James feeling secure in his tub surrounded by steel walls.
It’s tough grooming the senior dog. Brushing, bathing, and trimming take a great deal of time. My younger dogs, Annabelle and Lily, are easy. For them, it’s up on the grooming table for a quick 15-minute brushing, ear cleaning, teeth cleaning, nail clipping, then into the tub for a 10-minute bath (shampoo, rinse, conditioner, rinse, towel dry). When completely dry, it’s up on the grooming table for trimming. This is usually a 45-60 minute task in which Annie and Lily each stand steadily on the table while I clip away. James, when younger, was the same way.
Now that James is a senior dog of 12 1/2 years, his rear legs are weak from arthritis. He is no longer able to jump up on the grooming table. I must lift his 64 lbs. body up. Once on the table, he feels very unsteady and insecure. He’s afraid he will fall and requires much bracing. Most of the time, I brush him while he’s lying on his dog bed. I don’t bathe or trim him as much as the other two dogs, so he doesn’t need to go through what has now become a very unpleasant task for him. Unfortunately, by avoiding baths and trims, when these tasks become a necessity, they are that much harder to perform.
I’ve been working on several solutions to the dilemma of keeping my senior dog in tip-top shape. Truly, my dogs like to be clean and well-groomed. They seem to feel better when just bathed and trimmed. Like people, I feel it’s important for their mental and physical well-being to be well-groomed. Clearly, it’s too much to do everything in one day, so I break it up into two parts.
Part one involves the easier stuff: brushing (to eliminate any snags in the feathering), the ear cleaning, teeth cleaning, and the nail trimming. For James, all done lying down on his bed. The only hard part about the bath, is getting James into the tub. He used to jump up on the grooming table, then walk into the tub. Not anymore. Fortunately, the professional dog tub I have has a roll-out ramp. The dogs have never liked it because it’s very steep, but now, James realizes that this is the best way for him to enter the tub. Once inside the tub, James feels secure. He’s surrounded by the steel tub walls (about 20″ high) that surround him. A quick 10-minutes and he’s done and down the ramp he goes. That’s what James and I did yesterday. Today, the harder stuff. Part two: the trim. I have come up with a few ideas to make this procedure a lot easier on my beloved senior dog. Stay tuned.