How do you wash your dog? Lab cross...

[PlinkPlonkFizz]

I'm curious as to how you wash your dog, and actually, how often too? Obviously in the case of rolling in poo, she gets washed that day!

It is easiest for me to lead-walk her to our shower using meat treats, encourage her into shower with more meat, strip off to my knickers, use warmish water with the shower head detached and lather her up just using my hands to wash her face, rather than spraying her head or face with the water. Then another bit of meat as I towel-dry her, smelly lump that she is 🥰

All this goes ok (yes the bathroom needs a bit of mopping afterwards!) but DH wants to bring her to a dog wash. I think this will upset her as she's quite nervous. She seems to trust me in the shower and I think she likes the rubs.

What do you do?

No? She sits/stand miserably while I lather and rinse. I’m more likely to get drenched when she shakes when she gets out, but try to get the worst off in the actual shower with towels and/or shut the door on her whilst she does the first shake!

Another poster describes it well-
I hunker down next to the shower and scrub them awkwardly with one hand while holding the detachable shower head in the other

^ this is pretty much exactly our system (but cocker spaniel so probably a bit easier to get in and out of the bath!).
We also use an Equafleece dog suit, which massively reduces the frequency of baths this time of year. AwkwardPup loves water, especially muddy water, so we'd be bathing him several times a week otherwise, but instead we just rinse or towel off his paws, & wash the coat.

Outdoors with the warm tap I got installed next to the cold tap before she arrived. (Plumber £70). Could do with a slightly higher level other than washing at ground level but it does the trick. I have a large hairy breed 😀

Romanian rescue roughly the size of springer spaniel. Gets a Christmas bath and that's it he may get one other times if particularly dirty but he doesnt tend to ever get dirty for some reason.

Gets lifted into the bath, stands in a couple of inches looking like he hates his life while we wash him with a jug and dog shampoo.

Then we attempt to dry him which he hates even more than the bath so we generally give up and just put the fire on for him instead.

Shower in the downstairs loo by the back door (previous owner had dogs too!). Dog now walks straight in there after a muddy walk - 1/3 treat to get in the shower, 1/3 on showering, 1/3 on successful completion of shower.

She's a hairy hound so only gets properly bathed if she's rolled in something awful, or for her twice yearly groom.

2 labs here. They get a shower after a day at the beach or if they stink.
I just tell them ‘shower’ and they trot through to the bathroom.
Like you I strip down to my underwear, remove the toilet roll, plus anything else in the firing line, lay down towels and get on with it.
I pre-dilute the shampoo and use a plastic grooming thing to brush the shampoo through.
They appear to love the experience.
Never been to a groomer and they are probably at an age where that wouldn’t go so well.

Lab - gets rinsed with the (cold fed) garden hose as and when required (rarely in summer, fairly regularly in winter). Shampooed rarely but if it happens we still use the garden hose. He’s fine with it. Perfectly happy to leap into the river in all weathers, so the odd squirt with the clean hose is no bother.

Lab/springer cross - garden hose, as required. As PP, she'll jump in streams at all times of year. She doesn't min a cold hose for 2 min.

DM very occasionally takes her to a dog parlour place. She's DM's dog, but I walk her a lot.

Mine both go to the groomers about once every 8 weeks. The pom sometimes gets unceremoniously dumped in the utility room sink if he gets poo stuck in his fur and the border collie might get her feet rinsed off with the hosepipe if she's got particularly muddy, followed by a rub down with a big rough towel.

Exactly the same here for our lab. I think she's had three baths in total in her lifetime.

We have a Lab and we use a Mud Daddy! It's broken recently actually so we need a new one but it's lasted a few years. It's like a pressurised portable container pump thing you can put hot water in - means we can scrub and shampoo him outside so he's not trekking shite through the house. I'm not describing it very well but you can Google it.

We used to bath him upstairs, but our bath ended up getting so scratched and I could never get the grout clean from where muddy water landed!

If she had rolled in something horrible - in the garden with a hosepipe. She was perfectly happy swimming in cold water, so I couldn't see why this was any different. Quick run with a towel and mad 5 minutes in the house and she was warmed up again.

Yesterday I chucked a bowl of warm water over my lab in the garden and towelled him off. He had had a very muddy walk and was going to visit relatives. Normally I don't wash him. He's a dog.

In the bath once or twice a year for a full shampoo, she also gets that at the groomers every 3-4 months. After muddy walks we have a washing up tub of warm soapy water that we wash her feet/nose/ears in and towel dry before putting her in her bed next to the radiator to dry off properly, sometimes hairdryer.

My dog is very low to the ground so after a walk I take her into the downstairs loo and use a flannel dipped in warm water to wash her legs and paws and wipe her very fluffy stomach.

Paws and stomach are then dried and that's the sum total of her washing.

She's eleven years old and she's only ever been bathed when the mud is overwhelming or she rolled in something nasty (only happened once).

I don't think dogs should be bathed unless it's absolutely vital but she does get brushed regularly.

We were at the vet last week for her yearly check up and jabs and the vet mentioned several times how beautiful and healthy her coat is.

We have two labs and they happily get in the shower with me one at a time, I wear a swimsuit while doing it, lots of towels needed and a clean down of shower room after, about two or three times a year, they love it.

My lab cross has a groom twice a year where she gets bathed. If she’s rolled in some poo she gets a targeted hose and shampoo. I want to get a hot hose tap because I do feel a bit mean in the winter but then she’s perfectly happy to leap in a river in January so it can’t be too bad. She rarely has baths, it’s a nightmare. It’s a 2 person job, the dog hates it, the bath gets disgusting, the bathroom gets drenched. So only if it’s really really needed- maybe twice a year if that

We just have an adjustable head on the house pipe and one of the settings is like a shower so i shower her down with that . Which is cold i suppose but then I dry her and take her in so that works fine.

My Labradors have only been washed it they have rolled in something obnoxious, and even then I try to restrict it to the filthy parts. Today, after a muddy walk, I used a damp microfibre cloth on his legs and tummy, rinsing and wringing out, and he was immaculate.

Cold Watering can and a jug of warm water with shampoo if really muddy outside. Not done the inside shower since she was a pup. If she happily jumps in cold sea and rivers a 2-min watering can isn’t going to hurt.

Licky pad with suction pads on the back.....I fill it with doggo peanut butter and cream cheese, stick it to the tiles, half fill the bath and he gets in

Then I was and rinse ( quickly)

Out he comes and I towel dry

It takes 2 of us about 20 mins to do

Luckily only 12kg spaniel so if very muddy after walk I wrap her in a dirty towel and carry her straight up to the bath, plonk her in and then use the shower attachment. She's fine with it as used to it as she loves mud and we don't want muddy paw prints all around the house so needs must. When she needs a proper wash not just a paw rinse, I use one of those body puff things to give her a good lather up. Then dry the worst with a clean dog towel whilst she's still in the bath, then dog dressing gown on and put her lead on to walk nicely to her bed - learnt this as she goes mental when still wet and zooms around the house crashing into things leaving wet and chaos everywhere

@Aria20 a dog dressing gown? I'm picturing a spaniel in a smoking jacket, lounging with a cigar on a button-back leather chair 😂

We have a springer and she gets a fairly thorough wash down (water only) every day. It's necessary, she swims and runs through thick mud every day on her main walk.

We have an 8 litre hand pump pressure washer (designed for cars and bikes but works great on the dog). I fill it with hot water before our walk and it's just nicely warm by the end. I hose her off which takes 2 minutes, either on our patio or often I take the washer with us in the boot and do her before we get in the car.

The pressure washer is the best thing we've ever bought.

We have an indoor dog bath/shower room . But we have a lot of show dogs ! If the fog is happy in the shower and your back doesn’t hurt carry on . Raised baths are great if you have a bad back !!!