Taking a Bath With a Jack

No, not Jack Black. A Jack Russell Terrier.

Do you suppose it’s bad for my puppy to take a bath with her? She likes to talk to me while I take a bath. So naturally, she dropped her ball in the tub and I let her come in with me. She swam around after her ball and we both got nice and clean.

The bathroom, on the other hand, is a disaster.

L

Nothing especially bad about it at all. Just watch what soaps you use around the dog as you don’t want to dry out her skin or cause irritation to her eyes. Also pay attention to cleaning her ears after a bath. A dog’s ears are excellent breeding grounds for bacteria and floppy eared dogs in particular need to be protected from this (their floppy ears makes it even harder for water in the ear to evaporate allowing mroe chances for bacteria to grow). If you don’t do this I can almost guarantee ear infections in her future. You can buy drops that helps with this. After adding the drops and ‘rubbing’ it in a bit (massaging the base of the ear to let the drops get in) use a dry cloth and your finger to wipe and dry the inside of the ear (just don’t jam your finger too far into her ear). Your dog probably will not enjoy this procedure much but it’s more uncomfortable than actually painful so don’t worry. Once you’re good at it the whole process takes a minute or two.

I once tried to wash my dog at home rather than going to a doggy bath house. Never again. Take a 95 pound, long-haired/shaggy dog who doesn’t like baths at all into an apartment sized bathroom (i.e. just enough room to stand in and turn around). You can imagine the resulting disaster area left behind after that!

(Here’s a photo of a dog like mine [but not mine] that gives an idea of the size and coat I was dealing with: http://www.shilohshepherd.org/Rio%20&%20Sophie.jpg )