Bathing...

[twoofakind]

I have 2 kids and hate the thought of them using the same bath as my Lab, how do you bath your dogs, it would be a lot easier to do it outside with the hose, but not very nice for him....cold water and cold weather...im not mean!

I cant afford to get him washed anywhere, he malts everywhere and I have de- shedded him a few times but oh my, his hairs are even found in my babies nappies!! xx

[twoofakind]

hes 6 in june....I don't let him up stairs, we have a lounge/diner so no extra rooms to keep him in if we need to....his bed in in the lounge with us, so hes not left out.

[Beamur]

Having a baby made me suddenly much more aware of mess/dog hair etc and my dog is especially prone to rolling and such like so I got very stressed for a while about it, but DD is 6 now and I'm much more relaxed (again) about the grime - besides, isn't it supposed to be good for your immune system? DD enjoys the dog too and it has made her less fearful, but aware of how to behave around strange dogs too which is useful. Dog is also very protective of DD too which is nice. We made the decision that there were some rooms we would keep the dog out of, so we never had to worry about what she might be bringing in on her feet - our house is on 3 levels and all the downstairs is hard flooring, so ideal for our dog. She has plenty of room and a nice bed by a radiator, but doesn't come upstairs. We spend a lot of time on the ground floor (I'm there now) so she isn't shut out of family life.
How old is your dog twoofakind?

[twoofakind]

Beamur....thats what I am thinking to re home him to someone we know for a while....until the kids get older...but I may just keep him and forget about the mess etc...he is part of the family,he was here first!! il just have to be careful when the kids are on the floor near him...x

[twoofakind]

Aww...funny memories of him though! When I bath my dog he is so calm, he just sits there! has a mad shake afterwards, and would go crazy running around the house when we first got him....since the kids though I blow dry him...

[Beamur]

Twoofakind - I was often at my wits end with my dog when DD was little, but it has got easier. I'd considered whether we should rehome her (the dog, not the DD) and we had someone offer to take her, but at that point DP and I realised that whilst we find her very trying, she is our dog and we will do our best to give her a good home and a happy life.
In answer to your question, if said dog has rolled in something dead or smelly (not an infrequent occurrence) I wash her outside with the garden hose. But last week we went to Crosby Beach (lots of very fine silt & mud) and she was utterly filthy all over so it had to be a proper bath.
I keep the shower warm, not hot, and avoid the head until the very last minute and then never wash her ears, a shower mat is essential to prevent panic and slipping and will also protect your bath from scratching. I also put the plug in, so as the bath fills a bit you can wash their underneath without trying to get a shower head underneath them. A second pairs of hands is very useful to pass towels and shampoo (this is where slightly older children are very useful) and keep talking and soothing dog, as soon as you're finished, chuck a towel over them and rub hard.
Then spend ages cleaning the bath!

[Signet2012]

I bathed signetdog three times in his lifetime.

The first time he bit me and then bit dp. Dived out the bath and wedged himself between the wall and toilet. Covered everything in wet dog splashes and we had to Hust turn the shower on at him to get the suds out. (Luckily tiled floors)

Second time we put a muzzle and three lead/collar efforts on him. - I ended up head first in the bath after he bailed through the middle of my legs and I didn't let go of his leads.

The third time he was older and it took two of us to lift him in. He then flung himself about to the point he was risking injury. Snapped his harness and knocked my sink off its pedestal


After that he mainly stunk until he passed away.

[twoofakind]

Thank you, I appreciate all your comments and some have had some good advice...and I am happy to take criticism too, reading back at my posts, yeah they do sound harsh but im only speaking the truth of how my life with him is now, He is well trained and does sit if I tell him too, and I don't have to scream at him like another post does.
He is a very good behaved dog but gets rather giddy....he doesnt mean to.
And..I would love my kids to be old enough to know to move out of the way, but they're babies!

[idirdog]

Best thing I did was to get an outside hot and cold tap. Dogs showered outside in winter or summer in warm water. Easy peasy.

I cannot believe twoofakind posts re your poor dog . Lets just hope your DC's don't get too busy if you ever need looking after........

[Lilcamper]

Op would love this house, I foster rescues that come straight from the pound and get thrown in the bath cause they reek, and yep, I bathe my daughter in the same bath. I don't feel properly dressed unless I am wearing dog hair and we compete at the table for who gets the 'prize' in their meal.

[twofaceshenanigans]

I agree, I just sternly say her name and she sits and backs off.

I hate it when people say 'oh I don't have the time anymore' people just think they can drop a dog as and when they please, that is why all the rescue centres are full to the brim.

A dog take constant training and patience and also DC have to learn to respect a dogs space etc.

[Lilcamper]

two I have a very boisterous 16 month old lab and a 6 yo daughter, she knows to stay out of his way if he is excited, but he has been trained to not go oot, it can be done.

[twofaceshenanigans]

Smiley? Family* stupid iPad

[twofaceshenanigans]

Please rehome him with some who will include him in the smiley, my Staffy is 8 months and my children are 10 and 5 and used to get knocked over all the time, they have now learnt to move pretty sharp ish but to be fair I just shout her name and she sits dwn, she is 100% part of my family but she s not allowed upstairs or on the sofa, she comes everywhere with us.

By the sounds of your last post you don't want him and it s not fair to just drop him like you have. Poor pooch.

You do have the time you just don't want to.

[twoofakind]

I know he does, but when we try to include him he gets really giddy and knocks the kids over, i think hes better off elsewhere too, unfortunately..x

[Lilcamper]

But by the sounds of it, he would be better off elsewhere, poor lad needs to be part of family life, not excluded from it

[Lilcamper]

To be fair, a lab shouldn't be bathed very often at all, it strips their coat of natural oils and can cause skin problems. The best way to deal with normal mud is to wait for it to dry and brush it out. For smelly stuff, just rinse the area and deodorise with a leave in shampoo.

[twoofakind]

Im with gymmummy64....a cant stand the dog shaking after the bath and getting his hairs EVERYWHERE! I know he has to though! I also don't like the thought of the towels the dog has used to go in our washing machine....I still find dog hairs in there even after a thorough clean!!

I think I'm a bit more strict with my dog since having my kids, I don't let him roam the house anymore and he is outside more often than not, I just can't stand his smell or dog hairs.....to be honest I have considered moving him on to someone who will love him like I used to....I just don't have the time for him anymore :( I would miss him and regret it but I have to be cruel to me to be kind to him....I've had him 5 years...xx

[thegriffon]

I've never even considered bathing my lab, I think he'd hate warm water. We live near a river and he swims every day, even in freezing weather. He just gets towel dried when we get home. Luckily he never rolls in stinky stuff prefers to eat it instead.

[MoaningMingeWhingesAgain]

I have a small dog, a terrier mutt around 8/9kg, and a border collie. Same procedure for both. Lift them in. I'm only five ft and a fag end, I couldn't manage any bigger than the collie TBH.

Main tips are to shut the bathroom door.

Have the bath run already. I may have been known to use the bath water that the children have just been washed in, on occasion.

Have the shampoo to hand. And a jug to tip the water over them with.

Get the dog very wet, shampoo and rinse. Go back and wash the dirtiest bits again. Rinse some more.

Expect them to leap out if you take your hands off them at any point.

A medium bath is about how much water I would put in for the children, as opposed to a massive bath of of boiling hot water for me

Then just clean the bath as usual with flash or similar after they are out.

[Slavetothechild]

Mine are all shampooed twice and then conditioned. They then have to be brushed out and blow dried !!!!!! Each one done every two weeks :) they are trained as babies though so it makes it easier

[fanoftheinvisibleman]

I have only had to do it twice as luckily his wiry terrier hair is usually clean by the time you get home even if really muddy. It just drops off.

But I do similar to moaning. Put water in bath and lob him in and shampoo whilst he is stood in the water. I fill it so it is about 2/3 up his legs.

[NotMostPeople]

Outside hot tap. It's the best thing ever.

[gymmummy64]

Moaning I need way more details! How do you 'plonk'? Is your dog small? With a medium bath, how much of your dog is covered? To be honest I had always thought putting my dog in a bath meant one with no water rather than one with water.... Is this my mistake?!

[TwllBach]

Ooooh moaning I wish I could give mine a proper bath in water as opposed to a shower but she's petrifed of getting her dainty little paws wet.

[gymmummy64]

Twll shampoo??? good grief this is way beyond anything I had aimed for! My bathroom is sort of commemorative stamp sized so not big at all.

Soooo, how big is your dog?