rub a dub dub

Who goes five years without a bath? Our Heidi, that’s who. That all changed last week.

So if you don’t know who Heidi is, she’s our beautiful housemate, Australian Shepherd. We don’t believe it’s necessary for dogs to have baths, at least to have regular baths. If groomed regularly, they really aren’t like humans in that they are quite clean without a tub of soapy water. Canids in the wild never bathe and do quite well.

There is a “but” coming. A few months ago I sprinkled her with some baby powder, thinking it might give her a baby smell which I had also mistakenly thought may be a bit feminine. What in the world was I thinking? Good grief. Dogs don’t need fragrance for any reason. Feminine — come on. I learned a hard lesson. The powder, despite all my frequent grooming, remained deep down in her double coat and began to accumulate body oils, environmental dirt and gunk, and the results were unpleasant. When groomed, you could not tell how much time I spent brushing and she began to smell. She never smells.

So, off to the groomers we took her. They were so good with her, knowing it was her first time ever. She had the full salon treatment. In a little over two hours they bathed her; dried her; fully combed every inch of her; cleaned her ears; trimmed her toenails; trimmed the hair in and around her toes, her ‘bloomers’, and the backs of her legs. She looks like a show dog! And it cost less to do this than it costs me to get my hair trimmed. Good grief. Those groomers are underpaid. Yes, I left them a generous tip.

And Heidi is attracting more attention than usual.