washing the uncooperative dog

[fishie]

hello dogpeople. My puppy is 7mo, large x breed retriever / gsd+husky. He has rolled in dead hedgehog. I've done my best but it is not ideal and I am no fan of smelly dogs.

He isn't allowed upstairs, where the bath is, except for baths. I've bathed him twice before, when he was smaller, so he knows what it is about. He doesn't exactly hate it but is not leaping in!

He does not like being picked up and I do struggle a bit, my arms aren't quite long enough to go round his length to link hands - with one arm under his head, one round the back end and legs dangling - which I am sure can't help.

Any tips for persuading him in? a better lifting technique? treats on the far side of the bath? is it just unrealistic to expect to lift a dog this size without scaring or hurting him? never had one this big before. dh has even worse technique than me.

sorry so long and i have to pop out for a while, will be back later.

Hose connected to the warm tap in the yard or garden and then straight inside with a fluffy towel and warm fire?

This is what we used to do with our large dogs.

For the safety of your back you need to do this together. The struggling dog is the easiest way to injure yourself. Operator one should be at the dogs head and place one arm under the body just behind the front legs steading the head with their other arm (otherwise you get headbutted), operator two should be at the back end and lift with both arms under the main body of the dog. Put some kind of rubber matting in the bath so the dog does not slip and become scared.
Always lift with straight back and bent knees. Personally with your breed I would just hose the gross dirt off and not shampoo too often as it will strip the natural waterproofing out of the coat.

Connect up a hose pipe outside, tie up dog, hose down, shampoo, rinse, release so he can shake outside, towel down and leave in a warm place to dry.

He will not enjoy it but your back will be very grateful and you will not have mud and whatever else shaken all over your bathroom.

If he is anything like my lab who rolls in anything and my spaniel who is a mud magnet the hose down will come to form part of the daily walk routine and whilst neither can be said to actively enjoy it neither do they hate me for it.

If you think cold water is cruel and I know many on here do then use buckets of warm and a sponge but this is much less effective and you will get soaked!

that's a good idea. He seems to be boiling half the time so might even enjoy it. There is such a lot of hair I am quite daunted. He also took a lovely fluffy white dog into the bushes to do the rolling, most embarrassing.

Last time I tried to pick him up to weigh him it did not go well, I handled it very badly, scared him and he snapped at me. Maybe it is something best not attempted - what do you all think?

The fluffy white dog owner will be understanding. Fluffy white dogs roll in all manner of unsavoury things. T'is fluffy white dog law. I know, I own one

I would stop picking him up if he is starting to snap about it, it obviously is not something he enjoys.

If all else fails, dog salons are equipped for washing all sizes of dogs.

Lots of common sense here on how to handle DD We had a Labrador and quickly gave up going through the bathroom routine. He had a liking for fox poo... especially dabbed behind the ears. I decided that I did not want to do the cleaning/redecorating etc...We adopted a new routine. After a walk I filled a huge builders bucket with warm water and outside, washed DD a quater at a time, putting each leg in, in turn sponging with a giantic car sponge. Not forgetting the undercarriage! Sometimes using pet shampoo, repeating as necessary. He was obedient (trained to be so) and we got it down to a fine art. Once released, he would bound off, shake and come back for a rub down with a towel and only then would he get his Bonio reward. RIP and thanks for the memories.

thank you everyone. He rolled again today hooray and dh did indeed hose him down as I'd told him of your advice. we have a non stinky dog! Apparently he was not at allhappy but I can probably do it in a more friendly way - dh works from home so is main walker / dog bod but I am the one with previous experience.

only slight prob is we live in a terrace on a busy road so have to take doggie through house to be jetwashed.

@ Driftwood999: for a moment it sounded as if you were talking about sponging down your daughter from a builder's bucket (DD = darling daughter)!!