Does your dog run and hide when he or she knows it is bath time? Mine do! Have you asked yourself the question “Should you bathe your dog with hose water?”
Sometimes, if the weather is quite hot it is beneficial to simply turn on the hose and let your dog cool off, they welcome this relief when they are hot.
We love to go for a swim, go to a beach if close by, jump in a pool to cool off, or even, if possible, go and have a cool shower when we need to make ourselves cooler. Your dog is no different, they welcome a cool down.
A lot of dogs do not like getting wet, and some dogs are very wary of the hose being turned on. If this is your dog, simply fill a bucket with cool water, wet a small towel or similar, and rub this under your dog’s tummy, cool their pads with the wet cloth and provide your dog with plenty of water.
Some dogs love to lick ice cubes in very hot weather.
Back to bathing your dog!
When I was showing my dogs in the show ring, I had all the latest gadgets to help my dogs look as though they were groomed within an inch of their lives.
I certainly did not ask myself the question “Should you bathe your dog with hose water” at that time, as my dogs were carefully bathed in a tub, wrapped up once the shampoo was rinsed off and gently dried. Once their coats were reasonably dry, they were then dried with a hair dryer to make every hair look amazing! Oh my goodness, what a lot of work this entailed, but I enjoyed this process as it was together time with my dog.
I am sure, my dogs did not enjoy this routine, however, they accepted the fussing as they had my full attention for a long time!
When I do use hose water to bathe my dog I make sure it is a warm day with plenty of sunshine, I fill two buckets with warm water, one with my chosen dog shampoo, and one with clear water. I put a face-cloth in each.
After quickly hosing my dog with the “shower” setting selected on the hose nozzle and making sure the water is not blasting out, I wet my dog’s coat quickly. I grab the face-cloth that is in the bucket with the shampoo and gently rub my dog all over with this shampoo filled face-cloth to clean their coat.
I then use the face-cloth that is in the bucket of clean warm water and wipe over their face, making sure not to let any water enter their ears.
Once their head is wiped, I gently hose the shampoo from the coat, then again use the face-cloth from the clear water and wipe away the excess water all over their body, just to give my dog a nice wet rub over, which they love.
You need to make sure you are well clear of your dog, before they shake out the excess water. I am sure sometimes, that my dogs love to see me getting wet from their shaking. It is as though they are saying “We will wet her, just like she is wetting us!”
This is followed by a rub down with a towel. Do they love this rub-down with the towel, they keep coming back for lots and lots of rub-downs, it seems to be pure bliss to them.
Of course I am happy to accommodate them, as I love to see them enjoying themselves.
A word of caution, to start using a hose to bathe your dog, you need to give your dog a quick gently spray just in a small area of their coat, simply take small steps at a time.
So, “Should you bather your dog with Hose water?”. Yes, as long as it is warm and you have made sure they are not afraid of the hose.
Until next time…
