Bath time!

There are so many anecdotes about bathing pet dogs…………….all of them are true!

Dogs hate bath time and try and slink away the moment they realize that its time to get wet…….true!

Its when the dog is completely wet that it chooses to shake itself thoroughly………true!

Giving a dog a bath is like taking a bath yourself………..its not complete till you are soaking wet…………..true!

Tyson morbidly hates bath time! Unfortunately for him, and fortunately for me………..he never realises its his bath time, till i push him into the bath enclosure! By then, its too late to do anything about it!

Tyson…………..looking very suspiciously at me as i extend my arms towards him to cart  him to the bath!

The first shock of the water over him, goads him into hiding underneath my legs! Obviously, he’s too big to hide there and my shower handle finds him there too! He lowers his face totally, not realising that that way, the water trickles down his face and onto his nose, which is mighty uncomfortable. But he’s rather stubborn about it! He will not stand still! He keeps moving to get away from the water, unable to understand how the darn spout finds him! He doesnt mind the scrub i give him with the shampoo though! But oh boy, that is the exact time, he wants to give himself a thorough shake, soap and all! Poor me!

Rufus always gets a sixth sense that I am going to drag him in for his bath, and squeezes himself in any dark nook or corner! My calling out to him only pushes him further into hiding! I have to drag him, push him, screaming and squealing in that high-pitched voice of his!

He will too try to get under my  legs, but once in, he’s a lot more sober than Tyson! Its so comical when i scrub the shampoo onto his man parts…………he growls and growls menacingly, but doesnt realise its advantage momma at that point of time! Lol!

He doesnt shake himself quite so much but pretty much behaves the whole time. Boy, does he lose a lot of hair!

Rufus trying to get out once the toweling is done. I blow dry his hair to get him completely dry or else he comes down with fever. The blow dry is another long drawn process, coz he keeps escaping my clutches and sliding under anything……….then the cord gets yanked……….then i have to retrieve Rufus and start the whole process again! Boy!

The last is Sandy coz she’s the least trouble, but heavy to manoeuvre!

Sandy too has an uncanny sense of bathing time and her tail is totally down when i approach her! She looks up at me ! What is so fearful about a lovely bath!

Sandy wont move! She’s like a block of flesh that gets rooted to one spot and pushing her aside to scrub the other side of her body is like moving an elephant! Even then, her back will move and her face will point in the earlier direction! So i have to assume all kinds of contorted positions to shampoo her whole body! All the while, she will keep giving me baleful looks, wondering why i am inflicting so much torture on her!

As the water swirls over her, she keeps  her head ramrod up! Even when i soap her face, she wont flinch, but will be totally stoic about it!

Scrubbing her dry is another ordeal for me! Again……….she wont move! The same goes for blow drying. I pin her between my legs to  hold  her in the most advantageous position so as to dry her whole body!

After their bath, which is usually 1 per day, spread over 3 days, or 2 per day on my off days, they are left under the blazing sun for a while, till their undersides and their paws dry up. They are rearing to come inside and then they go berserk! Sandy and Rufus dig their heads into any soft material lying on the floor…………..dig and dig and rub! Tyson will keep a relentless barking marathon, fit to burst the inner ear structures! The barking and playing doesnt end till i give them some chewy bones to settle down onto.

Mmm…. soooo…..tired! Looks like they gave me a bath!

Abandonement!

One of the major issues the world over is the fact that most animal shelters are over burdened with discarded animals.

I look at my 3 pooches, and i wonder how anybody could bear to part with a loved one like that. Every day i thank the persons who, unknowingly, were the cause for my acquiring my 3 lovely dogs.

Tyson, unwanted, discarded due to his medical disabilities, not loved, not shown any affection, and yet……………this is the guy who screeches like a girl if we pull his leg playfully, refusing to bite! The other day, he chomped right through my hand, through and through (I still have the scar to prove it!) and as i almost fainted with the agony of it, he wouldnt stop licking me to say sorry…..wouldnt go back to playing with Sandy, just hovered around me as i flopped on the ground.

Sandy…………..my beloved dalmatian! She is now 5 1/2. I got her when she was 1 1/2. Every time i see her, every time she licks my hand, i think back to what kind of human beings would have abandoned an adorable 1 yr old dog! Sandy is quite the timid dog. She hunches in fear if we speak loudly to her, crouches if we raise our hand or accidentally raise an object above her. Sandy tolerated obnoxious tasting cough syrup and potent antibiotics pushed right down her throat as a new dog when she first came to us, for her pneumonia, for 3 weeks, without even once nipping my hand, let alone biting it! For all that, she’s a fearsome guard dog! With her around, i leave the front door open…………….woe betide any 2-legged, 4-legged, or 6-legged creature that dare venture inside our front gates! She bites and goes straight for the jugular!

She loves human touch and prefers to sleep close to the person. I hold her face in my hand and always think, why would anybody discard her????

Rufus, my little baby! The furrball! He is 4 yrs old. Thrown out on to the streets and picked up by a animal care volunteer. He bears no malice toward the human race. Au contraire, he loves them to bits and has a very comical way of showing it too! He scampers to them on his short feet, shaking rump and all, and then suddenly stops short, in front of them, tail wagging away, with a happy smile on his face, inviting to play! He is all fury and rage at unknown adversaries, and has been known to fight fearlessly, but with us, he gives plaintive cries, whining and purring like a cat! All he wanted was to be loved and with that he grew back his luxurious fur and all his skin issues vanished!

A day in their lives……………

After the morning Tyson is anxious to play with his ‘ball’, an empty tender coconut shell,which he picked up during the walk!

He waits impatiently for Sandy to trudge up the stairs………….

Tyson had just then barked so loudly, in his typical resonating bark, that Sandy turned her face away coz the sound hurt her ears!

Rufus was already in and racing up the stairs to reach the terrace for their morning games! The ball in question, was demolished and torn apart in a matter of minutes!

Tyson, in fact, was so exhausted after all the exercise, that he could not stand up to drink his water! I had to keep his bowl down for  him to lap it up!

And, after all that, while i am slaving away to put food on the table, hurriedly going through my chores before leaving for work, my 3 devoted pooches, are ‘resting’! After just an hours walk and 15 mnts. of play, this is a breather for them!

Even getting them to have their breakfast is a herculean task. None of them budge from their siesta!

After their breakfast is over, i come out of my kitchen to see this! And on expressing my indignation loudly………………….

Sandy and Rufus couldnt be bothered! Tyson gives me the look……………why are you yelling? Where is the fire? Even if there’s a fire, we trust you to put it out in good time. So just get on with it! With that, he turns over! And Rufus trots over to another spot………a little distance away where my voice will not ‘disturb’ him!

And……………

An itinerary of resting poses!