your dog to make sure no water gets in there and the dog does not get an ear infection. You can also use some cotton balls to clean around that area if you feel worried. As you clean your dog, consider using a shampoo that has been designed for your dog. There are a lot of good options out there but try to get one that is designed for those who have a double coat. You can scrub it gently into the fur of your Sheltie and then wash it all out to make sure none gets stuck inside and starts to itch your dog. When you are done getting all the shampoo out of the coat of your Sheltie, you should use a towel to gently pat the dog dry. Do not rub them down here. It is best if you are able to allow the Sheltie time to dry off naturally inside. If you are worried about having your wet Sheltie run around the home, you can use a blow dryer. Keep it at a low heat setting though and part the air as you go to ensure you get all of the layers. What if My Sheltie is Afraid of the Bath? There are some dogs that are naturally scared about taking a bath at all. They may run away and hide the second they hear the bath water begin to fill the tub. The good news is that most Shelties will not mind a bath and many even enjoy it. But on occasion you may get a Sheltie who seems to be afraid of the water and will refuse to go anywhere near it. If this is true of your dog, you need to use a few steps to help them get used to the idea and see that it is not as scary as they think. A good place to start is to bring in a lot of treats to make it a lot of fun and give them something to look forward to. Make sure that you are not turning the bath into a big deal because this can stress out the dog and make them more worried about taking a bath. Consider adding a rubber mat to the bottom of the tub. Many times the dog may feel uneven and slippery in the tub, and this can cause them some anxiety. If you notice that your dog is getting tense, you can give them some extra pets and reassure them that everything is going well. When they make a noticeable sign that they are relaxing, you can give them a treat and lots of praise. The more fun you can make the bath time experience, the less scared your Sheltie will be about taking a bath and getting clean. How Else Should I Groom My Dog Giving your Sheltie a bath often is going to make a big difference in how healthy they stay and how happy they are overall. With this in mind, there are a few other grooming options that you need to keep in mind to ensure the dog stays healthy as well. First, you need to brush their teeth. You should be doing this about four to five times a week to help keep those shiny. Brushing the teeth during the bath is a great way to help keep the teeth looking good and can save some time. But it does need to be done more often than the bathing. This will help your dog to have healthy teeth. Some healthy snacks can help with this as well. Even though you should not give your sheltie a bath all the time, it is perfectly fine to brush their hair to keep it mat free and looking good. It is recommended that you brush their hair at least two times a week. This will keep the hair smooth, helps with some of the shedding problems. It is best to do it at least once a month though so try to implement this into your schedule to help your dog feel as good as new again. Unless your Sheltie is outside and playing quite a bit, you will need to consider trimming their nails often. You should do this somewhere between once a week to once a month. It does depend on your specific dog and how quickly the nails start to grow. You can check out the nails to see if they are growing too fast and determine from there if you would need to trim the nails. Trim nails makes it easier for your Sheltie to run around without getting hurt so it is a great idea to keep up on it. Giving Your Sheltie a Bath It is important to give your Sheltie a bath on a regular schedule to ensure that they stay clean and do not get too smelly over time. Since Shelties are really good at washing up and grooming themselves, you do not need to give them a bath as much as other dogs. Scheduling a bath when the dog gets smelly, or once every one to two months will be enough to keep your Sheltie happy and healthy.

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