Smells Like Roses!

My Shih-tzu (Jack) is a little ragamuffin. He's messy, dirty and tangly, and there's just no helping it. My sister and I try to keep him fairly clean by giving him regular baths. A week or so ago we realized that we must be slacking, because his white fur has gone yellowy and he doesn't always smell great. Unfortunately, he had just been neutered and the vet recommended that he not be bathed for at least 2 weeks following the surgery.

Today is 3 weeks and 1 day after he lost his manhood... and it is bath time.

"What's that you say? It's WHAT time?"

That's right, my little potato-head. Bath time.
So I went searching for his special puppy shampoo. It's blue, and it smells beautiful, and it's not supposed to sting his eyes. I checked everywhere I could think of, but I just couldn't find it. Obviously he knew what I was about, and he hid it ahead of time.

Not to be deterred, I got out my good old Mane and Tail shampoo. It's intended for horses but I've known it to be used on dogs, cats and humans as well. I figured it would get the job done (turns out it smells almost as nice as his special shampoo - it's been so long since I've used it!). I stuck him in our kitchen sink - it's a double sink, so I put one set of legs in each sink. It's the only place in our house that has a nice hosey sprayer. I started out by wetting him down all over. He was not impressed.

"Should I pretend I don't know what 'Stay' means?"

Then we got all lathered up. I did him in four parts - hindquarters, torso, shoulders, and head/chest. He dries really quickly, and I didn't want the soap sitting on him for too long. He was actually really good about staying. He tried to tentatively climb out once or twice, but he knew what he was supposed to do. When I got to his head, I couldn't help but have some fun:

"You are NOT taking a picture... are you?"

Mowhawk time!
Ok, I get it. Finish the bath.
I rinsed him thoroughly one last time... and took one last picture...


And then I wrung him out. I tried to squeeze as much water as possible out of him... we had already made enough of a mess figuring out how to rinse his belly without shooting water out onto the floor. Of course, I wasn't prepared with a towel or anything. I used a couple of dish clothes hanging on the oven (don't worry Mom, I put them in the laundry).

Now, Jack is absolutely hilarious after bath time. He usually starts out by rubbing his face all over the floor. It looks like he has something in his ears, but he even does it after being brushed or having his feet washed, so it can't be that. Then he hops around like a little bronco, which gets Remington (the Golden Retreiver) going. Then he runs in circles around the table in our TV room. And then Jack and Remy play fight. As you can imagine, it's pretty much impossible to get good pictures of Jack in this state... he never stops moving! I decided to suck it up and figure out how to upload a camera video to Youtube. Ignore my baby-talk voice, and the oversize Tshirt I am wearing. I apologize for my poorly behaved animals... I admit they're spoiled rotten.