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How to bathe a dog who doesn’t enjoy water?

Kickity-Flippity

Founding Member
Joined
Oct 2, 2025
Messages
4
Rocky does not like water as far as I’m concerned, the woman we adopted him from said that we only needed to wash him when he got dirty but whenever we try, he starts whining and rolling around to try and get the water off of him. Any tips?
 
He seems awfully young for a full-blown bath IMO. When they're very little their skin and coat are sensitive. I would concentrate on getting him used to grooming and handling first, bathing will come a lot easier if you do that.

Wipe his ears, brush his fur, wipe his paws, start putting the nail clippers on his nails and act like you're cutting them. If you're delicate enough, you could even trim the very edges of his nails.

Honestly, I would do this at least once a day for the next several weeks. Then start to space the sessions out to every few days. This will pay off in a huge way down the road.

Then I would revisit a proper bath when he's about 4 months old or so. He might fight you still, but he'll be used to handling and the experience will be far less traumatic for him.

My dog is nine months old and he's had a total of three baths. However, I brush him and clean his ears often. He doesn't stink. Brushing along with a good diet goes a long way in that regard.

Awesome puppy. Good luck!!
 
He seems awfully young for a full-blown bath IMO. When they're very little their skin and coat are sensitive. I would concentrate on getting him used to grooming and handling first, bathing will come a lot easier if you do that.

Wipe his ears, brush his fur, wipe his paws, start putting the nail clippers on his nails and act like you're cutting them. If you're delicate enough, you could even trim the very edges of his nails.

Honestly, I would do this at least once a day for the next several weeks. Then start to space the sessions out to every few days. This will pay off in a huge way down the road.

Then I would revisit a proper bath when he's about 4 months old or so. He might fight you still, but he'll be used to handling and the experience will be far less traumatic for him.

My dog is nine months old and he's had a total of three baths. However, I brush him and clean his ears often. He doesn't stink. Brushing along with a good diet goes a long way in that regard.

Awesome puppy. Good luck!!
Rahhh! Thank you!!!
 
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