How often do you bathe your sheepie?
Right now, Jasper get a bath once every 7-10 days and brushed (both hair and teeth, lol) daily. Mainly to get him used it now as a puppy so he won't be a terror when he's older, and I express his anal glands with every bath (yuck..my least favorite part of grooming!). He's doing really great with baths, so I'm thinking about cutting them down to once every 2 weeks now. I'm not sure we can do any less, because our kids like petting him with sticky fingers! lol |
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| I bath Roger any time he gets dirty. As long as you use gentle shampoo you will be fine. I also use a one to 5 mixture of leave in conditioner and water to condition the coat I rinse it to distribute it but I do leave it in. Do watch for skin problems. I also use a 50/50 mixture of baby powder and corn starch which I sprinkle all over him whle he is damp, this helps with brushing him out and seems to help with his skin. |
| I used to bath Dancer that frequently as a pup too, now it is only once a month or every other month even becasue she is a clean dog. Sky gets bathed about once a month, but she could probably use it more frequently.
In regards to the anal glands, if the dog is having proper BM's it shouldn't need to be done at all, ever. Once it has been done frequently without reason however, it may always need to be done that frequently as they may never clean out naturally again. I would suggest you stop doing that, and wait for the vet to see if it actually needs to be done. My dogs have NEVER had it done. My old golden retirever Sam needed to have it done in his 13th year, but died soon after. The only reason it needs to be done is if the dog is not on a good quality food and the stools are consistently lacking firmness. A firm stool will naturally clean out the anal glands every time he poops. |
| I feel that provided you are using a good quality shampoo and conditioner once a month is great. When I worked for show people it was my job to get the dogs bathed every Friday morning. They never had any problems. I do my dogs twice a month and they are fine...but not OES'. Sorry. I get my shampoo at the vet's...it is a medicated shampoo.
As long as your dog is eating a proper diet and getting the required amount of fiber in that diet....there should be no reason to express the anal glands. When the glands are expressed on a regular basis those muscles become weak and therefore dependant on being manually expressed. If you continue to do the glands you are likely to experience problems down the road. It is also easy to rupture that area...then surgery may be required. Unless your vet has instructed you to express the glands...I'd stay away for it entirely. Just my opinion. |
| The glands.... here is how to tell if you need to express them. If the dog is rubbing its butt on the carpet etc. that usually means you have to express the glands. If they are doing that then you can vasilene up and feel the gland to see if it is enlarged because there are other reasons for rubbing the butt on the carpet. Otherwise do not express unless you are seeing or finding excretions. At that point you need to see the vet. And only after that, all other things excluded, infection etc. eliminated you would express the glands regularly. |
| What brand of shampoo/conditioner do you use on your OES? And you leave the conditioner in? Does that make it easier to brush? - I feel like I need to be brushing Duncan all the time to keep him from tangling. I don't think his hair is all that long, but it takes soooo much to keep him looking good. If I skip a day, then here we go with tangles! It's making me crazy.
I had read something in an OES book about using cornstarch in between baths to keep them looking fresh. |
| Actually, we were required to express anal glands every single time we bathed a dog. The vets here do it when they groom your pet also. If they get bad, they can become impacted, which leads to infection or even rupture. I was trained by a vet and vet techs, so I'm just going by what they told me. |
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