Washing the dog

A question about : Washing the dog

Hi all

I wonder if any experienced dog owners could help me out? I have a 2 year old staffie lab x who we rescued just over a year ago. Since the first day he came home with us, he has been terrified of the bathroom. He wouldn't even walk past the bathroom door without peeing himself (I suspect his previous owner used to lock him in the bathroom because he also had a massive dislike to closed doors).

Anyway, over a year on and he can now walk past the bathroom door and even comes in for a nosey when you're sitting on the toilet or in the shower. I have even caught him wandering in by himself to have a little sniff around.

Now my problem is that he really needs a wash One of his favourite things to do when he is out on his walks is roll around in the mud. We usually take him into the river outside our house to wash him off or have at him with the garden hose but its too cold to do that to him now and quite frankly he's starting to smell

For the past month or so I have been coaxing him into the shower cubicle with some tasty treats. He now stands in the cubicle for about 5-10 seconds before dashing out again. I wonder if anyone can tell me where to go from here? I don't want to lose all the progress we've made with him so I don't think slamming the door shut and turning the water on is the best way to go.. Do I fill the bottom of the tray with water and get him to paddle or do I have the water running then start coaxing with treats? If anyone has any good advice for me, it would be greatly appreciated.

Best answers:

• Bucket or two of warm water and wash him outside? That's how we do ours when she needs it.
• You can get waterless shampoo, you couls try doing it in the shower and eventually start adding water as time goes by.
• Hi sorry but couldn't read and run, really not sure what to suggest I had a gsd that hated the bath but would still come in the bathroom rather than be on his own, maybe buckets of warm water outside for a quick wash and then warm towels to dry.
• When I still lived at home with my dogs I used to shower with them. I don't know whether this is what you are doing, it wasn't clear.
  Anyway, I'd be in there with them (one at a time obviously!) getting wet as well and it really comforted them.
  They still ran for the hills at the earliest opportunity though and left a damp trail all over the house!
  Hope this helps!
• I've a big GSD and, I'm sure some will be truly horrified here, I have NEVER washed him... now he's an outside dog, is never inside the house so smell isn't really too big an issue... I queried my vet on it and he reconed it's not a problem. He is also a rescue dog and has a real dislike of water be it rivers, lakes, ponds.... won't go in over his knees....
• My sister showers with her Labs. (One at a time - the cubicle isn't that big.) From the bathtowels, it's a very wet job, but she says the individual attention (& games) means she can check them all over as well as wash & dry them. When there were puppies she & my other sister operated a production line of grasp, soak, suds & cuddles, rinse & dry with cuddles.
  Never been so glad to have sons...
• Definitely warm water outdoors. You can do it quickly then get them nice and dry inside in no time. I've stopped using the bathroom completely. Our boxer will willingly walk in the shower if you ask him, but our dobey's paws are too big and they wreck baths and shower cubicles. The dobey suffers from the cold really bad but even he doesn't mind a warm outside bath in the coldest of weathers.
• You could wait for a sunny day, buckets outside with warm water, good scrub down, lots of towels, then take him inside for drying. I use a hairdryer, waft over, job done.
  Ilona
• Buckets of water outside is the chosen method here. I rarely wash them, freshen up with a spray shampoo once in a while if needed.
  If you do want to teach him to have a bath, you want to read up on counter conditioning and desensization. It's how you change a dog's emotional response to anything - from a dog that barks at other dogs on walks, to a dog that dislikes having its nails cut.
  Counter conditioning means changing the dog's negative feelings to positive. You associate the trigger with something positive - only given when in the presence of the trigger, and stopped when the trigger goes away. So if, for example, he's happy to sit next to the shower, you could have him sit there, you can turn the shower head on, and feed him treats whilst the shower is running. Shower turned off, treats stop - lots of short, sweet training sessions, making sure he doesn't get stressed. He'd then learn that it's the shower being on that is prediction of good things happening. Ditto with being in the shower itself - when he chooses to go in the shower, he gets fed lots of little treats, when he exits the cubicle, the treats stop.
  Desensitization means exposing the dog to their trigger repeatedly, at an increasing level (starting below the dog's threshold). In the case of the shower, this could be that once he's used to going in the shower cubile itself, having the shower running at a low strength, and over time, increasing the strength of it gradually, at a pace that he can manage.
  Using both in conjunction will help change his association with the shower to a positive one.
  https://pets.webmd.com/desensitizatio...erconditioning
• I have a dog shower which fits on monobloc taps (bath or basin) or has an adaptor for kitchen/garden taps, so it can be used indoors or out.
  It has a metal lined plastic hose, though you can have a metal one for the same price and a trigger, so you control the flow without having to turn the serving tap on and off. My cavaliers like it as there is less water spread than from a normal shower head.
• As he will have short fur, I think waterless shampoo will work.
• A friend used Pet Wipes - like baby wipes but for dogs- for her dog.
• our staffie would shower with us - or on her own. she loved the warm rain.
  staffies are tough dogs - I don't think its too cold to give them a quick hose down and shampoo and rinse outside. then get them in and dry them off. They walk quite happily in the rain. or the snow. I just would get them in and dried off.
• We tried washing our Beagle when he was younger and very often I would be wetter than him at the end...he absolutely hated it.
  On the occasions that he has had to be washed (think rolling in the proverbal) I've found giving him a doggy bed bath to be a compromise ....I fill the basin with his shampoo and warmish water and wash him using his flannel.
  He tolerates this.
  Weirdly enough (allegedly) he's been ok when he was bathed at the kennels!
• If you have a garden - a good hose on a sunny day and you may be surprised the dog will love it.
  I live in a 1st floor flat and in the summer run a hose from my kitchen window....
  Yup, all my neighbours think it is hillarious but hey....
• My old dog would tolerate being bathed, but never liked it, so got wobbly on her legs and it became difficult for her to stand in the slippery bath, I used to take her outside with dog shampoo, a bucket of warm water and a large jug.
  I'd get her to stand on the lawn, fill the jug with warm water with a good squirt of shampoo in it, pour it over her from neck to tail, give her a bit of a scrub, then use the jug to rinse with warm water till she was clean.
  It took about five minutes, prevented her slipping and being stressed, and kept the bathroom free of all the mucky water that dogs inevitably shake over every surface and wall in the room!
  Most dogs are not keen on being bathed, so if he isn't keen on the bathroom anyway, washing him in there may reinforce his fears, so I would probably wash him outside instead.
• my dogs are groomed, which they hate and find very stressful. When walking over the fields they get muddy and the whole bathing thing is a nightmare, they both despise it.
  I shall try the outside method next time.
  thanks
• Having an Irish Wolfhound, there's no opportunity to get him in a bath, let alone a shower. For him it's a washing up bowl and warm water outside or in a room with waterproof floor!
  Good, strong brushing, gentle scrub down with a flannel then brisk rub-down with a towel.
  And always be prepared to get wet!
• Steaming garden bathed dog