Bathing my dogs really hurts my back bending over to shampoo them and then lifting them out of our bath.  I do have water connected into my garage and was wondering if anyone has set up a doggy shower like that and how and what they used?

My large breed is very hard work to bath!!!  I have a bath with a shower over it and lift the dogs into the bath and use the shower head to clean them!!
I keep asking my OH to put a wet room in our downstairs cloakroom, but hey, I am still waiting for all the other jobs to be finished in the house so I have no hope!!
One of my girls hates the water, so she has to go to a groomer to be pampered as I am just unable to lift nearly 9stone of terrified dog into a bath!!

Not a problem for me but when i asked my groomer about how she manages with larger dogs (shes a little lady herself) she said that if you put their front paws on the edge of the bath then lift their bum slightly, they more or less jump in the bath by themselves.

Yes, that is similar to how I get my large breed in the bath!!! LoL
I lift their front paws in the bath first and then help them with their back paws, once they are in they are fine.
My nervous girl puts up a big fight trying to get her in the bathroom let alone the bath!!! she is not aggressive about it, but will sit and just can't move her!! even with the big steak tossed into the bathroom she will not budge!!! :)

I'd jump in the bath for a nice piece of steak!!! :-)
I have trouble getting my dog out of the bathroom!!! he likes to run in there and pinch the flannel or towels and on 2 occassions now he has jumped into the bath while my back was turned and i was having a shower :-)  Talk about full of character. Now he settles for sitting on the floor in the bathroom while i shower or he puts his paws on the side of the bath and pokes his head round the shower curtain and looks at me (and gets a wet head) while im merrily singing in the shower :-)

Thanks god for this site. If i confessed that to any non doggy person they'd think im mad!!!!!!!

I have now bought myself a booster bath. But you could buy a shower tray and have it set up at waist height with some paving flags set as steps up to the shower tray. Or build a ramp with a non slip tread on it.

This is kind of what we have.

We have a small utility set up in the garage, part of which is a raised shower base unit about 2 foot off the floor.  Weve tiled round it and the shower head is from a mixer tap on the sink unit next to it.  There's no lifting as  the dogs can quite happily jump into it when you want to bath them. whilst it was made with our own breeds (vallhunds and german spitz) in mind we have managed to fit in a rather large elkhound and a malamute (obviously on seperate occasions!)

Kate

I must be horrid, as if I bath my girl I do it outside with the hose. If it's cold, I just hurry up, although I wouldn't do it if it was too cold.

This sounds good to me - is it a normal sized shower tray?  Will have to ask my plumber how much it'slikely to cost, but I'm sure it'll be well worth it in the long run.
My dogs do jump in the bath ok but I like to lift them out and take them straight outside to shake off.  I'm worried though that in time they will damage the bath even though I put an old bath mat and towels in the bottom.

Like you Gemmini I have 9 stone dogs to bath, two will be persuaded in as you say by placing front feet on the bath and helping lift bum's but one ..Merlot the biggest and shown most!! will get to the bathroom and turn into a jelly on the floor, try lifting 9 stone of collapsed floppy dog !!!! as you try to lift one end the other just lies there, it takes two of us and some very hard work.. Once in she stands like a good 'un! She quite likes the shower once in place!!
Do your dogs all rush round like demented idiots once out of the bath? shaking everywhere? oh and the hair :-o clogs up everything, I even find hair on the light-shade!!
Aileen.

I guess I'm lucky as my boy loves a shower and we have a separate shower cubicle so I just open then doors and in he gets!!!

He is frequently found sleeping in there too!!!

Merlot - yes he goes CRAZY when he's had a bath but I guess I don't have as much of a hair problem with mine as you do with yours

If it isn't cold outside then I tie the dog up and use the watering can with rose to wet them with Luke warm water  sham,poor and rinse off with several more cans.

In the winter it is the bath and the kids moaning about any hair I have missed that is on the tiles up the walls.

When i bath my dogs I partly fill the bath with warm water and use the shower.My 14 year old daughter sits on the end of the bath in her bikini and helps with the shampoing bit but doeasnt acctually get in the bath itself,just doesn't matter if she gets wet when the dogs do their shaking stuff.Helps calm the dogs!

Yep it's just a standard size shower tray bought from a DIY store and yes it's been brilliant as i don't have to carry the dogs up and down stairs to bath them, i don't have to lift them into or out of a bath and i don't have to lean right over to bath them.

The only problem i do have is that our kennel runs are also in the garage - and one of the dogs will insist on going and standing in the shower unit rather than going in the kennel when i am trying to get him to go to bed.

I have an outside shower area with hot and cold water taps which are attached to a hose - nice warm water! The base is quarry tiled with a sort of curb-stone lip (about 6 inches high) and the waste water goes directly into the drain.

I know this is a little off subject but when Im in the bath my dog stands with his paws and head looking in over the side and trys to lick the water off my arms and face then when I get out he licks the water off my ankles-I think hes trying to dry me :-)  hes fine in the bath though

Oooh snap - it's as if he doesn't have a bowl of fresh water downstairs LOL!!

We use the outside hose to get off the worst of the mud if really necessary  winter and all as I figure if our GR can swim in the North Sea all year round a bit of cold water from the outside tap isn't going to hurt him. Most times though I just leave the dogs to dry in the conservatory and it all falls off on the floor and is easily cleaned up. Our GR seems to have a Teflon coat and it is only the very thickest, claggiest mud that has to be assisted with it's removal. I used to put him in the shower after each walk but he too would redecorate the bathroom when you opened the shower door to let him out and the hair constantly clogged up the drain. I now only use the shower if I am shampooing him which is usually only done a couple of times a year but as he has now learnt to shake on command the mess outside the shower is kept to a minimum :) .

Our terrier is not keen on mud and water so tends to stay much cleaner. Any mud he has acquired on a walk has usually dried and fallen off by the time we get back. I wouldn't use the hose on him in the winter though as he does seem to feel the cold but he is small enough to wash in the bath - 6kg of Cooper as opposed to 33kg of Harley The Mud Magnet does make for an easier bath time :)

Mine only get bathed a few times a year, usually to help shift a moulting coat, or if they look a bit dingy before an important show.

Day to day dirt etc just brushes out.

Mine too like a bath, they especially like it when you rub the soapy suds in, the back leg starts to lift up!! afterwards they go absolutely nuts afterwards and re-design my bathroom!! it's great fun though, they only have a couple of baths a year, my girl a few more as she rolls in very unpleasant things on walks!!

Hi i used to bath my rotties in the bath, it is a bit back breaking but i did teach them to jump in and out to save lifting them, get in the bath with the dog if you can as well then its easier to to do,

I have trained my afghans to climb into and out of the bath. Because they are so big, they more or less step in, and there is no jumping involved.  I have also trained them to turn around on command so that I dont have to lean over them. I agree that getting in the bath in your cossie is much less backbreaking.

If you have the room have a bath put in which is waist height, this solves the problem of bending over. Only trouble is if you have large dogs is that you then need a hydraulic table to get the big ones in. So not a very good solution to that problem after all.LOL.x
mel.

I have a dairy utensil cleaning sink - which in english is a blue moulded plastic massive sink which goes up to my chest in height & has a lid for when I'm not using it (don't use the lid much ;-))  I have to lift the dogs in & out but I'm sure if you had it in your garage a set of sturdy wide steps (those wooden things you see in expensive kids' accessories magazines)

I have a separate shower.  We have turned our garage into a utility room with the washing machine & dog bath etc.  Bit nippy for blowdrying in winter so I bring 'em in.

well done, i could never get the Rotts to turn round, they are just not as bendy as afghans i guess, but then its no so back breaking as they don't have the coat length to wash.

To STOP my Dobegirl from going up stairs, I ask her if she's going up for a bath?!!!

Yes, I get larger dogs to put front legs up and then lift in, even my elderly fat Springer client can manage like that as long as I support her as she lands. I usually kneel down to do mine as I only have a normal height bath unfortunately, and if they can't or won't turn, I just have to lean over them and get wet if necessary. :-)

I lift my dog up into the bath....he loves water & use to love having baths but now he gets a bit nervous....a while ago he had fleas & we bathed him with special shampoo which i dont think he liked :) However we bathed him a couple of days ago & he whinned the whole time. I laid towels out ready to catch him but he slipped through the bathroom door, ran into the lounge & shook everywhere! he then decided hey that was fun & shot out into the garden where he went nuts & started running round & round....he then flopped on the mudest bit of the garden he could find. If dogs could laugh im sure he was laughing at me! After all that i had to clean the bathroom & lounge :( He loved his brushing session when he had dried though. :)

Can I just ask, do dogs have to be bathed?  I realise the long haired breeds that require a lot of grooming as in brushing, but let's for example use a lab?

Why do dogs LOVE a freezing cold lake/river, yet HATE a nice warm bath?:-D

In my own opinion dogs do not need bathing very often, unless of course they stink or get real dirty, but even then I tend to only wash the parts that are dirty i.e. legs and under carriage.
I believe if you bath a dog to many times you ruin the dogs oils that keep the skin a coat looking healthy.
I do however give my dogs a good bath and grooming when a show is coming up but I use a shampoo that is homeaphathic that was recommend to me xx

I don't show my dogs and one dog stays in the garden as he prefers this (funny old thing), the other is out and about all over the place, but I never bath any of them!  They don't smell and nobody else has ever commented they do, just wondered if maybe I should bath them? The cocker is groomed daily and trimmed as necessary but the lab is only brushed.

I bath to get rid of the dead coat quicker (less of it in the house) and of course if you live in an area where the soil stains the coat you need to bath.

My friend baths hers before each championship show otherwise she has Pink Elkhounds.  If it wasn't for shows then they would only get a bath when moulting twice a year.

Mine have sometimes only been bathed once in a year, yet still do fine at shows, but I live in a city and avoid too much mud (which is only mud coloured), and have wash and wear coated dogs.

I love their coats after rain though.

I've only bathed one of my dogs once - and that was over three years ago and shortly after I acquired him.  He stunk like a kennel and nothing but shampoo and water shifted it.

My dogs are Cairns though and I regularly strip their coats, which helps.   When I get a whiff of something unpleasant I spot clean - either use a baby wipe or a rinseless dog shampoo.  (The unpleasant scent is usually behind the ears where they've decide to rub in odoure de fox or something equally pungent.)

Unfortunatly with my lot they have white bibs and feet and underbellies, and heavy coats, so they need to be bathed before a show. They also get walked in fields and across muddy areas and love to run through dirty puddles (Especially in ploughed fields!) They also have a passion for rolling just for fun and at the moment all the fields are very waterlogged and not grassy...we walk mainly over arable land and it's just patches of mud right now!!, Pepsi is a terror for rolling she just loves it. They get hosed off under the garden hose every day..feet underbellies ect. at the moment, but still bibs get very grubby and only soap and water gets them sparkling again. Oh! for the dry weather to arrive, it takes me nearly as long to clean them up after a walk as it does to walk them in the first place. LOL.
Dog's..don't you just love 'em??
Aileen

I only bath mine if they have got filthy on a walk or rolled in something, or for a show. Of course they are all long coated dogs so higher maintenance than your Lab example. I wouldn't have thought they would need bathing unless they rolled in something. But OTOH it does no harm to bath them occasionally even so - you'll probably notice the difference more than you would expect!

I only bath mine when he's REALLY muddy and once he was covered in clay-like mud that just would not shift so in the shower he went.

If he has a shower it's usually without shampoo unless really dirty, or if it's nice outside then the feet go in a bowl of water in the garden.

Sooooo glad I have a short-coated breed :-)

nice one, dobes are a bit bath allergic aren't they, my friend used to have two and the mere mention of water and they ran off to bed and hid, even the sprinkler scared them, and walkies in the rain was hilarious, a couple of wimps i think.

My Friend has had six dobes and all of them got into the large shower with her for baths, and loved it.

I bathe my two girls (Staffords) about 3 times a year max - unless they get into smething really really Mucky and smelly.
I bath them outside have 3 buckets luke/warm water tiny bit of shampo, wet-shampoo-rinse. Each dog takes about 5 minutes from start to being dried (excess removed by dog towel) and then a quick game of tug/fetch up the garden to get them moving. They stand perfectly still throughout, did put a collar on them at first but now because I am quick really they just stand and tolerate it. Each dog has about bucket 1/2 water.

Our Lab was never bathed, she swam most days as we mainly walked her on the beach, she just loved the water and her coat was really shiny and good.

Karen

It is hard on the back but lucky for me I put 2 in the tub at a time and I can go on my knee's but I have to use a cup to rinse since I cannot hook up a hand shower in my tub- grrr!!! Can't wait till we redue our bathroom and put something in the bsaement for bathing my dogs... My dogs are very well behaved in the tub I can leave them and leave the room if needed and they will still be in there :)