wandaiamme
New member
INTRO
So today I was told to bathe our old, 12y/o shih tzu dog. He's not really a problem since he has a very snobby/solitary personality these days (he used to have a bit more energy when he was younger, but still very introverted but clingy) but he's a problem inside the bathroom.
Since other family members are either busy with work and other household errands (cooking, cleaning), we are able to bathe out dog (or send him to grooming) around every 2-3wks. I used to do be assigned to do this task before, but I rarely do it recently.
BATH PROBLEM
When one tries to put him inside the bathroom, he just moves away from the shower (we don't have a tub) and tries to knock his way out of the bathroom (door closed), and so when I bathe him I have to do a "forward bend"-like position to reach him and I had to do this repeatedly when soaping, washing, and making him stay. He will try to escape and I had to pull his legs so he can go back to the range of the shower; and imagine how much more of a struggle to wash his paws one by one when he's determined to not bathe? Aside from this escaping problem, he also whelps when we stay longer than a couple of minutes. At the end of a bathing session, my back hurts and I find it hard to breathe.
Today I just lost my patience (I was spontaneously coerced to bathe him, since he stinks and they saw me first) and handled him in an angry manner. I really feel sorry for him and feel bad about it so I'm here to look for solutions.
ALTERNATIVES I TRIED
I've tried another setup before such as: (1) Bathing outside using a hose sprinkler and a basin, but he also escapes the basin; (2) Bathing in the bathroom but this time I put a round plastic hamper under the shower and then put him inside. I kind of don't want to do this any longer as this might be bad for his hindlegs especially over five minutes, I still have to stoop for soaping and rinsing his hindlegs, and he also moves away from the water by going round and round the hamper.
The only thing that seems to work for him is when my dad bathes him (my dad basically sits on a wet bathroom floor). But it's a problem when my dad's priorities doesn't include bathing him for certain periods of time.
Maybe we should just regularly send him to grooming? Maybe cut his hair short so he can bath less? Are there any cheap (read: third world country cheap) mods we can do to the shower portion of the bathroom that can be removed after he bathes?
Thank you so much!
So today I was told to bathe our old, 12y/o shih tzu dog. He's not really a problem since he has a very snobby/solitary personality these days (he used to have a bit more energy when he was younger, but still very introverted but clingy) but he's a problem inside the bathroom.
Since other family members are either busy with work and other household errands (cooking, cleaning), we are able to bathe out dog (or send him to grooming) around every 2-3wks. I used to do be assigned to do this task before, but I rarely do it recently.
BATH PROBLEM
When one tries to put him inside the bathroom, he just moves away from the shower (we don't have a tub) and tries to knock his way out of the bathroom (door closed), and so when I bathe him I have to do a "forward bend"-like position to reach him and I had to do this repeatedly when soaping, washing, and making him stay. He will try to escape and I had to pull his legs so he can go back to the range of the shower; and imagine how much more of a struggle to wash his paws one by one when he's determined to not bathe? Aside from this escaping problem, he also whelps when we stay longer than a couple of minutes. At the end of a bathing session, my back hurts and I find it hard to breathe.
Today I just lost my patience (I was spontaneously coerced to bathe him, since he stinks and they saw me first) and handled him in an angry manner. I really feel sorry for him and feel bad about it so I'm here to look for solutions.
ALTERNATIVES I TRIED
I've tried another setup before such as: (1) Bathing outside using a hose sprinkler and a basin, but he also escapes the basin; (2) Bathing in the bathroom but this time I put a round plastic hamper under the shower and then put him inside. I kind of don't want to do this any longer as this might be bad for his hindlegs especially over five minutes, I still have to stoop for soaping and rinsing his hindlegs, and he also moves away from the water by going round and round the hamper.
The only thing that seems to work for him is when my dad bathes him (my dad basically sits on a wet bathroom floor). But it's a problem when my dad's priorities doesn't include bathing him for certain periods of time.
Maybe we should just regularly send him to grooming? Maybe cut his hair short so he can bath less? Are there any cheap (read: third world country cheap) mods we can do to the shower portion of the bathroom that can be removed after he bathes?
Thank you so much!
