my dog forest: Clean Puppy

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Clean Puppy

I was thrilled when I picked up Forest for the first time and didn’t smell that stinky dog-funk that accompanies most canines. I hate that smell, I don’t even know what to compare it to (although “moldy sock” comes to mind). Dogs sometimes just smell like, well, dogs. But during the first week we had him, Forest smelled good, clean, like a brand new puppy right off the lot.

Every since he started going to Doggy Day Care (which I can’t praise enough) he’s been coming home a stinky dog. So last Sunday, Nick and I decided to bathe Forest for the first time. Now Forest has had two baths since we got him: once by the vet on the first day due to medical reasons (long story, kinda funny but still painful to think about) and once by a groomer who got to complete other fun tasks like trimming the hair around his butt. We were hoping that these experiences would make our first bathing attempt a little easier.

We gathered our supplies (Dove body wash, a towel, and a pitcher previously used in a flippy cup tournament) and shut the bathroom door in case Forest tried to escape. Turns out that was unnecessary because Forest isn’t big enough to jump out of the bathtub yet, but Nick and I still had to sit on the edge of the tub with our feet inside to keep him from trying to. Nick would fill the pitcher with water and pour it over the puppy (with me nagging the whole time about not getting it in Forest’s face) and I would try to scrub Forest down. The whole time he whimpered and shook a little. At one point, I was trying to clean his underside when I felt this little trickle of warm water, which I guessed was Forest doing his business (but of all places in the house, the tub was really the best possible scenario).

We didn’t get any pictures of the actual wash since our hands were full of puppy fur, soap, water pitcher and dog piss, but we did get some photos of finished product.