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How to clean my dog without drying his coat from frequent baths?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Portuguese Water Dog | Male | neutered | 26 lbs

Sherlock loves going to the horse stables with me but he gets really dirty. He swims in the water troughs and gets bugs in his coat. I’ve been bathing him every day when we get home but it seems to be drying out his coat. Is there a shampoo I can use to help with this? Or should I rinse him instead of actually bathing him? what are my options?

1 Answer

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Dr. Melanie, BVSc MS

Veterinarian

Published on June 20th, 2018

Bathing too often does lead to the coat drying out. You can try supplement him with fish oil tablets to see if that helps. For every 30 pounds of body weight, give Sherlock 1,000 mg fish oil containing 300 mg of EPA/DHA combined. You can try using a moisturizing shampoo for when he gets really dirty, but if he's not very dirty after a visit to the stables, just rinse him instead of bathing him. Best of luck, I hope this helps!

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