Good Dog!

Actually bathed Airlie without incident this past weekend. She and Kansas get bathed monthly, Leo gets bathed every two weeks because of some skin irritations and issues that have developed. So, this would be Airlie's 5th bath. She really doesn't like them. I'm sure she'll grow out of it.

We've come a long way from the first 3 experiences, which resulted in wet, crying puppy clinging frantically to me. She truly doesn't mind the suds, it's the running water that does her in, though she seems to be getting over that.

We've been running the sprinklers quite a bit this past week, so she's been able to observe those, check them out from a distance, skirt around them to do her thing in the yard and then give them a closer look when they are turned off during the day. She's not liking me spritzing her tail with a diluted iodine mixture right now (she either got bitten or got bitten and then chewed herself a nasty, raw, bald spot as a result), but Saturday's bath was uneventful.

Last month she actually climbed out of the tub while wet, skittered out of the bathroom and when I snagged her by the collar she hauled me off my feet. I slipped on the wet floor and hit my head on the doorjamb before crashing to one knee on the tile. Boy, was that almost a disaster!

This time, other than me having to carry her to the tub and put her in, she was still and quiet. She didn't whine or cry. She didn't try to escape at all. I was able to turn the water coming out of barely dribbling handheld showerhead up a bit- a little more water pressure sure sped things up a great deal! I managed to stay mostly dry (I leave her til last so I'm always a little bit damp from the other two), and I think maybe she even might have enjoyed it.

She sure doesn't mind the rain, and she's gotten more comfortable following us into the bathroom and investigating things, even when we're not in there, so maybe this is progress.