Last week I had to wash my little dachshund, Fala. Fala needed washing badly and since he was going to be spending a lot of September at Lake McDonald it seemed like the right thing to do.
Let’s get one thing straight at the outset. Getting washed is the second worst thing that a person could do to Fala. If you are interested in the first worst, it is shaving around his rear end. That sends him into a frenzy of depression until the fur has all grown back.
So, giving Fala a bath is not as bad as that.
When I fill up the kitchen sink with water, Fala knows what is going to happen so he runs and hides where he thinks I will never look. So, a have to find him first of all. I can always do that but it adds another half hour to the frenzy of bathing him.
Having found him, I carry him to the kitchen sink and start scrubbing the grime away. I think that he actually likes that part until I get near his rear end and then it is horrible for him.
That all started when he ate part of a blanket and we were anxiously waiting for it to pass through. The vet thought we could see the blanket easier when it came out his rear end so she shaved that area. When Fala got home, he ran down to my den, a very dark room with stained glass windows and a room that Fala has never liked. He knocked all the pillows off the sofas in that room and laid on one sofa for at least a month until his fur had grown out again. He would only come upstairs to go out or to eat a little bit.
So, when I wash his rear end, he thinks something like that is going to happen again.
Finally he is what will pass for clean and I put him in a large towel, take him to a chair and start to dry him off. He hates that more than anything and gets away quickly and runs around rubbing himself dry on the carpets and growling at me when he looks my way. He spends most of the evening looking at me and growling.
Finally, it is time for bed and Fala sleeps like a log. Next morning there is sort of an uneasy truce for a couple of hours. But Fala is not one to hold a grudge so by noon is wants to eat and then be held and all is well once again until time for the next bath.
Tough to be a dog. Tougher to be the master!
