Never again! Never, never, never again! Giving Max a bath....

[mamachicken888]

Oh my goodness! What a trip! It was 60 degrees here today and we thought it would be a good time to give our teen-age Max, now a little over 4 months old and over 50 lbs, a bath. After all, the boy was getting pretty fragrant. Taking him with us in the car required the vents wide open in OUR faces. Sooooo.... we have an RV with an outside shower and we just KNEW that would be the best plan for getting Max all wet, lathering with a nice doggie oatmeal shampoo, and then rinsing him off. We thought there might be a little resistance, but we thought with lukewarm water, he would tolerate it. Riiiiiight.

The good news is that before he knew we were doing it, we managed to get him 2/3 wet. But boy howdy, when the soap went on the boy went nuts. He did NOT like the smell, or something. He was jumping and pulling on the choke chain until he was coughing from the strain on his neck. Well, I couldn't take THAT... but we had to get the dadgum soap off him so we attempted to hold him (bad idea!) and rinse him off. He broke free and I'm not kidding you.. he rolled in everything that was horizontal on the ground. I bet he rolled for 5 minutes - in the leaves - in the straw - in the dirt - and in the chicken... uh huh.

We perhaps got 2/3 of the soap off him, but I know he would lather up if we wet him down again, lol. He looks really good, smells...ok. But all in all - definitely not worth it!

Does anybody have an idea of how to do this the easy way? If we haven't tramatized the poor boy and ruined him for life about baths... I'd like to try something different the next time.

Did I say "next time?" I must be nuts.

 

[Poultrybonkers]

Can't help you as my pup is like only 15 lbs.

 

[sunny & the 5 egg layers]

Sounds like one of my dogs, Penny (I have two). She flips out! I tied her to a tree one time and I will NEVER do that trick again! After much struggle I found myself wrapped to the tree by a rope dog leash and my dog looking at me like "Whaaaat? Why such the long face?". I have even had to muzzle her several times for bathes but she has mellowed out more as she has gotten older. But when it comes to nail trimming... FORGET IT! I needed 3 people to help cut her nails. 2 to hold her and calm her down and one to cut her nails. She can be crazy. But I love her.
My other dog, Zoey (border collie mix) is pretty good when it comes to getting bathes. The problem I have had with her is she wants to sit on me (because she is scared). But the last few times she has had a bathe, I didnt even have to leash her. She knows the "stay" command so well that when I told her to "stay" after her bathe so I could go and turn the water off she was in the same exact spot opun my return.

Good luck with your dog!

EDITED FOR TYPOS.

 

[mamachicken888]

Thanks guys! I think I'm going to look into drycleaning.

 

[karlamaria]

Best thing to ever do is wash your puppy early on . Not when they get tp big and to afraid. I have a rot who is over 90 pounds, and he did freak as we got ohm when he was 3" years old. But we put him in the tub, and we put the sprayer on and gently washed him. Yep he was freaked but we went slow and made sure he had a few treats every minute or so . That took some of the fear from the bath, not all the way but we did wash him well. Now that being said, get a nice kids pool this summer, get him to get in with you and have fun. On a hot day he is t to cool off. Bathing when started very young is the best for every animal.

 

[seminolewind]

 

[Stacykins]

I've had to deal with bathing one difficult outdoor dog before (not mine). We used two leads that clipped to a dog harness (washed under it of course) that held the dog like a horse is held in cross ties. One lead in one direction, the other lead in another, with the dog standing in the middle.

 

[aoxa]

I take my bad dog to the dog wash. That way the mess is their problem to clean up, and it's not too expensive (maybe $10) but that is worth it. They supply everything (towels, shampoo, combs, etc).

Plus the baths are at level so you don't have to bend over. You blow them dry with this awesome dog dryer too

Most towns have one. We have a couple.

 

[Linn Bee]

Quote:
That worked for me as well.

 

[Mala]

My year old Anatolian Shepard love getting a bath. Loves the water. The only thing I can recommend is to get him wet often! I feel like the more you do it, the better acclimated he will become. But start small, just get his legs wet at first. Then work up to getting his entire body wet. Do it all in baby steps and stop as soon as he starts really freaking out. Once you can get him wet without a freak-out, start adding soap. Start acclimating him now while he is young; you'll never be able to manage when he gets bigger.

We just gave our pup a bath in the bathtub for the first time about a month ago. We got her when she was 6 months old in July, and had always washed her outside. She did great in the bathtub, though you could tell it was something new to her. Let me tell you, getting an 11 month old Anatolian into a bathtub is not an easy task (especially not when you're 20 weeks pregnant and can't just lift her in!). Start training Max to come in and sit in the tub now, or you're going to be sorry when he gets bigger!