The bath issue!

[IrianofWay]

How. just HOW do you get your dog in the bath? He had never been keen but recently it's been impossible. I tempt with treats, I cajole, I plead.... in the end I had to get DS1 to manhandle him into the bath. He was covered in peaty mud so DS, I and the bathroom got filthy.

What are your strategies?

Oh God, over the years I have tried everything - baths, showers, I even bought a kids paddling pool!
My solution - garden hose and a bucket of water - mine loves it, thinks it is a brilliant game, gets him clean, and leaves the mess outside

I have got one of those plastic builders' tub things - the colourful round ones with a handle an fill it with water outside and chuck him in. He isn't that keen but I just about manage it. Not sure what we will do in Winter (he is a pup still) when it's freezing out and he and I won't want to get wet and cold...

The house I grew up in had a separate shower and bath, so I used to haul the dog into the shower cubicle which was a little easier than lifting her into the bath.

Otherwise... bucket of warm water brought out to the garden?

Thanks for the suggestions.

I have tried the hose. He treats it as a game and just leaps about snapping at the water. When we tried to leash him to a fence post for more accurate washing he howled and whimpered as if we were torturing him and still jumped about. Nearly strangled himself

We have a seperate shower - it has a big cubicle. We tried it once and he made such a fuss we gave up. I guess if I got naked and got it with him and just gritted my teeth it would work.

Large bowl of warm water in the garden probably would work OK - but last night he had jumped into a drainage ditch when we were out running and he was black with peat and mud from head to foot! A bowl wouldn't have done the trick. But one of those builders bucket things might be better - have to be a big one though as he's lab sized.

I guess the best answer is to be firmer and not give up so easily when he doesn't like it.....

i was hoping for some sort of dog-whisperer solution that involved teaching him to love cleanliness and warm water.....

Let him dry outside in the sunshine and brush his coat out. There is no magic wand for getting him to like it.

I have two large lurchers and we use what is essentially a giant plantpot, of the time usually used for planting trees - like these, but slightly shallower.

I clicker trained mine to jump into the pot before we used it for bathing and that worked for a while, before they wised up and sussed what the pot appearing means.

Now dh just 'helps' them in and we use the hosepipe hooked up to our mixer tap, so they can have a warm bath/shower. Neither particularly like it, but are resigned to their fate. I do find that once they've settled down they actually enjoy the shampoo being massaged in and warm water on their backs though, as they go quite sleepy when we're washing them.

Doing it outside has the huge advantage of them doing the doggy-shake somewhere other than all over your interior decor - and post bath zoomies are also done al fresco, which is another win - unless you have a muddy garden of course, as then it could result in them needing another bath before they're even dry from the first.

My second ever dog was a nightmare with baths and we didn't really have the facilities to do it outside in those days. She was also a Lurcher, but a very small and impossibly wriggly one, so it was like bathing a squirming eel. I used to keep an old pair of leggings and tshirt to wear and would climb in the bath and hold her still between my knees while dh bathed her. It was the only thing that worked!

Goldies love water, the dirtier the better! They also love to roll, preferably in fox poo - so over the years I have done lots of dog baths!
I have used the bath - but the tidal waves of water during and after was too much and the only way to keep them in a shower cubicle is to get in with them. And of course, indoor bathing = indoor shaking!
They now get done outside - with a hose pipe. They don't enjoy it, but hey, they should know by now: roll in poo = attack by hosepipe!
In winter I use buckets of warmish water [at our last house we had a hot feed to an outside tap especially for them] but these are dogs who will break the ice in a horse trough to lie down in the usually smelly water!

I just go down to the river! Mine can never resist going for a swim. Fortunately I live on dartmoor so plenty of clean rocky rivers!

I have always manhandled mine into the bath. Am I supposed to do something else? It's not a common occurrence, just when he's rolled in something unmentionable.

Manhandling into the bath here. Mine hates water, will walk round a puddle and she's the only dog at the bark park that won't swim in the pond ....

She hates the bath but gets favourite treats and a big fuss afterwards.

DH lifts her and plonks her in, then holds her head while I wash her with the shower attachment. She was like bambi the first time but seems to have got used to it. She is a 30kg Rottweiler - there's no other way!!