Bathing Your Frenchie

The soft, smooth short coat of a Frenchie is easily

maintained in a glossy condition with occassional

bathing in a quality dog shampoo. Unless you share

your bed with a Frenchie (a lot do) a fortnightly bath

is usually enough.

Don't use people shampoo as it is the wrong PH balance

for your dogs skin. Everytime you wash your Frenchie

you are removing the natural oils from the coat and

skin so a good reason not to over do the shampooing.

The more you wash your dog the more shedding of hair

occurs. If your frenchie is prone to itchy

scratchiness don't over do the shampooing.

The usual rule is to dilute 1 part shampoo to 10 parts

of water and apply to the dogs skin. Straight shampoo

on the skin results in dandruff 1 or 2 days later and

an itchy scratchy dog.Rinse the coat well with clean

water to remove shampoo.

Medicated shampoos are usually applied straight from

the bottle and not diluted follow directions on the

bottle. 

A pied Frenchie will benefit with a whitening (purple or blue) shampoo to make the coat whiter than white. 

Healthy coats are free of excessive oiliness, redness, parasites, and there should be no bald patches of hair loss. It is normal for dogs to have a hair shedding cycle.

 

Facial Wrinkles 

The facial creases of your Frenchie need to be kept clean and dry in between bathing.  A wipe when needed with a soft damp cloth to remove dirt and examine the skin is beneficial for your dog. Don't leave the area to get sore and red before attending to your dogs needs. Apply gentle soothing creams to the creases if the need arises. A medicated shampoo used directly onto the creases will kill bacteria if the area is red and sore, but be careful not to get it into the eyes of your dog.

 

To get rid of tear stains on a light colored Frenchie we use a product called Eye Envy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Frequently check your dogs’ paws. The thick, pigmented, tough footpads are excellent shock absorbers. Since your dog walks ‘barefoot’ and this is a very moist area, the inter-digital area can be easily irritated. If your frenchie is constantly licking it's feet, if left unchecked the area between the toes and under the paws will become inflammed.

You will need to treat the area with a medicated shampoo from the vet, possibly washing the feet every 3 days until the condition settles. Leave shampoo on for 10 minutes then rinse and dry well. We would use a powder such as CURE RASH (baby product) for a final dust of the feet after bathing to make sure the paws are completely dry. The irritation is usually set off by wet grass.  All dogs can be irritated by wet grass it is not solely a "Frenchie" thing. 

 

Your Frenchies’ whiskers are long, stiff hairs located on the muzzle, upper eyelids and cheeks. They are used as feelers and are especially handy for navigation at night or in dark areas. Show dogs commonly have these whiskers trimmed for presentation in the ring. It  doesn't hurt the dog to remove the whiskers. As a pet owner you may like to leave these untrimmed.