Monday, March 24, 2008

Trials of Being a Dog

What is it about things that smell exceptionally bad that makes dogs want to roll in it? Some primitive instinct that drives them to cover their own scent with whatever is available.

The Princess went out yesteday morning to "help" the Cowboy with the chores (she sits in the open gate to the pasture and guards it). When he finished and came into the house, he told the Bag Lady that her dog (why is it her dog when there's something wrong, and his the rest of the time?) got into something and needed to be washed.

The Bag Lady dutifully filled a bucket with warm soapy water and went out to wash "her" dog. Unfortunately, whatever the Princess found to roll in (smelled like some kind of urine) was exceptionally powerful, and wouldn't wash off easily. The Princess was banished from her castle to her deck in the hopes that once it dried, it wouldn't smell quite so bad.

You see, the Princess hates to be bathed. The Bag Lady takes her into the shower stall and uses the handheld shower nozzle on her. Once they are in the stall with the door shut, the Princess sits and suffers in silence, but getting her into the stall is an adventure. It generally takes both of the humans to manage this.

Yesterday, the Cowboy simply picked her up and carried her in. The Bag Lady bathed her and she suffered through it with only one little episode of howling when the Princess thought it was taking too long. Once done, the Bag Lady made the mistake of opening the shower door too soon and the Princess made her escape, still quite wet, and bee-lined directly for her favourite hiding spot underneath the large coffee table in the living room.



She refused to even look at the Bag Lady in order to have her picture taken, and stayed under the table for quite a long time. The Bag Lady finally coaxed her out with a rawhide treat and managed to finish drying her off.

She smells much better, and is extremely shiny and silky. That probably won't last long though.

14 comments:

Leah J. Utas said...

Dogs take the greatest joy in the darndest things.
I think it is for covering their own scent, and I don't think it'll change.
The Princess is lucky she is so well cared for.

the Bag Lady said...

The Princess smelled so terrible, if she hadn't allowed the Bag Lady to bathe her, she would have had to live outside! And she loves to be in the house, so didn't really have much choice.

Scrumpy said...

Oh boy, do I know what you mean. One time I gave Finn a shower. I did him and then took care of myslef. I let him out of the shower while I bathed. When I got out, he had shredded a roll of toilet paper and there were wet pieces of toilet paper EVERYWHERE in my bedroom. Lesson learned.

Reb said...

At least the Princess is small enough to leave room for you in the shower! Oh wait, yours is just a shower, mine was a tub, large dog & tub = smaller dog & shower stall. I guess it works out about the same sort of.

I agree about trying to cover their own scent. Or maybe, she just thought she needed a shower and knew that would make you give her one?

Geosomin said...

I sympathize...I'm glad cats aren't so excited about rolling in smelly things to cover uptheir scent. I had to wash my cat once out of necessity...I had to get a new shower curtain :)
Glad the Princess is much sweeter to work with.

Sarah said...

Oh that is funny! Poor dog, you torturing her and getting rid of that yummy smell she worked so hard to roll around in!

Hilary said...

Aww poor Princess... and poor Baggie. I'm thinking that if they could give it any rational thought, our pets probably hate the fact that we blog. Here they are at their worst moments and what do we do? We run for the camera. We're SO selfish! ;) Fun reading, Baggie.

Anonymous said...

if you find out the answer please to tell me AND our Bullmastiff!

the Bag Lady said...

SB - the toilet paper trick is something the cat does. The dog usually just shakes water everywhere!

Reb - that 2-person shower stall comes in really handy - 1 person plus 1 dog equals 2 persons.

Geosomin - poor kitty! At least it was only a new shower curtain, not new skin for you!

Sarah - the princess was not impressed! All her hard work to get that lovely smell, and she was so proud of herself, trotting up to the Cowboy to show him how pretty she smelled!!

Hilary - if the Bag Lady had had her wits about her, she would have had the Cowboy take some photos of the poor dejected Princess while she was in the shower. :)

Mizfit - does your bullmastiff live in the house?
The Bag Lady is infinitely grateful that she decided to build a separate walk-in shower with a handheld nozzle! Makes dog washing quite a bit easier! And imperative because the Princess lives in the house.

Anonymous said...

first? YOU ARE SO FUNNY.

second---yes. he is small by bullmastiff size (145) and kinda rules the roost except I refuse to sleep in a kennel while he takes the bed.

M.

the Bag Lady said...

mizfit - ONLY 145!! Gosh, I'll bet his name is Tiny, eh?
And I'm with you...of course, I couldn't begin to fold myself small enough to get into the Princess's kennel....

Dawn said...

The things we go through for our critters!

JavaChick said...

Aw. It's a tough life being a dog. At least she didn't have run in with a skunk. That happened to my sister's dog and even the dog couldn't stand herself.

the Bag Lady said...

Dawn - that is so true!

Javachick - thank heavens, there are no skunks in this neck of the woods. Even the Princess would probably think that was going too far!