Bathing Your Dog: 3 Simple Tips To Help Keep Your Sanity

When giving your dog a bath, do you want to have a pleasant experience or do you want to get frustrated like most dog owners do when they do not adequately prepare? Obviously the first choice is preferred so below are a few simple tips when giving your dog a bath.

1. Preparation is key and the last thing you want to experience is your dog jumping out of a tub full of water and ruining your carpet all because you had to leave the bathroom to get something you needed. In order to prevent this from happening you must place everything that you will need inside the bathroom or your preferred dog wash area before starting your dog's bath.

Make sure that you have your shampoos ready, conditioner on hand, any brushes you may use, and of course plenty of towels. All of these items should be easily reachable while you are giving your dog a bath so that you can always keep one hand on him while the other and is reaching for a supply item. This way, you won't have to leave your dog to look for something you needed which will give your dog the chance to hop out and drive you crazy while he gets everything in your house soaking wet.

2. Expect to get dirty and wet! The last thing you should wear before giving your dog a bath is a piece of clothing that you care about. Put on your raggedy old jeans and a T-shirt that you could care less about. You may even want to just put on a pair of swimming trunks like I prefer to do. The truth is that your clothes are going to get wet so you may as well be prepared.

3. As soon as the bath is over be sure to leash your dog and get him outside immediately. If you do not do this, then your entire room will be soaked with water and suds from him shaking it off. It is impossible to prevent your dog from shaking off water, so ensuring that he is in an area outside and can do no damage is very important.

Of course this advice is more appropriate for larger dog breeds that have more hair. I own three Chihuahuas and giving them a dog bath is a lot less stressful than it would if I had a full grown German Shepherd to bathe, as you can imagine.