How Often Should Retrievers Be Bathed? (Golden and Labrador)

As per CBS News, Golden Retriever dogs are most famous in the USA. Everyone seems to be loving their golden fur coat which looks amazing to the eyes. The glaze when light falls on that fur is too good. The only issue that retriever owners face is how to maintain the fur of their dog.

A lot of patience and time is required for proper grooming of the retriever dog’s fur. This grooming process includes some activities like shampoo, bathing, comb and removing extra fur, etc. This is an ongoing process but the question that gets asked should these activities daily, alternate days or what should be the frequency of grooming a retriever.

How often should Golden Retrievers be bathed? The maximum you can go without giving both should be no more than 45 days and that is to the extreme end. On the minimum waiting time, I always recommend it to be once every 15 days. In fact, if you bath your golden retriever in a gap of 2 weeks then you are doing great. Giving them a bath too often can be bad for their coat as there are some essential oils that give that glaze to their fur. Too frequent baths with shampoos followed with dry hot air blowers will cause a bad affect on these oils.

On my Instagram account, I had asked this question in a story about “How often should Golden Retrievers be bathed?” The owners with golden retrievers responded with various numbers and the average was 10 days.

Social media is a great way by which I keep in touch with dog owners and I always engage with the family over there about important topics on dog grooming.

What the Professionals Say

My good friend Eric Pollard and professional dog trainer who focuses on Golden Retrievers only also suggested “I always observe the dog’s skin, fur, and other medical issues if any before giving a number on how frequently to go for bathing your dog. However, the maximum waiting time I suggest is 30 days.”

I have also asked this question offline to a professional dog grooming service center in Idaho and their response was:

Phil, it’s all about the liking and behavior of the dog. Whenever a retriever comes to us for bathing and grooming, we have an oral questionnaire for the dog’s parent about how much the dog loves to get wet in water or mud. How frequently does he love to go out? What are his likes and dislikes with regard to him being groomed? For example, some dogs get triggered by the hot air from the blower.

The best way to find if it’s time for the retriever to be bathed is to look at his coat’s shine. If the shine is fading away then it’s a signal to reduce the frequency of baths because the loss of shine signals loss of oils in the skin and bathing is going to reduce the amount of oil in his skin. In such cases, you can use a grooming glove to remove the extra fur coat to keep the dog look good.

Apart from the opinion of a dog grooming expert, I also wanted to reach out to a vet “Niel Mandonca” in my area and the response was:

The frequency of bath is one thing but most often people forget about the quality of products to be used for grooming. The ingredients of these grooming products like shampoo etc affect the skin and coat over long time use.

Hence it becomes so important to keep a check on what products are being used. He recommended me Best Shot Ultra Wash and Plenish conditioner. You can use this mentioned product even if you are giving your retriever a bath twice a week.

Having spoken to experts from dog salon owners to vets and friends, I can say that about 2-4 weeks is a good time to wait before the next bath. If the dog runs into too much mess like poop then it can be treated as an exception and you can give him a bath at that time.

Every Golden Is Unique In His Own Way

The most common answer that I have received is 4-6 weeks and that they don’t need to be bathed too frequently. The above is a very general timeline for an average retriever and is bound to be changed as per the condition of the specific retriever for whom the advice is being sought. We go over some of the real-world scenarios in this section.

From my experience, I can say that how your golden walks and plays in the out is an important thing to notice. When he is out and playing, does he like to get wet and get dirty in the mud? If the answer is strong yes then you may need to increase the frequency of baths.

However, you won’t worry much about bathing him, if the golden walks on sidewalks or loves to stay indoors.

Apart from the above things, some other conditions that affect your dog’s bathing frequency are:

Skin Allergy
Specific product relates to allergies
Physical Activity
Likeliness to water exposure

As you may have noticed that these conditions also affect the process followed for bathing your dog.

Also, the products used in bathing the dog plays a significant role in the overall wellbeing of the dog after bathing. These products include shampoo, soap, and conditioner.

Why Is Bathing Your Golden Important

In this section, let me go over the benefits of bathing your dog. The very first benefit is to remove smell from your dog.

It also helps to create a better bond between yourself and the dog. As you keep on spending time with your four-legged member, the dog gets well with you and will treat you with more respect.

He will love to enjoy your company and the connection between the two of you is only going to get stronger.

When your golden roam around in your home, you get worried about your furniture and belongings. Goldens shed a lot of furs. When you groom and take care of your retriever then you remove the extra fur off his skin and hence you save a lot of cleaning of your household items later on.

Cons Of Not Giving Bath To Your Dog

When you don’t give a bath to your Golden Retriever, a whole lot of issues can arise.

The most common and easily noticeable is the stink that would start to come out when your golden is not having a bath for the longest term. When you don’t groom your dog at proper time intervals, the shedding is also going to increase which no one is going to like in your home.

Apart from the stink and shedding, the amazing shine of your golden for which everyone admires him will start to get gross.

Since the stink issue is an obvious one and no-one wants to get a bad compliment for their beloved dog, they would bath him too frequently. This is an opposite problem where dog owners end up bathing their dogs too often.

What Happens If You Bathe a Dog Too Much?

As I discussed in the above sections, bathing your golden too much will deplete the oils present in his coat. Giving a bath 2-3 times a week is a strict no-no in any case.

Frequency bathing also increases the risks of allergies and dry skin in the long term. The irritation on his skin is going to get increased with more frequent baths.

Now let us give some attention to the winter season and colder days. Obviously, if the dog doesn’t get dry properly, he is bound to get cold.

Best Shampoo for Retrievers

The products that you use in bathing your golden are critical when used for the long term.

A shampoo filled with a lot of chemicals is bound to harm the skin when it used for months and years regularly. When this happens, it is not possible to get back that exact shining skin and coat that everyone admired.

You should never even think of using human shampoo for dogs.

The ingredients used to make human shampoo are not well suited for a dog’s skin and can make their nose or skin irritation.

A shampoo product that is low on chemicals will do wonders for your golden. These shampoos will specifically indicate that they are made for dogs’ skin. Since you are going to use the shampoo all over his body, it is so important. A light shampoo will not result in any kind of allergy or dry skin.

If you want a recommendation from me then I can say that the product by Furminator has always been good for my 4 dogs. The same company also makes Conditioner as well.

Places To Wash Your Golden Retriever Dog

You may think that it doesn’t matter as you also take a bath in your home bathroom. But the important point to note here is that if he roams around with his wet body and paws, you are going to have a hard time taking care of the items in your household.

When you have given baths to your retriever so many times then the above may not be a problem as you and he will be accustomed to having a bath indoors.

However, if it is the other way around where the dog simply won’t co-operate with wet paws then you are on his mercy. In this scenario, you have to take other actions as I discuss below.

You cannot risk bathing a dog indoors when he is hyperactive. The ideal place in this situation is to take him outdoors where even he runs around, you are not worrying. This will not only give you peace of mind but also to your family members.

When it comes to outdoors, there are a couple of places that are recommended.

There are dog salons everywhere these days. Many of them advertise themselves on Google too. You can take your dog to their place and they will handle everything for you. They use a leash when bathing the dog. You have less work to do in this case as you are paying someone else to do the job for you.

The other world-famous place is the backyard or the lawn in your home. Dog love to go pee and poop in backyards so it is a place that they are accustomed to. You can take them there and use the open space to bath hi, freely without any worries. Winters may be tough in this case but using backyard in summers is a no-brainer.

Some people also use their swimming pool which is also a good idea. Again, it is good in the case of the summer season.

References

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