Bath Time!

Hello again. May you be specially blessed today !

First of all let me thank all those who visited and read my last entry. You have given me inspiration to keep going! Thanks for all the wonderful comments and suggestions.

This week was bath time for 3 members of the pack. Zeeks, Tunda and Queenie. They LOVE the water but Tunda and Jiggy don't like bathing at all. At one shot that means a great deal of exercise for me. Yes....my Five-Pack also keep me fit!!! May even give me a six-pack :).

Bathing for them is not the luxury activity you may think. It is a necessity. As "outside dogs" they are exposed to those annoying pests called parasites.... fleas and ticks! Ugghhh.....

The dogs know who the enemy is. There is another deadly one here called the Screw Worm Fly (I will talk more about that at another time). When the enemy attacks or draws near, the dogs actually see, hear and smell them....

Tunda is the main tick sniffer. He smells them out and tries to bite them and crush them with his paw. I encourage it by softly telling him "watch" and he goes looking for them where they climb up the walls.

Queenie is the groomer. She goes around grooming every one else trying to remove the ticks from their fur. All the dogs snap after the Screw Worm Fly which seems to buzz differently to a regular fly??!!!

Zeeks is allergic to flea and tick bites. He scratches till he makes sores or cuts himself (perfect laying grounds for screw worm flies). He seems to have passed a little of that gene on to Rebel. The others are pretty resilient. So Zeeks must have regular flea and tick baths. It's also tick season and a good time for bathing and spraying the yard to control the parasites.





I used to start the bathing activity with a rinse from the hose. But realising that triggers shaking and got me wet too early, I now start with a bucket of sudsy water and a rag. That way they don't get as excited, particularly Queenie who likes to attack the spray of water from the hose.

With the soaked rag I bath each one and then tie them on a leash to "soak it in". By the time I'm finished with the last one it's rinse time for the first. That's when the hose comes in. For the most part they stay still as I hold the hose and leash in one hand and ruffle the fur with the other.

In this hot climate they seem to like the cooling effect of the running water. The most difficult rinse is the face. To do that part, I distract them by vigorously patting their heads while allowing the water to run over their faces from the back. I'm still amazed that they let me do that.

The third step is the most exciting for them and tiring for me. It is the towelling!! Rebel LOVES drying time and exercises his biting, jumping and tug-of-war skills both with the towel and me! With his thick coat, it takes two towels to get him semi-dry. Zeeks coat is much thinner and he is more gentle with his version of tug-of-war. He likes to play peek-a-boo with the towel on his face. Queenie stays calm and sometimes even rolls over to have her tummy dried. Bath time is bonding time :).

Once we're finished, they're clean enough to get a treat of staying on the veranda (favorite place) and chilling out....tied on leashes to keep Zeeks and Rebel apart. Of course after all that action it means instant sleep for all of them as the cool, tropical, breeze runs through their clean, damp fur. I'm unfortunately not as fortunate.

Well, thanks for visiting. Hope to see you again!