Doberman Puppy Hygiene and Care
Keeping a Healthy and Tidy Doberman Puppy (page 1)
It is also wise, before bringing home a Doberman puppy, to create a plan for maintaining proper puppy hygiene. This plan must be robust, able to counter the puppy’s strong affinity for a state of filthiness.
In nature, puppies are kept clean with nearly constant liking from their litter mates and adult pack members. As humans, we lack this propensity for licking and generally have a fresher smelling standard for cleanliness, so must take a different approach.
Bathing
Bathing should occur every couple of weeks with a new Doberman puppy, or after he has rolled in poop or peed on him self. There are special, and expensive, puppy shampoos available but we have found that good old baby shampoo works fine for the first few months.
Consistent bathing of a young Doberman puppy not only keeps him fresh and shiny, it also allows him to grow accustomed to being clean and being bathed. A dog accustomed to being clean will avoid getting dirty. Also, lifting a Doberman puppy into the tub is fine for the first few months. When his weight passes 40 or 50 pounds, however, lifting is ridiculous. By this time a consistently trained and bathed Doberman should happily hope into the tub for a nice bath.
For bathing our Dobermans, we have a nozzle that hooks up to our shower. Its cost was around $20 and I count it essential for dog bathing. It has a long hose with a shower head at the end with a trigger. That trigger allows me to waste very little water.
Care should be used with this type of dog washer. Never spray water immediately onto the dog. Always spray it away from the dog initially to test the temperature and keep a finger where you can feel the temperature continuously throughout bathing to monitor any changes.
Initial spraying of water away from the dog should be done every time you stop spraying. If you stop spraying even for a minute, it is enough time to allow any pressure difference between the cold and hot water supply to accumulate either cold water or scalding hot water in the hose. The initial spraying away will clear the hose of this accumulation and replace it with water you properly adjusted for temperature.
Kennel Keeping
Your Doberman puppy’s kennel should be cleaned often with a friendly disinfectant and his bed laundered. Food bowls should be removed after feeding and washed.
After a meal it is also helpful to wipe off the puppy’s muzzle with a warm wet washcloth. This will help remove oils and other food material which promote bacteria growth and can cause puppy acne.
Ear Cleaning
If you don’t plan on cropping your Doberman puppy’s ears, ear cleaning must be a priority. Long floppy unaltered Doberman ears are prone to infection. For a quick cleaning, wet-wipes work well. For a more thorough cleaning, ear cleaning solutions are available. Q-tips are good for getting into the nooks and crannies.
For a puppy with cropped ears, cleaning is part of the posting and taping process of training the ear to stand. Once the ears are standing, Doberman ear cleaning is simple. A weekly swabbing with a wet-wipe is adequate for general cleanliness with a thorough cleaning every few months, including removal of any gooky stray hairs inside.
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