washing my puppy

Question
hi, is it okay to use human shampoo on my pup when bathing him?

Answer
Natalie,

That depends on the shampoo and how old your puppy is.  If you are going to use human shampoo I would recommend that you use baby shampoo.  Baby shampoo will not sting if it gets in your puppy's eyes and since puppies squirm a lot it is better to use a soap that doesn't sting.  If your puppy is under the age of 12 weeks you will need to bath it with extreme caution.  I have pasted an excerpt from my book on Yorkies below (to save retyping the info)that deals with bathing puppies.

Bathing Puppies:

When their hair has started to grow longer, between 5 and 6 months of age you can safely begin weekly baths.  There will be times when exceptions have to be made, such as when a puppy is covered in feces or urine.  This does not happen very often, but if it does you should try getting them clean using a warm washcloth and only bathe them if that method fails.  

You can bath a puppy as young as eight weeks, but it is not recommended.  If, however, you feel your puppy must have a bath, it is best to use baby shampoo.  Baby Shampoo is not harsh on the skin and it also will not sting their eyes. It is very important that they do not get chilled at any time during the bathing process.  Make sure the room you are bathing them in is warm and that you have a towel handy to dry them off right away.  In order to make sure they don't get chilled, I would suggest that you also use a hair dryer to dry them completely.  

Be very careful when using a hair dryer because it can burn the puppy or cause other problems.  In order to assure that the hair dryer is not to hot you should place your hand on the puppy and gently brush the hair back and forth until it is dry.  If the hair dryer is too hot on your hand then it is to hot for your baby.  Rubbing the hair back and forth also keeps the hair dryer from burning the skin because you are breaking up the direct contact with it.  

You will also need to be careful not to get any water in their nose.  If water gets into the nose, it will go straight to the lungs and then you are going to have a sick puppy.  I had this happen once before I knew better and I couldn't figure out why the puppy was blowing snot out his nose when he breathed.  Dogs do not naturally breathe through their mouths.  Therefore, if they can't breathe through their noses and they do not learn to breathe through their mouth, they could suffocate.  

Fortunately my puppy was fine after I took him to my veterinarian and he gave me antibiotics.  You also need to be careful that you do not get any water in his ears.  Water in the ears is a recipe for an ear infection.  When wetting the head, hold the ears down gently, so the water stays out of the ears.