Dog bathing at home or take to groomer

I only tried once to get my springer into the bath, after that I just use to hose him down in the garden and that was no problem.

Thank you all for your helpful suggestions. I don't bath them very often - they don't often roll in anything smelly now they are elderly. When they were younger if they rolled in fox poo I was advised to rub tomato ketchup in to neutralise the smell then clean in the normal way. I carried a bottle of tomato ketchup in the car! It made the journey home bearable.
I have located a mobile dog groomer who covers this area so I am going to give them a go.

Where I live, there's a mobile dog groomer van - "Dial A Dog Wash". The man comes round in his fully-equipped van, shampoos the dog, dries it, all in the van. Is there anything like that where you are?

Exactly Blondiescot - dogs aren’t meant to be bathed like children or their owners. Granted those being pampered every 8 weeks will get a shampoo prior to trimming (as we do) but otherwise I don’t believe it’s necessary to bath dogs more than 2 or 3 times a year, if that.
A friend baths her son’s dog after his daily walk - his hair is crisp and dry and she’s giving him sardines, supplements and special dog food designed to help his fur. It’s costing her a fortune, but she won’t stop the excessive bathing, or ‘the dog might smell’.

sodapop

How often do you other dog owners bath your dogs, excluding times when they have rolled in something obnoxious?

As little as possible. Dogs don't need bathed on a regular basis (unless as you say, they've rolled in stinky stuff!). Our Labs have always been swimmers and go in our local burn on an almost daily basis, so they rarely if ever got 'proper' baths.

How often do you other dog owners bath your dogs, excluding times when they have rolled in something obnoxious?

We have one of those mobile groomers who come to our house.
about every 8 weeks.
Not expensive - although cost does vary according to the size of the dog.
All she needs is a power point and she brings a long extension cord to connect this from our house to her van

Our little pooch goes to the groomer every 6 weeks and although she shakes when I drop her off, the lovely groomer says she’s very good.

While we are away, she loves swimming in the sea and gets very sandy (cockerpoo with curly, wurly fur). . We bring her back to the garden and hose her down, shampoo and rinse off. Lovely weather so easy ! Choose a good day to wash her/him.

ps she was a long-haired border collie.

Mayal memories of our border collie who was also very nervous.
But for a normal freshener she loved just fighting the spray from the garden hose.
On the few occasions that she had diarheoia, or rolled in fox poo, I just had to stand her on the outside table , put on the plastic gloves, trim her backside etc and clean off from a bucket of water.
She appreciated the care and zoomed around in pleasure afterwards.

During lockdown, when the groomers weren't available, I bought some dog clippers and trimmed my dog myself. He's a Jack Russell/Yorkshire Terrier cross, so quite small.
I did him again recently but it took me the whole afternoon, my own clothes were covered in his hair, and I decided it's probably worth paying to have him professionally groomed again now.
Somehow it's never my husband's job!

Germanshepherdsmum

I’m so lucky to live next to a dog groomer. Much as I love dogs, I don’t want all that mess in the bathroom - and everywhere else as they shake themselves!

I agree. I don’t know what we would do without our lovely dog groomer, she is about a 15 minute drive from us and has groomed our dog for about six years now. Most dog groomers are trained to deal with even the most nervous of dogs - our dog is very nervous but our groomer has worked to build a positive relationship with him and he now rushes in to greet her. He recently had a split dew claw and wouldn’t let us anywhere near it. I called our groomer and she saw him straight away and dealt with it for us and said he was a good as gold, she wouldn’t even take any money from us but we insisted. We used to bath our previous dog in the bath and as you say the mess when he shook himself when we finished was terrible and he was only about 14 pounds in weight. We were much younger then and could cope with it but can’t now.

Buy a large potting tray from the internet or garden centre - has sides and depth. Also buy a couple of plastic watering cans. We stand our dog in the potting tray to wet her & then use warm water in the watering cans to rinse her. Obviously fill these up before you start. Tip the soapy water on the lawn or flowerbeds

rooms. face.

Oh dear - I have a wet room but still don’t fancy sharing with my doggy friends!

Wet roome are ideal for washing dogs, and people too. If I did not have wet room I'd hope to have a shower, and I'd wash my dog in the shower.

Showers are not the best thing for washing dogs' underparts for obvious reasons. To rinse the dog's tummy I use a plastic jug that I refill several times with warm water, and throw water upwards toward the tummy and chest.

I always wash the fact last as they dislike wet faces.

We just used to hose our dogs down in the garden if they were particularly filthy. I’m currently enjoyed a coffee waiting for DD2’s little pooches to be pampered - expect I’ll be paying the £80 bill too!

I’m so lucky to live next to a dog groomer. Much as I love dogs, I don’t want all that mess in the bathroom - and everywhere else as they shake themselves!

"I have to be on hand with the towel to catch him (dog not OH)"

My Jack Russell runs and hides from water, fans and hair dryers. She's a rescue and I think in her previous life she must have had an unpleasant grooming experience.

Do you have a (dog-loving) friend with a walk in bath? Or could you run a hose to an outdoor dog bath through the kitchen window?

My OH strips off and takes the dog in the shower. I have to be on hand with the towel to catch him (dog not OH) when finished. Though we haven’t tried this with our wolf hybrid - just turn the hose on him if necessary.

A neighbour of ours used to have a mobile dog groomer, it seemed to work well for him but the lady had to give up the business because of ill health, I’m sure there are others about. We take our dog to a groomer every six weeks for clipping, bathing and anything else that needs doing, she is lovely and he loves her too. We brush him and clean his eyes every day and if he gets messy in between the six weeks we have a big cloth like a chamois leather, you just dampen it and it gets a lot of the dirt off him. We also use wet wipes for dogs. He doesn't tend to get messy now as he is nearly nine and isn’t as active as he used to be. I don’t think he would take to a bath in the garden somehow.

I choose a hot sunny day and run the garden hose out to its longest length, turning it on for long enough to fill it. I then leave it in the sun for a couple of hours to warm it up with the spray nozzle attached.

It’s just the right temperature and amount to rinse off the dog but you’d probably have to do them on different days to have enough.

Mazgg, my border collie won't go to a groomer, he is too nervous. I use those pet bathing wipes from wilko. They are £1.30 a pack. They smell really nice and clean Finn really well.
If they worst happens and he rolls in something l use something called fox poo shampoo and wipes and a bowl of water.

In Northumberland my neighbour has a mobile dog groomer visit her at home, I think he does it in his vehicle as I see an extension lead.

I just fill a few buckets of warm water and pour water over my dog. My daughter washes her little dog in the sink. Might be worth going to a groomers if eg you need claws clipping but unless they’re a breed that’s used to going to the groomers for clipping I think it would be a bit stressful.