Zora is clean! Yay for puppy baths!

25th July 2008

Zora is clean! Yay for puppy baths!

posted in Zora our Dog |

Even though she’s an inside dog and mostly only goes outside to pee and to go for walks (or to keep us company while we water the plants and do gardening stuff), somehow Zora picks up a “dog” smell… hmm. Maybe it’s because she’s a dog! Anyway, we’ve had her for about a month and a half now, so I went ahead and gave her her second bath.

zora is clean

The guy took her for a really long walk to tire her out, and then I gave her treats on the side of the tub while the water ran. I had to keep giving her treats through the whole bath to keep her occupied and happy. She only hopped out of the tub once. haha.

She really doesn’t seem to mind the lathering part… maybe it’s like a massage. But the rinsing, she doesn’t love. This time, instead of using a cup to pour water over her, I kind of scooped water into my hands and used it to pet away the bubbles. It worked pretty well.

puppy bath

When we were finished, I held out her huge towel and said, “Zora, come!” and she leaped into the towel and I gave her a good rub-down.

The ear cleaning was the hardest part… she smelled the bottle and I gave her treats, but when I got it near her ear she tried to squirm away. We ended up having to do it by brute force, with the guy holding her down while I squirted her.

But 2 minutes later, she was lying in my lap letting me massage her ears (even touching inside of them a little). So weird! Maybe next time we’ll just wait until she’s in that half asleep happy state to clean her ears.

In any case, she’s clean and delicious-smelling now, and I just want to snuggle her and bury my face in her oatmeal-shampooed fur.

Does anyone know how often you’re supposed to give dogs baths? We’re not using a harsh detergent so that will probably let us bathe her more often if we’d like to, right?

I have brushed her teeth several times since we got her, and have clipped her nails a few times too. Her grooming record so far is pretty good! I hope she gets more used to these things so she’ll get calmer about them in the future.

Also, she’s learned “high five” and “spin around” now… which is very cool. I’ve also been getting her to stand on her hind legs with her front paws in the air, which is very cute. I haven’t decided what the verbal command for that should be but I’m starting to think “person” would be good. What do you think?

If you liked this article, please share it on del.icio.us, StumbleUpon or Digg. I’d really appreciate it.

This entry was posted on Friday, July 25th, 2008 at 2:07 pm and is filed under Zora our Dog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

1 On July 25th, 2008, Helena said:

When we first got Rocky he smelled *awful* and we had to bathe him about once a week, which dried out his skin, even using gentle soap. Every 4-6 weeks seems to work well now–with exceptions if he rolls in something stinky!

To get him to stand on his hind legs we say “tummy” because he’s showing us his tummy. But “person” would certainly work too.

posted on July 25th, 2008 at 8:04 pm

2 On July 26th, 2008, yayanana said:

How about Stand Up?

posted on July 26th, 2008 at 6:08 am

3 On July 26th, 2008, Joyful Abode said:

I don’t want to use “stand up” because later I want to teach her “stand” … like to stand up (4 paws) from a sitting or down position.

Helena, I wonder why he smelled so bad! “Tummy” is kinda cute. hehe.

posted on July 26th, 2008 at 6:23 am

4 On July 28th, 2008, Carla said:

My family has always used “Pretty girl” for this move.

posted on July 28th, 2008 at 9:44 am

5 On July 29th, 2008, Danny said:

Oatmeal shampooed dog? Oh that’s just the cutest and best smelling dog ever then.

posted on July 29th, 2008 at 6:59 am

6 On July 29th, 2008, Joyful Abode said:

Yup, Danny! It’s Aloe Oatmeal shampoo… which is supposed to not wash away her flea/tick prevention the way harsh detergents would. And I definitely agree it smells fantastic!

posted on July 29th, 2008 at 7:52 am

7 On July 30th, 2008, Karla said:

We tend to wash our dog once a week; she rarely goes two weeks without a bath. Once she starts smelling like corn chips, we know it’s time.
We also use Aloe-Oatmeal Shampoo that our vet recommended, so it shouldn’t be too harsh to use weekly.

posted on July 30th, 2008 at 11:31 am

8 On August 1st, 2008, Anna said:

I think it depends on what type of coat your dog has. We usually bathe Dottie every 6 to 8 weeks. Any more often dries out her skin. Usually it’s just her feet that smell like corn chips…I call her Frito Paws

posted on August 1st, 2008 at 7:31 am