How often do you guys groom your Doberman?

[Rich S]

Just curious how often you folks brush and bathe your dobes.

We have not given Magnum his first official bath yet. We get his nails trimmed every 4 to 5 week though.

[MLR]

Hi Rich S,

I usually bath my two dobes about once a month; not so often in the winter months. I only have a shower stall but they fit into it. My male hates this so I have to put a leash on him to get him in there. The female isn't so bad. I use a detergent free shampoo I buy from my vet deluted by 3/4 with water so it goes farther. I only have to clip my females nails. My male hates this procedure so much that he pretty much cleanly chews his nails so that I don't have to do his any more. I swear his nails never get to the point that they curl over anymore and they're nice and smooth. The female I've had to tranquilize to get this done in the beginning because of a nasty experience with some overzealous vet tech who trimmed her nails way too short when she went in to be spayed at 6 months old. But she's getting better about it with positive reenforcement. I still have to chain her to a kitchen stool and put a muzzel on her because she has bitten me in the past, but she doesn't have to be tranqed anymore which is a relief.

I did read somewhere that a good wipe down with a solution of 1 tbs of bleach and 1 tbs of baby oil in a gallon of warm water will suffice to keep their coats clean and shiney, and their skin free of most infections, without going through the whole bath routine but I haven't tried that because one or the other of them usually really needs a full bath owing to them occaisionally throwing up in their crate at night or it being really muddy outside. If I'm doing one and geting all messy I might just as well do the other, too.

And, despite both of them not being really fond of baths (all I have to do is say that word out loud and my male runs for cover to his crate), they both like the praise they get after I'm done and I tell them how pretty they are. Then they prance around and it's like their saying 'look at me, am I not the most beautiful dog in the world?'.

Mary Lou

[jelly8bean]

I groom (ie comb) my blue about once a week. She has an amazing coat and I would never have expected it of a dilute color. Sara, my red, gets lots of hand oils from petting. I bathe them about 2 times a year.. spring and late summer when it is warm and I can do it outside. I have yet to know a dobie who liked water (though I saw some swimming one's on youtube). Mine are clean animals and I make sure I clean their crates/bedding frequently.

For nails I have moved completely to dremeling. Sara was so scared of the nail clippers it was very difficult so I read about dremeling and finally bought one. Just as they were coming out with all those peticure commercials. It took about 3 weeks of pretty much daily work to get my three dogs all used to it. Lots of treats and patience, but now Sara rushes over and lifts a paw when I pick up the dremel.. Indigo lays down (mostly) and Roxie (my rottie) rolls over and puts her feet in the air. Much better. I dremel about once a week to keep everything neat. Why is it that the hind feet nails are always shorter than the front feet? Humm.. must be about how they use their legs..the footing is the same (mostly carpet for my indoor babies)

[triplecminis]

I bathe them sometimes twice a week... mine love water and jump in the tub and wait till I get their towel ready then they jump out and they love for me to dry them off... it is so cute.....

[Rich S]

I bathe them sometimes twice a week... mine love water and jump in the tub and wait till I get their towel ready then they jump out and they love for me to dry them off... it is so cute.....

That sounds so funny. You will have to get a picture of that and share it.

[Sue J]

Nail trimming scares me to death! In the past our dobes kept their own nails short and nice so we never had to do it. I forgot to ask the vet on Jett's visit. It might sound dumb but, I can't figure out where the quick is on the black nails. Where's the dividing line?

[MLR]

The quick is just a whisper behind where the nail begins to curve over as it grows out. You can almost tell where it is by looking on the underside of a doberman's nails. Since I've cut into the quick with both the dremel and the clippers though, I only go as far as taking most of the curved over part off with the clippers now and that's all. It means more times a month clipping but I only have to do the female. Her's grow amaingly long real fast. Nicking the quick wouldn't be such a problem but my male has Von Wilebrands and it's real hard to stop him from bleeding if I mess up here at home. Thankfully he keeps his filed, or chewed, down by himself after a couple of experiences with both the clippers and the dremel of my accidentally cutting into the quick on him.

Mary Lou

[jelly8bean]

Black nails are hard to judge for where the quick is.. that is one of the reasons I dremel. I never do too much at once, I would rather do them a couple of times a week than quick them since they are so sensitive. I posted a link a bit ago on how to dremel that is very good.. check it out.

[Sue J]

Thanks, I'll see if I can find it when Jett's get long enough. Right now they're still short. Maybe I'll be lucky and she'll trim them herself.

[DynamicDuo]

I bathe my dogs as soon as they start really getting stinky. My friend works at Petco as a groomer and charges me next to nothing to bathe them. She also does their nails. I would say I cut their nails once every 5-6 weeks and bathe them once every 2 to 3 months. I try to brush them once a week too.

Here in Pa, the weather stinks in the fall and spring. What I mean by that is it RAINS a lot, and my backyard becomes a muddy bowl of soup from 2 BIG dogs running around in it. So my new way of dealing with my BLACK dogs showing up at my door as BROWN dogs; I towel off their feet, then crate them till the rest of the mud dries if it is bad, then brush them outside! Otherwise I let one dog out at a time so they don't get as messy playing. OR they get a BATH at home!

[tld]

We're still newbies after only a couple of months, but Friday is such a trooper! I only dremel as well, about once a week, just taking off a tiny bit. I was lucky to have a friend help the first couple of times, and reading about it here http://homepages.udayton.edu/~merensjp/doberdawn/index.html helped. While she's not crazy about it, she'll let me do one paw at a time, with lots of treaties in between! As for the bath, we're on a weekly schedule there too, (right now she's going thru a really stinky skin something) She was very hesitant at first, and darn awkward to pick up with those long legs, but now when I lead her to the bathroom, she jumps into the tub. I'm still thinking I won the doggie lottery when we found her!

[fritz'mom]

My Fritz gets a bath about once every two weeks. My husband is very sensitive to the "dog" smell, if it wasn't for this I would wait longer in between. He really doesn't mind the bath at all. He stands very still, even when I am rinsing his face. We have one of those shower heads that has a hose on it to make it easier to rinse the pooches. However, I just read something on another site the other day about using 30% listerine and 70% water in a squirt bottle for the in between bath freshen up. Just towel dry afterward. I went today and bought the supplies to try this on my Dobe and English BD. I am hoping for good results!

By the way tld, I think it sounds like you have a great dog there. I can also relate to the stinky skin thing! My English has this problem due to excessive yeast in her skin. I don't know what your Friday's problem stems from but it really helps my English if I give her about 1/2 to 1 cup of plain yogurt with active culture in it per day. This only helps though if the problem is from yeast, but it certainly won't hurt if its not!

[tld]

Thanks for the yogurt tip ~ I will definitely try it! Would much prefer homeopathic solution to chemical/meds.

[tld]

Just an update ~ we kept Friday on the antifungal and Benadryl for the full 2 weeks, but not seeing an improvement. Vet wants to do a skin biopsy and full blood workup. Since the flaking skin and yeasty smell are bothering ME, not her, and there doesn't seem to be an itch problem, I've opted for medicated shampoo and will be trying yogurt before subjecting her to any more vetting than necessary.

[jelly8bean]

Good idea.. sometimes we have to rein in the vet tests, just like we do our own doctors. Have you asked about the impact of diet?

[lab1dobie]

When Lucy starts to get dry skin moving to the top of her coat and/or if her coat's looking dingy I take her up to a local pet supply center where they have doggie baths and give her a good bath. She likes it and they provide all the shampoo, conditioner, towels, ear cleaner, cotton balls and even aprons for us while we groom them!

[SnuzerDog]

Deano gets a shower/shampoo about every 3 weeks. We use a shampoo that helps reduce shedding along with a rubber bristle brush and you should see the fur that comes off of him! When he dries his coat feels awesome and has a slight tropical fruit smell :) . The shampoo is Furminator De-Shedding shampoo, and it's not cheap but it does work well- really reduces shedding for the next couple weeks. At first he was really hesitant and scared in the shower, but now it's getting easier. I scrub him down, rinse well and repeat! The second go-round really makes a difference.

Bought a toothbrush for him, but haven't tried it yet, need to do that. Also want to start doing ear inspections and cleaning. Had his nails trimmed at the vet in November, they need it again now; luckily I got the Dremel I asked Santa for so now need to embark on that adventure... :D Thanks for posting the link to the excellent page on this procedure, Jelly8bean!

[fatwilly]

I have a 4 year old blue female, who, while she doesn't have most of the skin issues a lot of blues have, still gets an odor that's beyond "doggy" and I bath her lightly every week. once a month she gets a good shampoo and a rinse conditioner and she loves her bath time.
My son's ( that I have custody of now) one year old male has been trained to enter the shower on his own but he still doesn't like it. Reminds me so much of my son when he was in grade school !! He has the male dobie smell that I think comes from peeing on EVERYTHING he sees. I wipe him down with a wet cloth and some mild soap and a good scaling once a month.

[violator]

i tend to bath my two every couple of days, but thats because its always raining in glasgow so there always muddy, and they tear through anything, they dont care what it is they will run through it they go walks with me for miles through the open fields too, my dobie is black and tan, but after his tear through the fields he looks brown, thats how dirty he gets even along the top of his back is brown, so i shower them down dont use any products...just warm water and it falls off then they tear round the house like crazy, always do after a shower...they will run round like mad till i lay a big beach towel on the floor then they dive on it and rub themselves on it like crazy to dry themsleves, the dobie is normally dry in ten mins all by himself.