ISALC, Lewis and Clark College

Making Your Dog Shine by Lincheng Li

 

If you had pets in China, you would do more things yourself for their grooming than you would do in the US. The reason is that there are not many pet salons in China. Therefore, you have to do some things by yourself for your pets. If your dog hadn't had a bath for a month in the summer and his fur had turned to gray from white, what would you do? When you don't want to be close to your pet anymore because you can't stand his smell, what should you do? I am sure you might decide to give your dog a bath by yourself. This is not an easy thing because he or she is an animal, not a baby. However when you have pets, you need to treat them as babies, especially while you are giving them a bath, and if you do, you will have much more fun.

I have a little dog in China; he has long black hair and big round eyes. I had given him a bath since he was a pup; therefore, it was very easy to give him a bath when he grew up because he was used to having a bath already. You have to do several things before you give the dog a bath; it makes things much easier. Take out all the supplies you need and put them in the bathroom close to you, so you can pick them up easily. You have to do this first because the dog won't wait for you to get a towel or other supplies after he starts his bath. Also, you would not want to hold him without a towel. If you did, you would get the fur on you and everywhere. You need to be sure you have gotten everything you will need in the bathroom before you start.

After that, you need to fill water in the bathtub. The temperature of the water is important; if it were too hot, you would burn the dog, if it were too cold, the dog would get sick. I usually test several times the temperature of the water. This step is important because if either the water is too hot or too cold, your dog won't stay in the bathtub, so you can't wash him at all. The water level can be high or low; it depends on how big your dog is. You need to keep him standing in the bathtub; otherwise, he will shake his body when you pour water on his fur, and you will take a "shower" together with him. But be careful, you cannot fill the tub with too much water; you have to keep the dog's head above the water when they are standing in the bathtub.

Now all things are prepared and the bathtub is almost filled with water. Eventually, put your dog in and keep him standing there. Pour the water on his hair and put some shampoo on; then you wash his fur like you wash your hair. When I looked at my dog's wet hair the first time, I realized he was so skinny and small. His funny look made me feel pity. He looked like a wild dog who walked in the rain and hadn't eaten for a month. You can not wash the dog's face with shampoo; it would hurt his eyes, so just use clean water to wash his face. After you finish washing, use the towel to wrap the dog until his hair is dry. My dog is small, so I can use two towels and hold him until his hair is totally dry. Otherwise, he will catch a cold. It is possible that the dog could get sick , even die if you don't dry him well.

When I look at my dog's shiny and clean hair, I feel pleased. It just takes me half hour to do this. After that , I am very happy; my little dog is happy too. He looks like a little fur ball and runs everywhere in the house, as if to show he is clean and has a good smell. The most interesting thing is that my dog never gets in dirt after he has taken a bath because he feels clean, and is not interested in the dirt, but a few days later he will never care about it and will gladly roll in the dirt. Sometimes doing something by yourself, you feel satisfied with yourself. I miss my little dog that gives me a lot of happiness, and I even miss giving him a bath.

Created by: krauss@lclark.edu
Updated: 10/23/99