Giving Your Puppy a Bath

Bathing your new puppy is something that is often very different in reality than people imagine it will be.  Many people think that a puppy’s first bath is going to be a fun filled experience, but any dog lover will tell you that that is not the reality.  In fact, it is often far from the reality.  Giving your puppy their first bath is most likely going to turn into a struggle between the two of you.  Dogs love to be dirty, and some will put up a big struggle in order to avoid being cleaned.  But bathing your puppy is a must, so here are some tips to bathe your puppy as easily as possible.

First you will want introduce your new puppy to a bath by tying the bath to something positive.  The best and easiest way to do this is to offer treats, toys, and affection to get your puppy to enter the bath and then every time they continue to behave in the bath.  If they really do not like the bath, then it is best to just get your puppy to enter the tub without actually giving them a bath.

The second tip is to protect your puppy’s ears. Getting water in yours ears is very uncomfortable and that is true for puppies and dogs as well.  Also, getting water in their ears can potentially lead to health problems down the road such as yeast infections that take advantage of the nice warm and moist environment that the inside of your dogs’ ears provide. Left over water in a puppy’s ears is the most common cause of yeast infections of the ear in young puppies.

The third tip is to work from the neck down.  This will protect their ears, eyes, and mouths, which are all areas that can get irritated easily.  If you do want to wash your puppy’s face then just use a damp wash cloth.  You also might want to look into getting a sprayer that is designed for bathing dogs.  This will help to make the experience more comfortable for them.