I would like to bath my puppy cocker spaniel this weekend, it will be a first for him and a first for me. Any advice/tips welcome, as I would like it be a stressfree as possible for him. Thanks.

Hi Jax, theres no doubt about it, your puppy will not enjoy being bathed. He might tollerate it and quiver a bit, but then again he might struggle like a Lion. Try to maintain a calm attitude yourself, don't make bathtime a spectator sport for the rest of the family, and be thorough but don't waste time messing about. Try a few of his favourite treats as well just to make it all worth his while. Above all make a bath a regular part of his training say every couple of weeks or so. It is simply not true the too many baths is not good for the coat. I have American Cockers in full show coat and they are bathed every week at least, sometimes twice a week, and they are in tip top condition.

The more you bath the puppy the less it will bother him in the long run.
Good Luck, Dawn R.

Hi,
Make sure you have a rubber mat or similar for him to stand on. If he slips and gets scared he will never forget it!
:)

when i first bathed my pup (also a cocker:)) i got in with him!!! just took my socks off rolled up my jeans and away we went (probably not a recommneded thing to do, but FUN!), he was fine, a bit weirded out by the water at first but after i had played 'duckies' with him he was cool, now i have to lock him OUT of the bathroom when i run a bath for me as he will just jump straight in given half the chance.

Toby loves having a bath, infact we have to go careful when we have a bath because he will try and get in with us,
perhaps its because he's a lab and they love water,
im sure you will have fun, but watch it when he get out of the bath they tend to go loopy :D
Heidi

Our Lab tried that one or two times.

When she was a pup and much smaller, she used to play in the bath, splashing about with an empty bubble bath container.

It was such fun to watch.

Heidi how old is your lab, ours is coming up to two now, not quite as bouncy, but still very entertaining.

Is your lab very inquisitive, Soph is always watching and listening and investigating things.

good luck for this weekend, i'm viewing my potential puppy this weekend. How old is your pup and do you bath fairly soon on for the first time after getting one. I've asked loads of questions on here and always got good advice but never thought about bathing!

Hi Craigles

This is my first puppy, I always wanted a blue roan cocker spaniel but had to wait until I was at home all day (thought that would only be fair on puppy), then I had to wait a year because the breeder I wanted to buy from wasn't having a litter.

He was 12 weeks on Monday (I collected him when he was 8 weeks old), I'm going to get his second injection this Friday, can't wait to take him out into the big wide world to explore. I'm not sure when i should be bathing him, but because he is going to have a very heavy coat I want him to get used to it ASAP. I am also trying to get him used to going out in the car, every day we go for a 5 min drive round the block and back.

The 3 books I read before collecting him have been invaluable they are:
The Perfect Puppy by Gwen Bailey
Cocker Spaniel by Frank Kane
Cocker Spaniel by Haja van Wessem

Good luck this weekend viewing puppy, I found it really hard to choose one (I had first choice of 5 boys), it took 3 viewings before I finally chose Barney.

Hi Cazf, Toby is now 8 months old and yes he is very inquisitive, in the summer we had him playing in paddling pool to keep him cool, proberbly one reason why Toby likes water so much, Toby is not to bad havent had many problems with him, he seems to be a bit calmer now apart from when we have visitors, when did yours start calming down?
Heidi

Soph started to calm down about 6months ago. Don't know if that is late 18months, but we have Cara
(golden retriever) and there is only 7months between them so if it's late its probably due to being two of them.

Soph still has mad moments but on the whole she is a fairly good dog other than at the moment where she is trying our patience via pooing and weeing in the house during the night.

I have two friends with labs, one has a choc which was 2yrs before calming down, the other a black whom was 3yrs before it calmed down,
Heidi

We are viewing Blue Roan Cocker's this weekend, we've always wanted one they are 6 wks old this week and if we choose one or he chooses us and the breeders ok's us we will be doing the 200 mile round trip again in a fortnight to collect Dicksy. He's already named and got everything here waiting for him with the exception of grooming tools, a bed and food as I'm going to ask the breeders advice before purchasing these items. Good luck with Barney.

1. make it as quick as possible by mixing your shampoos and conditioners first.
2. holding down the ears will stop a dog from shaking
3. shampoo and rinse till squeaky clean
4. condition with diluted conditioner ...but leave this in for best results, dont rinse
5. when you towel the dog, sponge, dont rub
6. make sure you have a warm room
7. use a dryer, but make sure its not too hot
8. dry the dog on a table to save your back

hope its of some help!