Bath Day

Shadow likes to be preened. When he gets physical attention, he poses; and no where is this more evident than when he gets a bath. Because he lives and sleeps in his crate located in my bedroom, he doesn't become a smelly 'ole dog. Shadow is a clean dog. When he wallows in the sand and mud at the dog park or even in the back yard, he gets a bath. In the winter time, he gets his bath in the bath tub inside the house. During the hot summer months, his bath is outdoors.

No matter where the bath takes place, Shadow seems to enjoy it. When I first began bathing him last fall, it was chilly outside so the bathtub was the place. I first tried just bringing him in the shower with me. He didn't care for it and neither of us got very clean. There was the noise of the shower, the soap flying all over and he wanted out! The next effort involved bringing a longer hose down from the shower head and bathe him in the tub by himself. I purchased a twenty dollar shower head that had the ability to switch from the head to a hose using a valve. It leaked and the hose wasn't long enough but it gave me an idea.

I got a hose that had a rubber bulb that fastened over the bathroom sink faucet. I added four feet of hose to it and was able to deliver a warm spray of water that was quiet. The shower wand was easy and gentle and he had no qualms getting wet. Now when I call him into the bath room, he is eager to leap right into the tub and look eagerly to the cleansing experience.

During the bath, itself, Shadow is funny to watch. It is almost as if he offers parts of his body to be washed. When i reach for one of his legs, he holds it up in the air and doesn't put it back down until I say "okay". He did have an infection in his paws a few months ago, so when I wash his feet, I especially check between his toes. He likes the attention.

I don't spray water into his eyes, but I get his entire head wet and soapy. His ears get soap on the outside and olive oil on the inside (after the mites are removed with cotton swabs).

Someone had told me that a good dog shampoo for frequent baths is Dawn liquid detergent. It doesn't dry out his fur and it does have some ingredient that kills fleas. So, since it seems to work, that's what we use. Then he gets his monthly flea treatment just in case and he is good to go. He has already seen that he gets a lot more affection and love when he is clean.

At the end of the bath, he gets dried off with big fluffy towels. He is easy to dry because his fur is short. He loves the drying process because every part of his body is dried off and he then gets posted to the grass on the front yard for a final drying by the warm Florida sun. Shadow and I both like his baths.