Caring for a dog’s coat can look stressful at first. For example, how often should I bathe my dachshund, and how much brushing and grooming does my dog need? Such questions can feel daunting to rookie dog owners but are actually pretty easy to answer. Let’s cover them one by one.
How Often Should I Bathe My Dachshund?
Dachshunds are a mostly indoor dog breed which means that they don’t spend nearly as much time outside as other dogs. This is great if you don’t want to have to bathe your dog too often. Yet, even dachshunds need to go out a couple of times a day and their low build does mean that their chests and bellies are closer to the ground.
So, on average, you can expect to have to bathe your dachshund about once a month. If you live in a colder and/or more rainy climate, more frequent baths may become necessary. Similarly, if you have a long-haired or a wire-haired dachshund, you may also need more frequent baths to keep your dog’s coat clean. If your dog has a certain coat or skin condition such as Alopecia or Acanthosis Nigricans, you may need to bathe and condition your dog’s coat and skin with specific ointments more often
Overall, you’ll need to bathe your dog whenever it is dirty – it’s as simple as that.
How Often Should I Brush My Dachshund?
That depends on many different factors – what type of coat does your dog have, how much time is it spending outside, how dirty does it get, what skin conditions, if any, does your dog have, and how much does your dog groom itself, and a few more niche questions. So, let’s go over each point separately:
- If your dachshund has a smooth (short) coat, you shouldn’t need to brush it very often – potentially as rarely as once a week. However, if you have a long-haired or wire-haired dachshund, you’d need to brush it more often, maybe even daily, to prevent matting and entangling.
- If your dog spends a lot of time outdoors or even if you don’t clean your home’s floor too often, your dog’s coat is going to pick up more debris and dirt than what’s expected. In that case, you’d want to brush your dachshund more regularly.
- If your dog has pretty much any skin condition, more regular brushing and grooming is almost important to keep the skin safe. As for self-grooming – dogs obviously don’t groom themselves as much as cats but they still try to paw or “bite” away debris, matting, and entangling when it gets too annoying. If your dog doesn’t do that often enough or at all, you’re going to have to pick up the slack.
Overall, our rule of thumb is that brushing your dog once every other day or daily is always a good thing. As long as you make it a pleasant habit, your dog will enjoy getting brushed every day.
Learn more about: Long Haired Dachshund Puppies And Everything You Need To Know About Them
What Other Grooming Does A Dachshund Need?
A healthy dachshund doesn’t have any special needs outside ordinary grooming. So, in addition to brushing and bathing, you’ll need to:
- Maintain your dog’s dental hygiene through chew toys and toothbrushing once a week
- Trim or file your dog’s nails from time to time as Doxies are mostly an indoor breed and don’t get to file their nails “naturally” by running in the dirt
- Keep your dog’s eyes and ears clean with wet wipes once a week to prevent infections
Should I Get My Dachshund To A Professional Groomer?
All of the above can be done easily at home once you get the hang of every individual step. That being said, with long-haired and wire-haired dachshunds, in particular, going to a groomer once or twice a year can help make sure that your dog’s coat is in perfect condition. The best time for that is in the spring and autumn, just before the seasonal shedding.
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