He doesn't like going out for a walk if it's raining.
He doesn't particularly like drinking water. In fact we've never known a dog to drink so little.
And he definitely doesn't like water when it's in the form of a shower or bath.
A few days ago I decided that Barley needed a thorough clean, so unfortunately for him that meant a bath or shower.
Since Barley has been a member of our family, Mr.R and myself have bathed him a few times - with varying degrees of success.
Usually Mr.R has lifted Barley into the bath and then held him steady, while I've attempted to get him clean using the shower. This process hasn't resulted in Barley getting much cleaner than he was before we bathed him. It usually ends up with me and Mr.R getting soaked, the floor becoming wet and more slippery than an ice-skating rink, and Barley being most unhappy.
Barley immediately after his bath, he sat staring at me for ages.......
So, this time I thought we'd try to lessen the distress that Barley seems to feel when being given a shower, and try to bath him instead.
First I run a very shallow bath, just a few inches, of lovely warm water.
Then Mr.R lifted Barley into the bath.
Barley didn't seem as uncomfortable as he has previously, he stood quite still, well, a there were a lot less escape attempts anyway.
I then gently began to sponge Barley, letting the warm water soak his back and he seemed fine(ish).
Barley has very sensitive skin, so once he was suitable wet I used a tiny amount of dog shampoo, which I rubbed all over his fur.
By this stage Barley was not happy to be in the bath, but he wasn't frantically trying to jump out either, so we continued to clean him.
Barley spent half an hour 'cleaning' himself after his bath.......
Barley isn't a large dog, he's pretty much a typical Lurcher size, but he is surprisingly strong. I guess that's because he is all muscle, and his neck muscle in particular is unbelievably strong, he's like Mike Tyson. So it's not easy to keep him in the bath if and when he decides he's had enough and wants to get out.
Thankfully Mr.R is very strong and can hold Barley steady so that I can wash him. I'd never be able to bathe Barley on my own, he's way too strong for me.
Anyway, as we didn't want to prolong the trauma of being washed, I decided that the best and quickest way to rinse Barley would be to shower him.
Our shower is electric, and the water pressure is good and strong, so I was really careful to reassure Barley that everything was ok, and Mr.R kept hold of him and comforted him with reassuring words too.
As I turned on the shower it was obvious that Barley was now more eager for it all to be over, so I rinsed him as fast as I could, but made sure all of the shampoo was thoroughly gone from his fur and skin.
Barley letting me know he was not impressed with bath day.......
The whole process of bathing Barley didn't take very long at all, only a few minutes, but it felt a lot lot longer - for us and no doubt for Barley too.
Once we'd washed and rinsed Barley, Mr.R carefully lifted him out of the bath. Barley was very happy to be free, he shook and shook sending water everywhere. Ahh, bless him!
Washing Barley is not something we intend to do too often, it's too stressful for all three of us.
A good towel dry and Barley rushed out of the bathroom and into the living room, where he spent the next half an hour or so licking himself.
I told him that if he'd bothered to clean himself previously, we wouldn't have bathed him at all.
Barley just looked up at me, sighed, and said he didn't need to be washed, he was happy being a soap-dodger, and with that he fell fast asleep. At least that's what I interpreted he said, from the way he was staring at me.
Barley sound asleep after his bath.......
Barley does not like having a bath or shower, not surprisingly it was impossible for us to take any photos of Barley during his bath/shower, so I only managed to get some after shots.
Barley looked a lot cleaner after his bath, and he definitely smelt better too.
Does your dog enjoy being washed as much as Barley does?
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