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Why is my dog acting strange after a bath?

I just gave her a bath in dog shampoo for fleas, ticks, etc…and now she is acting very scared, nervous, jumpy, and she won’t come to me when I call her.

I have given her baths before, but she was fine afterward. She did seem uncomfortable while I was bathing her this time though. She is normally still, and calm when taking a bath… but this time she was moving around more and wanting out.

What could be the problem? Is it the shampoo? Could it be burning or irritating her skin? What do I do?

Also, she is licking herself… is that okay after using dog shampoo on her?

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Answer #1

If her skin is red from the shampoo it probably irritated it. Flea shampoo is harsher than normal dog shampoo and if she already had flaky skin to start with the shampoo could have made it worse causing her to react when you were bathing her. Also the flea’s you were trying to kill could have still been biting her while you were bathing her hurting her more… She may just be scared because the shampoo could have been hurting her and you were the one who caused the pain (unintentional of course)… and now she is afraid…She is probably just shaken up so don’t worry to much about it unless you see her skin is really red and flaky then you may want to take her to the vet where they can give some sort of doggy conditioner to sooth the skin…And the licking could just be her way of soothing her skin…..Hope I Helped and I hope she is all right!

Answer #2

The shampoo might’ve been harsh on her skin and irritated her. It might’ve caused her pain and she didn’t like it. She’s probably a little scared of you because u made her stay while you were hurting her. She wouldn’t be able to understand that you didn’t know u could’ve been causing her pain. However, she’ll probably be fine in about a day or two cause it must not have hurt too bad because she did stay and didn’t fight too much i’m guessing. You could try and calm her down, give her a treat or something to show her you are her friend and such. If she continues this behavior for a week or something, i would take her to the vet to see if something went wrong especially if the behavior becomes worse

Answer #3

Thanks. The reason I asked about the licking, is because I didn’t know if she could be poisoned from licking herself after just being bathed in flea shampoo. I don’t think she really has fleas… I just used it because we don’t have regular dog shampoo. I think it’s irritated her skin and made it dry and itchy…because she never started scratching and biting herself until I used that flea shampoo for the first time. I’m going to get regular dog shampoo, and see how that works.

Answer #4

Oh okay no problem! By the way the dog shampoo shouldn’t hurt her they tend to make animal shampoo less hazardousness to their health since they will most likely lick them selves afterward…Glad I could help!

Answer #5

Your dog could most likely just not like water. My dog gets super hyper and runs around like a maniac.

Answer #6

If she didn’t like water, then why was she fine all the other times I bathed her?

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