Does your dog hate baths? Mine too! So much so, my family and I had to come up with some crazy ways to get him clean. I’ll start by telling you about my experience learning how to bathe my dog, and also give you 7 tips and tricks to make your dog’s bath time less of a hassle.
How I Learned to Bathe My Dog
I walked into the house after a long day to see my mom and brother absolutely exhausted, with our 110-pound dog fast asleep on our ottoman. Our bathroom looked as if a pipe had burst with water splattered all over the walls and floor.
Dallas, our very large Lab/Great Pyrenees mix is terrified of clean water. Dirty water is completely fine of course, but as soon as he sees the bottom he panics. We adopted Dallas as a puppy from the pound in 2017. The reason why I tell you this, is we don’t know of any trauma he might have gone through prior to his adoption.
This is crucial to understand with any dog that you haven’t had for their whole life. Patience is key. After a lot of trial and error, we found a bath time routine that seemed to work for us:
On bath days, you will find my mom and brother outside working together to wash our crazy dog. We start by putting a leash on him (a cheap slip on which you can buy here)
which is just enough to make him realize that he isn’t going anywhere. Next, we use the hose and a mild-smelling shampoo to bathe him. By doing this process outside, we do lose a bit of the “clean” we could have gotten bathing him inside. However, he’s much happier this way and feels more comfortable, which is a compromise we were willing to make. Another bonus is that his shakes and zoomies after the bath won’t spray soap and water all over the house.
7 Tips To Bathe Your Dog
(and have a positive experience)
Now our method may not work on your dog, and that’s ok. Here are 5 other tricks you can try to deal with getting our adorable stubborn dogs clean:
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