Why does my dog stand in the bath?

[Dogi]

I have a little 4 year old mutt. A few months ago I heard her barking in the bathroom. When I went to see what she was up to she was just standing in the bath. I said "Why are you in the bath?" and she jumped out and went and lay in her bed.

Since then she has done it 1-2 times a week. Doesn't always bark, sometimes I will just hear her jump in so I'll go and check on her and she'll just jump out and act like nothing has happened. Sometimes she will jump out before I even get to the bathroom and then she'll wait in the hallway and then run away as soon as she sees me.

The last couple of times (last Thursday, yesterday) she has jumped in the bath, I've gone to check, then she has run to one of her water bowls and started drinking. If I try to walk away before she has finished drinking she barks at me! I have to stand and watch her until she is finished and then she'll just go and sit on the sofa or in her bed.

She rings a bell if she needs to go outside so I don't think she's trying to tell me that. She also hates baths and getting washed so I don't think she's asking for a shampoo and style either.

If the bathroom door is closed she doesn't try to get in but DC is afraid of the bathroom door so it generally gets left open. There's nothing she can chew or hurt herself with, everything is stored out of reach, so I don't mind her standing in the bath if that's what she wants to do.

It sounds like she is playing a game, but only she understands it.

For what it's worth, she does get a lot of attention, but maybe she thinks it's not enough? Two or three walks a day, free access to a big garden and lots of toys, we do brain games & trick training most days (though we haven't learnt a new trick in a while).

My little chihuahua does this but in the shower it’s a walk in shower so she stands behind the glass door and thinks we can’t see her it’s a little game for her then when we pretend we have found her she is so excited haha

Lol I'd guess it's just a fun game to her. She does it and you come running.

My Pom does something similar. He runs behind my bed while I'm working and kind of 'guf' barks. I go to see what's up and he races out, jumps at me then races to his dad.

I think he just thinks it's amusing.

Probably but I definitely don't understand the rules if so!

We have two "trigger" words for play time and when I tried them before on a few occasions she didn't engage. Just got out of the bath and ignored me. Bit offended really - she didn't want to chase me, and I even tried to give her the annoying squeaky ball she loves (it's reserved for special occasions as the noise it makes drives me mad) and she wasn't interested!

If I don't go and check on her she will get out after a few minutes and go back to her spot on the sofa. If I send DH to check on her she knows it's him and runs out of the bathroom before he's even halfway there.

Sounds a bit like attention-seeking to me

I would just shut the bathroom door and stop her being able to access the bath as one day she may jump too quickly, slip and injure herself.

Could she have seen a spider in the bath and eaten it/ chased it away? My terrier will return to somewhere something exciting has happened and wait in the hope it happens again, sometimes bark to see if that hurries it along and a fast spider would fit the criteria of something exciting worth returning for 😆

Perhaps she wants a bath? 🤔

I would assume it was her way of asking for a drink - turn the tap on next time, maybe she wants to drink from running water

Do you ever let her play with bath bubbles when you are having a bath ? The reason I ask is that the water-drinking at her bowl when she leaps out of the bath could be a way of evoking the excitement of bubble-snapping when the bath is disappointingly not coming up with the goods.

My dog loves chasing bubbles. When I'm having a bath, I either have to let him pace around begging for bubble throws or pick him up and bodily eject him from the bathroom, since he won't go out when he is told, for fear of missing all the fun.
Her little game sounds really sweet, but I guess it could get annoying!