Belle's Bath Day

Our Great Pyrenees, Belle, is 5 1/2 years old.  I can remember giving her a bath twice.  Now, that may seem like animal abuse to some.  There is a thriving industry of dog groomers, but Belle will never go to one.  She's a working livestock guardian dog and instinctively does her duty day in and day out.  But the other day, Belle walked by us and Benjamin said, "Belle, you stink!"  He put it on his list to give her a bath.

I agreed to help as I wasn't sure how she was going to react to getting wet.  Normally, if it's raining, she makes a beeline for the garage.  We coerced her into the back yard and Benjamin put soap in the bottom of a livestock molasses lick tub and began filling it with water from the hose.  The goats were grazing in the pasture in the background.  The one who needs a bath more than Belle is Popcorn, the Billy Goat.  He stinks VERY bad!

We picked up Belle and deposited her in the bucket full of water and suds.  Surprisingly, she enjoyed it, like a human enjoys a relaxing bath.  She just sat there in the water, enjoying the process to the fullest.

Benjamin adjusted the jet of water to give Belle a deep cleaning.  We watched as the clear water underneath the suds turned cloudy.

Finally, we attempted to wash her face.  We weren't sure how she would react, but she did remarkably well.  We cleaned up those eye boogers in the corners of her eyes.  At last it was time for the bath to end, so we got her out of the bath tub.  She stood there as Benjamin brushed her.  He uses a brush that pulls out the long, tangled hair from her coat.  Belle LOVES this!  It's the same feeling you have when someone is scratching your back.  You sit there in a daze, hoping it never ends.  Thick clouds of white hair were removed with each brushing.  This hair thinning will make her feel cooler and better in the waning days of summer.

He brushed and brushed all over her body until no more white hair was coming out.  That's when you know that it is time to quit.  By this time Belle had shaken herself and was mostly dry.  I bet she was feeling so much better.

In a perfect world of American Kennel Club dog shows, Belle would have been proud of her clean, white coat.  But alas, Belle is not that kind of dog.  Within ten minutes of the photo above being taken, Belle was spotted digging a big hole in the flower beds and promptly rolled around and around in the soft, moist earth.  Belle's bath did not hold up.  Her cleanliness was short-lived.  By nightfall, you could see that she needed another bath.  She still smells nice, though, for the time being.