Since the day Bella came to live with us, OBaby has wanted to give her a bath. Not because she smelled or anything, O just thought it would be fun to give a dog a bath. I, on the other hand, feel like it is enough that I manage to bathe regularly and get both girls into the tub on a semi-regular basis. I really wasn’t jazzed to add “give dog a bath” to my endless list of “To Do” items.
However, for the past few days, Bella has grown to smell, well, like a dog. So, we decided last night to bathe Bella. Let me tell you, even after more than a decade of dog ownership I had never tried to give a dog a bath. Marbles HATED water. Even the groomers said he was a tough dog to wash. So, I never tried to get his 50-pound body into the tub. I really expected that giving a dog a bath would be a horrible, messy, unpleasant experience. It wasn’t. Belle takes a bath like it’s something she does every day. She let me pick her up and put her in the water. She stood perfectly still while I washed her and the babies took turns rising her off by pouring cups of water over her. She didn’t even complain when YBaby’s cup of water inevitably ended up in her face – no matter how many times I said, “No, don’t pour the water in her eyes.” Apparently Y only heard “water in her eyes” and thought it was a good idea.
When she was all clean, Bella let me pick her up, wrap her in her towel, and dry her off. The only thing she nixed was the idea of a blow dry. I guess she prefers to air dry.
In the end we had a clean dog, a fairly clean bathroom, and two wonderfully happy girls who got to help Mama give the dog her bath. Of course now I expect that the next time the girls are in the tub, Bella will be jumping in with them. (Yes, she can jump into and out of the tub. That’s one of the reasons I was afraid to give her a bath – I could just see a wet, soapy dog jumping out of the tub and running through the house shaking soap and water onto everything. Hey, wait, maybe that’s not such a bad idea . . . )
2 comments:
Donna, can you email me? We've talked once before when I was helping another family and now I wanted to talk to you for me! ;)
charlliesweb@yahoo.com
Donna I salute your bravery, washing dog is way at the bottom of my mommy thrills list, right behind letting my helpful Lavender address my last envelope. Like your new page.
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