Dirty dogs
Some dogs really really really don’t want to take a bath.
And some dogs really do.
I think the anti-bath growlers and teeth-bearers are kind of scary; seems to me they could bite. But some of the rest are pretty funny (hint: click on the “x”s in the black circles to get rid of those annoying ads):
Generally the teeth showing behavior is a threat, but most animals only threaten because they themselves are scared of injury or death.
The bark warns intruders and fellow pack members of potential threats. The growl prepares for the attack and deters. The neural commands are no longer going to the throat for sound communication but to the teeth itself.
Cats will also scratch at people trying to dunk them into the water, if they don’t trust the person or see them as an authority. Dogs are more obedient to hierarchy than cats. One person never understood why when he was taking care of another person’s cat, the cat scratched him when he was trying to give it to a bath. I told him from the cat’s perspective a strange person was trying to drown the cat.
Judging by the learned behavior of those dogs, they have either have bad experiences with water or good experience. Humans like to physically pick up dogs and put them where they want them to be, but that’s similar to the level of force used by authoritarian commandments.
Humans, like dogs, react more positively to deals they think they had the upper hand in and entered into willingly for the reward. Even if the deal isn’t particularly bad, being forced into it can produce sour grapes as the experience.
Many people have difficulties controlling themselves. When it comes to controlling pets or children, they often default to authority or force. Authority and force as a reason for obedience, always requires more and more effort over time. It sucks in a lot of yang energy that isn’t easily replaced.
If we pretended the dogs were human and capable of higher cognitive levels, their refusal to obey might be considered on these terms.
1. The authority commanding them to obey, don’t actually take baths or showers in the area they want the dogs to go into. Do as we say, not as we do.
2. When the dogs communicate disagreement or fear, force is used to forcibly relocate them to the desired location.
3. The times when the dogs themselves wanted to play with water, they did it without an authority using force to compel them.
And dogs are a lot more sensitive to strange smells than humans. Even “scent free” soap has scent to a dog. When I was a kid we had a Beagle and I remember whenever my mother sprayed something on his fur “to make him smell better” he would run to the nearest carpet, flop over onto his back and shimmy in hopes of ridding himself of that vile smell.
There’s ANOTHER issue: we’re essentially fur-less. We dry off well with a towel.
Many, many breeds don’t towel off well — and continue to lose enormous amounts of energy, chilling, as they s l o w l y evaporate off the residual water left over from the bath.
This is compounded by those who bath their dogs with a garden hose, out doors. Even during the Summer, this causes a strong shock to the internal body temperature of any dog.
There are breeds that can take cold water. ( Labs) I must assume that they have an inner defense of matted hair that stops the cold from getting all the way to the skin.
Soaped up ducks sink. Soaped up dogs get quite cold. It’s like taking one’s clothes off and dancing in the snow. It’s what memories are made of: pain.
As kids we had a St. Bernard who loved the water.
Never gave her a bath, nor sprayed her with the garden hose.
But, when we took her down to the creek she loved it! As soon as we got near the water she would run to jump in and splash around in it (it wasn’t very deep). She was a very obedient dog and would heel quite well; but not when she spotted the water. If you were the one holding her leash you had better let go when she spotted the water or she would drag you in with her.
She would splash around quite a bit and even go out to the “deep” part (about human waist deep that is) and doggie paddle around. She would have the time of her life!
You could not coax her out. It wasn’t until she was ready to come out that she would.
And stand back when she shakes herself off!
P.S. She also loved being “brushed” with the vacuum cleaner.
I’ve only ever bathed one cat in my life, sweet little Motley, a calico kitten I found near the railroad tracks. The cutie was very hungry and had been living rough probably for a couple of weeks, but clearly had been abandoned by some Monster, as she immediately snuggled up to me. But boy howdy, was she dirty!
I bought some flea soap and other things, got her home, cooed soothingly to her, ran some water in the tub that was nice and warm and just belly deep, and eased her into it and cleaned her off. I promised her I wouldn’t have to do this again (and I didn’t; cats are such clean creatures), and she seemed to understand: she was just so grateful to have a human protector, poor little thing.
We did wash our dogs outside with the hose. NO WAY would our mom let us do that inside the house! But only in the summertime, of course, and maybe once a year? I dunno, unless the dog smells bad, why do it? t’ain’t natural.
Conditioning humans and animals to react positively to an experience requires a bit of patience and time.
Usually food is used as a positive feedback process, in order to associate something (like water or voting Democrat) with survival benefits.
Then once the feedback loop is established where no rebellion or negative reaction results, the amount and intensity of the new stimuli, water, is increased.
It’s much easier to use a systematic process like that then to figure out a way to de-condition an animal of fear of water and bathing. Because once that kind of experience gets rattled around an animal’s system, it is difficult to extract and nullify. I suspect the teeth baring dogs have tried passive resistance, but it has failed so many times and the experience is so threatening to their sense of survival, that they have started barring their fangs at their food providers. That’s not a condition that just happened because of yesterday.
For about half my childhood we had dogs. I don’t remember the dogs ever getting a bath. Did they get hosed down in the summer? Maybe.
Gringo:
It depends on the dog. I had a cockerpoo (cocker spaniel/poodle mix), and washing was not optional. In fact, most of the time I took him to the groomer for the whole deal, because he had to be clipped, too (in a one-length clip, not the traditional poodle clip). Poodle-like coats grow long and tangly if left unclipped.
I gave him a couple of baths when dire necessity dictated (I’ll skip the details about why), which he detested. But never in the family tub! Only in the basement sink.