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10 Tips for Bathing Your Dog
I’ve owned dogs my whole life and one of my least favorite chores is giving the dog a bath. But over the years, I’ve learned a lot and I thought I’d share with you some tips that I use to help things go a little smoother.
1. Get everything ready first. Towels, shampoo, cup for pouring water on his back, etc. Be sure to remove anything that could get knocked in the water. Especially when bathing a big dog!
2. Get your patience ready. This one is self-explanatory.
3. Take your dog for a long walk or play ball before the bath. That way he’ll get worn out and won’t fight you as hard!
4. Never ever say the word “bath” before giving the bath unless you want to chase your dog all over the house trying to get him in the tub!
5. If possible, get someone to help you out. One person to make sure he doesn’t jump out, one person to do the washing.
6. Talk to your dog while bathing him. I think it helps my dogs relax a little bit. I tend to talk in a baby voice telling him how pretty he is and how clean he’s going to be. C’mon, we’ve all talked baby talk to our dogs!
7. If you have a stinky dog, add some lemon juice or vinegar in the water. Somehow this cuts the stinkiness down.
8. Put some baby oil or Vaseline around his eyes to prevent water getting in them. It’s also a good idea to put cotton balls in his ears to keep water out.
9. Once the bath is done, give him a treat. After all that torture, he deserves a goodie!
10. Don’t forget to wash his bedding, too. Otherwise you went through all that hard work for nothing!
I have yet to figure out a way to keep the dog from shaking the water off. No matter what I do, all the dogs that I have ever had, shake the water off. One of the pet gifts we have at Gift Tree is the Soggy Dog - The Ultimate Drying Towel. It has a place for your hands on either side of the towel so you can get a better grip on the dog. I’m hoping that this will help me. But if any of you have any tips on how to keep your dog from shaking, please share!!
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May 23rd, 2008 at 10:26 am
There are some great dog bathing videos @ http://www.worldwidefido.com
some of these videos are great.
May 23rd, 2008 at 3:58 pm
If I bathe my dogs outside, I don’t mind them shaking it off. It’s when I’m bathing them in the house that it gets annoying. I wish someone would invent something like the shaking dog suction towel to suck all of that shaken water right out of the air!
June 3rd, 2008 at 12:41 pm
I find the local groomers price of $20-25 for a dog wash and nail trim worth every penny! What I’d use this gift for though is camping trips. There’s nothing worse than waking up nose to nose with a cold wet smelly dog. Thanks for the great gift!
June 5th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
Thank you for your tips. They will come in handy the next time I bathe my new puppy, Little Foot. I gave her our first bath together a couple weeks ago. That was a big ordeal. We made it. Next time we will be better prepared.