By bathing your dog too often you can unfortunately disturb the delicate balance of your dog’s natural skin oil production. I think that’s the reason your dog always feels ‘waxy’. The more you bathe him, the more his skin overproduces oils.

As I mentioned in the article, bathe your dog on an ‘as-per-need-basis’.

What I mean is for example if your dog gets too muddy or gets sprayed by a skunk then give him a nice bath with a natural shampoo. If the weather gets hot and muggy like you said just give him a regular water only bath, that will do the trick. :)

You can also bathe your dog as the season’s change, not more than that!

Halle gets 2 baths a year, 1 in spring and 1 in the fall unless otherwise needed.

I once tried bathing my GR after 2 weeks, but his fur feels very ‘waxy’ even though I brush him frequently. Is it normal?
Does all dogs that tends to bath less feels ‘waxy’?

Thank you for replying

Thanks for the useful tips on ear cleaning. We ended up buying an all natural solution from our local natural foods store. Seems to be working quite nice. Gracie has the same ears as Halle and they do need to be cleaned frequently. Also, I wanted to mention a tip on keeping Gracie’s teeth clean. We started using a product called PetzLife Oral Care Spray. It is a bit pricey but we use such a minimal amount that the small bottle lasts a long time. It has worked really well. We still brush her teeth once a week, but the spray every couple of days keeps her teeth on track just in case we miss a brushing here and there. Talk to you soon Halle Balle Dog!

It’s a great question. Cleaning dog’s ears is a relatively easy task especially if your dog is compliant but not very pleasant if he doesn’t like it. I believe that no matter what product you use, your dog’s natural -slightly uncomfortable reaction is quite normal. I mean the ears are very sensitive, not only to sound but to liquids too. So a little fussiness is ok!

I actually have several recommendations on safe natural products that you can try out. Because each dog is an individual – there is not one cleaning solution for all dogs.

1. 1 tsp. of Apple Cider vinegar to a 1/2 cup of distilled warm water using a dropper.

2. Niaouli Essential Oil – it helps with ailments including aches and pains, respiratory conditions, cuts and infections. Niaouli is less irritating than Tea Tree Oil. Dilute the essential oil by adding 1-2 drops to 5 mls of warm base oil such as extra virgin olive or almond oil.

3. Almond Oil: 1/2 teaspoon of warm oil into each ear should do the trick.

4. Green Tea: steep 2 green tea bags in boiling water for about 10 minutes or so. Take the bags out and let them cool down slightly and you can flush your dogs ears.

So test these out and please let us know which one you and Gracie preferred :)
Hope these help.

I think we should do an article on this one!

Thanks for putting together such a nice blog.