First Bath

A few weeks ago, Quan settled on a new nickname for Boykins: Low Tide. Apparently, he thinks she's been smelling a bit like the tidal pools we find up in Rockport. I can't say I disagree completely, but to me she smells more like Dog. In any case, we decided it might be a good idea to give the girl a warsh.

Given the small scale of our bathroom, and the fact that we only have a stall shower instead of a tub, we decided to take her to a place in Cambridge called LaundroMutt. They have different DIY warshing options, large industrial tubs to warsh your dog, and friendly staff who will help you if you have questions or concerns. (Personally, I think this place is great, esp. for condo-dwellers like ourselves. One of the great things is that you don't have to clean up the mess you make, and the dog doesn't run all over your house shaking the water from her fur onto your furniture and floors.)

The first step was just getting her situated in the tub and used to the idea of having water sprayed all over her. As you can see below, Boykins did not think this was such a good idea at first.


Run away! Run away!

We did our best to calm her down and after we started lathering her up and giving her a warm-water rub-down, she seemed to relax. A bit. It was pretty obvious she was not enjoying her bath experience.


How could you do this to me?!

Given her general unease, I think Quan and I both felt we should rush it a bit. She started to shake a bit and was clearly not happy about the whole situation.

We dried her off a bit with the chamois:




After that, we transitioned to a table where we could dry her off more with a towel, and finish with some ear cleaning and treats galore.

In the end, I don't think she liked it, but she smelled and felt a lot cleaner afterward, and now that she's done this once, I think we'll be able to get through future visits okay.

As you can see, she was just fine when we strolled through the park nearby after the bath...


Gogogogogo!