Bath day for Jake.
Jake and I have a ritual that we go through once a week. Jake hides from me when I want to give him a bath and I attempt to lure him out of his hiding place to give him the bath. Who knew it would be so challenging at times just to get a small dog into a tub?
Jake thinks that he can outwit me by crawling under the couch to hide. Sometime he can prolong things by staying under there for 15 or 20 minutes at a time. What he doesn’t realize is that I’m a dog owner on a mission. I’m not about to give up. I do have a few tactics of my own.
As always, I have the tub filled with water and the Dawn soap ready before I go after him. Sometimes, if I’m lucky, Jake is asleep when I go get him. Lucky for me on those days. If he’s awake, he just knows what’s coming and off he goes!
It’s quite an ordeal at times to get Jake out from under the couch. He hates baths so much that he is just as stubborn as can be. At one time, I could persuade him out of his hiding place with braunswager. Jake just couldn’t resist the scent of it. After a couple times of that, he grew wise to that tactic, so now it no longer works.
Now it’s time for coaxing him out with his favorite toys. His fake fox tail, favorite green ball, a couple of old sock tied together for a game of tug of war. Sometimes I recruit my parrot, Bogie, for help. Jake gets pretty jealous if he thinks Bogie is having all the fun with the toys without him.
Once out from under the couch, the bath process goes rather quickly. Jake will stand still when I get him in the tub. At least long enough to wash and rinse him one time. Then I towel dry him and let him go.
When Jake gets out of the tub, he is wound up tighter than an eight day clock. He runs through the house as fast as he can for several minutes. Don’t get in his way or you’ll get run over. Every dog that I’ve had does this after a bath. I’ve never been sure why. It’s as if they’re celebrating freedom until next week’s bath.
