How To Give A Pug A Bath

Brush your dog thoroughly before the bath to reduce how much hair you’ll get in your drain.

Use luke-warm water, not hot or cold.

If your dog is sensitive to sounds, drawing all of the bath water before you bring your dog into the bath may make it a more positive experience for them.

Placing cotton balls into your pug’s ears (not too deep!) can help keep their inner ears from getting too wet.

A non-slip mat may help your dog feel more secure while you bathe them.

Some people find it helps pugs to stay calm if they put some peanut butter on the side of the tub for their dog to lick while they are bathed.

Talk to them calmly and positively throughout the experience to make it more positive. Reward them with praise and/or treats if they dislike bath time.

Use a dog-specific shampoo. I personally recommend avoiding the Hartz of shampoo because I’ve read a lot of online stories about how these cause seizures in some cats and dogs. Better safe than sorry! My pug Frank had sensitive skin so we had irritation with some dog shampoos, but his skin did well with Burt’s Bees dog shampoo I believe we used the oatmeal one at times and the hypoallergenic one at other times.

Use a water-safe brush to make sure your dog gets well-shampooed. We had the kong shampoo brush and liked it.

If you have a handheld shower attachment using this can help get a really thorough rinse.

Use a washcloth or cotton balls to dry out their ears thoroughly after a bath to avoid infections.

Thoroughly dry their face wrinkles to avoid infection or irritation.

You can use a blow dryer on no or low heat to speed up the drying process if it doesn’t scare your dog. Otherwise, just keep towel drying them.

How Often To Bathe Your Pug

Opinions on how often pugs should be bathed vary from about every 3 weeks to only once every six months! You want to bathe your pug before they get stinky, but not so often as to dry out their skin. We bathed our pugs monthly, just before we gave their flea medication. 

Dog Shampoo For Pugs

Use a dog-specific shampoo on your dog rather than a human shampoo or soap. The PH levels of human shampoo are different than those formulated for dogs. Human shampoo is more acidic which is harsh on Pug’s skin. We liked the Burt’s Bee’s dog shampoo line, it worked well on my pug with sensitive skin, even.

How To Bathe A Pug Without A Bathtub.

If you don’t have a bath tub, you can bathe your pug in any container of water that you can get, basically. For a while we lived in an apartment that only had a stand-up shower, and our pugs really disliked the shower head sprinkling down on them. So we would fill a plastic tote with a couple of inches of water and bathe them in there!

You could use your kitchen sink if your pug will stay in place well. Even if you have a full sized bath, you may find that bathing puppies can be easier in a sink.

If you don’t have a tub or a tote, a kiddie pool is another option.

Do Pugs Like Baths?

Most pugs can’t swim, so they aren’t usually a big fan of water the way that some other dog breeds can be. Some pugs may enjoy their baths, but mine both disliked them! 

Regardless of which pug I bathed first, the one that was not getting bathed first would go hide! Frank knew that if Beans was getting a bath now, he was next, and Beans knew the same if she saw Frank getting a bath first. Beans would huff and sigh when I first put her in the bathtub, but would accept her fate.

Frank on the other hand, would shake, wimper and cry throughout his bath usually. He’d also refuse to sit with me for a while after his bath, like he was mad at me. He was normally a huge cuddler so it was really something that he wouldn’t want to sit with us after a bath! Or worse, he’d refuse to sit by me if I bathed him, but would sit with Ryan…or if Ryan bathed him, he’d cuddle me after. It was like he thought whoever gave him the bath was the ‘bad cop’ and the other one of us was the ‘good cop’ that day, haha.