July 23, 2005

Doggie Bath Day

Oh yes indeedy, it's always cause for great celebration in our home.

If you yourself are not a dog person or if you are not related to a dog person or if you do not have a friend who is a dog person, you may not actually be aware of this important doggie factoid: dogs are not naturally squeaky clean and sweet smelling. Then, as a bonus of sorts, to enhance their natural odors, they spend time outdoors where they pick up other fine odors that cling to their fur and add to the distinct aroma of the Suburban-Dwelling Dog.

While it is wonderful to have squeaky clean dogs, it can take quite a bit of effort. Particularly if you have a medium or large dog. Or more than one. When we had three dogs, bathing them was an effort requiring many hours, much backbending labor, and a stack of towels as high as my thigh. Now that we are down to two beasts, we've been celebrating Doggie Bath Day about every two weeks.

So anyhoo. For the past several months, every time I give Cosine a bath I wonder if it is the last bath I will give her. How's that for an upbeat and positive thought? I actually try to interpret it as such, being the upbeat and positive thinker I am. Unfortunately when I apply the bright side to that particular thought, it doesn't inspire upbeat and positive feelings.

I really do think today was the day I gave Cosine her last bath.
I'm still working on how to spin it.

.

7 comments:

Keith "Nurse Keith" Carlson, RN, BSN, NC-BC said...

Oh, there but for the grace of Goddess go we....Our own big guy seems to be entering his twilight: thyroid medication, glucosamine, a growing limp in his right hip, slowing down, spirit willing and flesh weaker each season. I feel for you and wish you many blessings as your dear family member undergoes his or her own transition......

Gina said...

Oh Suzanne, I hope not! :(

My parents have a dog, a Aussie Shephard/German shephard mix who weighs about 90 pounds. She too hates the baths, but she is willing to endure simply because she knows at the end she will get to play with the towels!

Watching her roll around on them, gnaw on them, and fling them about is enough to crack a smile on just about anybody.

Bent Fabric said...

This makes me sad. :(

Career Guy said...

We've decided to take our 95 pound wonder dog to a groomer's. He used to go with his first mommy, and we've had him now for several months so he's due. We noticed that Kodiak (the dog) was often decked out with a snazzy bandana around his neck, so when he came to live with us, we bought him some bandanas to wear. Turns out it was the groomer in Chicago who put the kerchiefs on the dog after his bath. Right now he's wearing his red-white-and-blue one, but soon I'll be switching it to a tie-dyed one in honor of Woodstock (the concert, not the bird). Hope he's never mistaken for a gang member or something.
(Sorry about Cosine--hope everything goes well.)

weese said...

I remember Julia's last bath.
she was getting one about everyother day - due to incontinence.
To know such a thing in your heart reveals such a complex set of emotions. All I can say is...I understand.

Kristin @ Intrepid Murmurings said...

Ugh. We lost our boy on the very day of his last bath (didn't know it would be at the time), and i will always remember it. Such good friends, them doggies. So sorry you will have to go through that kind of loss, soon, too.

LutheranChik said...

My 12-year-old, semi-psycho Maltese actually enjoys his baths...borrowing a line from a Michigan water park whose ads are continually blaring on our local TV station, I tell him, "Time to put your ya-ya in the wa-wa!", and he starts doing a goofy little dance and running around the kitchen table in excitement. After his bath he runs all around the house like a maniac, making banked turns at all the corners...he has congestive heart failure and is on meds, so I'm always worried that he's going to collapse after one of these episodes. But his doc says that his heart is in better shape now than when he was diagnosed...he takes a Lasix cocktail by dropper every evening for his problem.