Sick of wrestling with your dog or puppy when trying to groom and bath them? Train them to be calm and relaxed when doing both with these steps. Using positive reinforcement during training can make bath time a dream.

Step one

Groom your puppy or dog BEFORE bathing them. This is important if you don’t want your drains to be clogged with dog hair and your hands looking like that of a yeti.

Step two

A quick brush to get rid of the excess hair is fine.  Use something with wide teeth and be sensitive around knots and matted hair (especially at first).  Give them a chew to have whilst you brush them down.

Step three

Use rubber matting in the base of your bath, you can buy this pretty cheaply and it will stop your dog slipping and sliding all over the bath.  When picking up a large breed put one arm to the right of your puppy under his neck and the other under his bum (under the tail). This will bring his legs into a central point and stop that manic scramble.

TOP TIP – Even if you have an twelve week old large breed, start picking them up like this straight away so they are comfortable with it when they grow up.

Step four

After grooming your dog or puppy take them to bath. This time you are not going to bathe them at all. Simply pop the dog in – give it loads of delicious treats and tell you dog how wonderful they are. Repeat this for a few days, as many times a day as you can manage.  It will only take two minutes a time.

Step five

Start asking your dog to turn around in the bath by using one of the treats as a lure and giving ‘turn’ as the command.  Reinforce the ’stand’ command and give them treats for standing still. Give them a chew in there, feed them in there anything to make it a positive place. Avoid toys you do not want them to be overly excited in the bath.

Step six

Use a lead as a tether to the tap or somewhere to secure. Reward your dog for this and any calm behaviour.

Step seven

Turn on the water, a shower head is best.  Do not soak your dog, just give treats and allow the water to trickle at the base of the bath. Whilst the water is trickling begin to rub your dog in a circular motion as you would with shampoo, stopping every twenty seconds to give a reward (have a tub of treats next to your bath).

Step eight

So now you are actually ready to bathe your calm and relaxed puppy or dog.  Use the water all over your dogs back whilst giving the stand command and rewarding every so often.  If they begin to scramble use a ‘no’ in a low authoritative voice whilst holding their collar, then resume the bathing.

TOP TIP Remain calm and take your time. I know its something you want to get out of the way but the more frustrated you get the more your dog will scramble.

Step nine

Towel dry your dog to get the excess water off whilst they are in the bath – most dogs enjoy this bit and its a great training aid as they will soon learn that the chain of behaviour is remaining calm in the bath gets you lots of attention.

TOP TIP If you dog begins panicking in the bath, do not reinforce this, simply hold the collar firmly and play the waiting game.  When your dog stands still, reward and resume.

Potty training information found here.

Photo by TheGiantVermin