Should You Bathe Your Dog in Winter?

I heard rumblings about having to get a bath before I travel this weekend. So I decided to search the Internet and find out all kinds of reasons why you SHOULD NOT bathe your dog (read: Cinnamon) in the winter. You might say, it’s not officially winter yet. But today, it’s rainy and cold so to me, it’s winter. Francesca and I are doing quite a bit of hibernating. 

This is what I look like when I get a bath... MAD!

So what did I find on my Internet search? Well, not exactly what I had hoped. Here’s the jist of the articles:

Rule number one for bathing your dog during the winter is to keep your dog indoors until they are completely dry. It is much more difficult for your dog to maintain a warm ambient body temperature when wet. Therefore, letting your dog outside during the winter months greatly increases their risk of hypothermia.

Drat! So then I decided to try another approach. I searched: Should You Bathe Your Older Dog in Winter? Then this popped up:

Since your dog will need to stay indoors during the winter until their coat completely dries, bathe them first thing in the morning. This way, they can dry throughout the day and by the early evening, they may be ready for a walk outside.

Here's how to dry a dog. Please note: I'm still not very happy.

 Drat! So I wasn’t getting anywhere putting together a logical argument for not having a bath. It seems that there are rules for dog baths in the winter, but no rule that says NO BATHS!

Want to know more? Here’s a good article with six tips on bathing your dog in winter.

If I end up having a bath, I’ll let you know if my owner follows these tips or not. Let’s hope she just forgets about it.

Love, Cinnamon