A Guide to Bathing Your Dog
Wet dog smell.
Urgh.
Having a four-legged best friend is often one of the best things in someone’s life. Dog’s bring joy and happiness as well as a sense of escape for many people. Cuddling them, feeding them, walking them and playing with them are often the easy bits of owning a dog.
One of the near on impossible parts of owning a dog, however, is keeping them clean.
For reasons unknown to most, to most dogs, a large body of muddy water looks about as inviting as a three-course meal. Although neither you or they directly suffer from an inquisitive swim, your car, sofa, bed or just the overall smell throughout your home definitely can.
So, every so often, bathing them is essential. Even the cleanest of dogs need a bath just to stay fresh and clean after a while. A lot can depend on how often your dog needs bathing. It depends on their coat type, activity level, and health conditions and the obvious stuff like how often they dive into muddy streams the second they are let off the lead. That means some tongue-wagging tyrants need weekly baths, while other sofa queens can go a few weeks or a month without a good scrub. Talk to your veterinarian to see how often you should be washing your pup to be certain.
Once you determine how frequently you need to be bathing your dog, the next stage is making sure the process goes as smoothly as possible. Your first step is having the necessary equipment. A bath or shower, some treats, and a dog towel. The all-new Pet Towel by SPh2ONGE is perfect for gently removing any loose pet hair, and firmly hold it in its unique texture ready for easy disposal, making it an essential product for bath time.
Ease Your Dog into the Idea of Bath Time
Your dog might hate the idea of a bath at first and that’s fine. That’s normal. If you fight your dog into the bath, they’ll always hate it. The overall goal is to make bath time for your dog a fun time and something they don’t mind doing. Gradually acclimate your dog to the concept of a bath by placing him or her in the tub when it's dry and then rewarding them for calm, controlled behaviour with a treat. Once your dog is completely comfortable with sitting in the bath a few times, add a low amount of warm water. The calmer your dog is, continue to praise and reward them for this good behaviour. It’s important to be patient at all times, don’t give up if this seems like it may take a while!
Brush Before Bathing
Before you give your dog a bath, brush thoroughly to remove any knotted or tied together hair to maximise the effectiveness of your bath as well as making the towelling down and brushing process afterwards as comfortable as possible.
Shampoo
Wet your dog down with lukewarm water and apply a gentle pH-balanced shampoo that is designed especially for dogs. Avoid applying to your dog’s face, especially eyes and muzzle. Then, run your fingers through your dog’s coat, covering their whole area of fur. Once this is rinsed, you may also want to apply a dog specific conditioner, although this is optional.
Towel Off and wait for shake
Once your dog is rinsed clean, remove him from the tub and rub him down with your Sph2onge Super Absorbent Pet Towel. The towel can absorb up to one pint of water, so no matter how big your furry friend is, they’ll be dry in no time. Allow for them to shake and then dry again using your towel.
Give a Reward
Once your pup is bathed, you’re all set for next time. Reward their good behaviour so they know if they are cooperative in the future they’ll be rewarded again.
Enjoy!
If it’s your little brown ball of fluff Mabel or your cuddlesome cavalier Tilly, they’ll be squeaky clean to spend the rest of the night having the back of their ears scratched on the sofa without a hint of a bad smell in the air.