Bath Time Tricks?

I would start with just a little bit of standing water, enough to just get her paws wet. Then use a cup to poor water over her back a little at a time. Do not use running water at first, let her get adjusted to the water and next time fill the tub up a little more. Give her treats for staying in there and pet her as you poor water over her. Cup of water, pet, anouther cup water, pet and so on. No large leaps, do not fill the tub and dunk her in there, do not spray her with a lot of water all at once, start small and work your way from there.

Hrm, thats the problem. I put just enough water in the tub so she is paw deep.... I pour a little water on her, pet, water, pet, water, lather, rinse, repeat, lol.

Everytime, she tries to jump out of the tub.

Silly me didnt try treats yet. Sometime tells me that she wont have an interest in treats while in the tub...

Humm... Maybe try treat in the tub with no water. Just get her adjusted to the tub so she doesn't fear it.

If all else fails you can take her to a groomer for a bath and eventuly after going there a few times it's not so bad. I belive the local groom here charges $10/bath and that includes the soap, they use harnesses to hold the dog in place so it's a little less stressful for the dog. Once she is use to a groomer handeling her you could try it on your own. Unless a dog really needs a bath I would only wash a dog maybe once a month with soap. Giz gets her bath 3 days before I apply her flea med. Unless she finds something smelly to roll in I limit her to once a month baths. Really depends on the dog on how often you give a bath but most larger smooth coated dogs don't need them that often.


For a while my dog would not even go into the room with the tub and then I started feeding her next to it and the tub was no longer scary to her. As a puppy she hated baths but now they are nothing to her, it just takes some time to get adjusted, I still suggest small steps.

Have you tried bathing her in the sink?  When my lab/catahoula mix was a mere 12 lbs, I bathed her in the kitchen sink.  I think she felt more secure there.  She did try to get out but it was manageable.  I always followed her bath with a special large doggie cookie.  I swear she looks for it.   She is now 82 lbs and of course get bathed in the tub.  She isn't crazy about it, but I tell her how pretty she smells and how good she is.  I even bought her a rubber ducky.  She showed no interest.  When she was little, I gave her a bath at least every two weeks because she stunk.  I changed her dog food to Canidae and didn't have that problem anymore.

I don't know if this can be applied in your situation, but one of the best things I've ever done in my home was to install a hot water tap in my garage.  Alongside the cold water tap.  You put a 'Y' connector hose between the two, turn both on and TA DA! warm water bath in the driveway.  Simply hold your dog by the collar, spray, treat repeat.  They don't like it any better, but it goes fast and the dog is really easily handled.
 
It may be pricy depending on your plumber, but whatever it costs, it's worth it.  When we come in from a particularly muddy romp in the field, I spray Chinook down, wipe her off and we're done!

We bought a special halter (at PetSmart) that suction cups to the sides of the tub. Gracie has a tendency to ooze her way out of the tub . .  while your're shampooing the front end, she first oozes a back leg, then she slides her belly over, then the other back leg, then she works on the front legs while you're trying to get the back legs in! She still tries to ooze with the halter on, but at least it keeps her front end in place while we put her back legs back in!

Thanks for all of the responses! I am going to start getting her use to the bathtub without water in it to start. She goes into the bathroom where we bathe her so I know the tub isnt scary. Having her washed is hardwith our location and schedule but Ill still look into it.


My husband is allergic to her so I want to try to bath her atleast once a week. Ive been looking at other posts so I have an idea what kind of shampoo to use I believe.

Ill also try the sink! Duh, didnt think of that. It should be much easier in there- def not having to bend over for so long with her struggling!


Thanks for all the replies!

I have heard of those bath tub harness things.... again, something Ill look into. I think Ill prob go check one out today.

As far as the ho water faucet, not too sure if I can do that since Im in military housing, not sure if they will approve but again, I will look into it.

I don't put water IN the tub at all.  I use a hand-held shower with a long hose on it (one of those Rubbermaid ones that fits over the spigot works fine too). 
 
Billy was TERRIFIED of a bath when he came here.  Just walking in and looking AT the tub and he would literally shake and cower. 
 
Toss a couple of treats IN the tub.  Get in and get them, good boy SEE YA!!!
 
A couple of times I called him in and I turned on the water in the tub and treated him OUT of the tub. 
 
Then I tossed treats IN the tub, he got in and I just turned the water on.  Turned it OFF and treated again. 
 
At this point?  He will go in and lay his chin ON THE EDGE OF THE TUB to ****ask**** for a bath!! No joke.!!

Emma also asks for a bath[] I can't take a shower without a buddy. I started like Callie did, back in the days of having to do daily baths. Treat for standing near the tub, in the tub, staying in the bathroom. Peanut butter doesn't motivate her? Try cream cheese, or the *ultimate* doggy crack, LIVERWORST!

You may be doing it already but make sure to use a matt on the floor of the tub as well as somthing that is good footing when you do have him jump out. Not having to struggle to keep his footing will help make him more comfterable.

Line the top of the tub with peanut butter, it'll keep em busy! []

I don't have any quick tricks, but i've been working for a while on getting my dog to allow me to wash him, and I just the other night managed to actually wash my dog, or mostly wash him I should say.
You should start at a level where your dog is comfortable. For my dog, after a bad experience with washing, I had to restart at getting him to be comfortable just being in the bathroom. So, I would give him a bone and let him eat it while I took a bath. Next was for him to get in the tub, or it might need to be part way in the tub, then give a treat. If you reward for part way, then up the criteria and require the dog to get in completely. Allow her to hop right out immediately for a few days before making her stay in for some time before rewarding her. I think after that I worked on him staying in the tub while I touched the handle to the faucet. If the dog is scared of the water, don't turn it on at this point, just work on the dog not freaking out and getting out of the tub while you touch it before actually turning it on. Then of course you would turn it on, but just a little bit at first, gradually upping the flow of the water with each time. If you have a handsprayer, you might then start touching whatever would turn this on. I didn't turn that on at first, but only touched the thing that switched the water to it before actually starting to turn it on little by little each day. When you do turn it on, I would suggest you make sure it is facing away from the dog so you do not actually spray her with it before you are ready for that. After turning the sprayer on and working up to full flow on it, I started holding the sprayer, and moving it towards the dog, up to being able to spray his feet. He was also comfortable enough at this time that he started climbing into the full bathtub with me ( I would do this training when it was most convenient for me, which was before or after I was actually going to take a shower or bath myself). So, at this point, I was also working on splashing water on him, or pouring it on him with my hands. This made it possible for me to actually wash him earlier than I had expected to be able to. He hopped in the tub with me, so I splashed him wet, and put soap on him to wash him, and I also splashed him to rinse the soap off. It's not the most efficient method but it worked for the time. I wanted to wash him before it got too cold to take him outside wet, but I haven't gotten to the point of spraying his whole body with the sprayer, and I also don't want to jump too far ahead of what he feels ok with and then lose all the progress we've made.

VERY VERY VERY well broken down -- when you get a truly phobic dog all the things she's suggested are perfectly wonderful 'baby steps'.  You HAVE to break it down to almost imperceptible steps for some dogs.  Yes, it takes forever, BUT this way you catch those tiny small 'triggers' that can make them bolt and you desensitize them.
 
I particularly like the one step where she just **touches** the faucet handle.  Yes -- it is often something just THAT tiny that they have matched with fear and before you can get them to let you turn ON the water you have to desensitize that first visual cue -- which had him freaked out before the 'sound' of the water came on or the 'feeling' of wetness did -- AND which is why a lot of people fail at desensizting!!
 
Breaking it all down to these tiny steps -- THIS is what will make it successful for that dog who is truly scared!!!  She takes the pressure OFF because everything happens slow!
 
For one dog we put the water bowl in the bathroom JUST inside the door -- it took me YEARS to get Socks desensiztized.
 
In her case it wasn't 'baths' at all really - altho the fact that they took place in the bathroom was huge for her. 
 
No -- in her first home the husband was an abuser, and he apparently locked Ms. Socks in the bathroom while he beat his wife.  He was afraid of her (and he apparently was the one who trained her!!) -- but he actually had her canines filed flat he was so scared of his own dog and I'm sure he gave her reason!!  She was a boxer pit mix -- bless her heart.  But she got to the point where she tolerated a bath REALLY well.