How to Give a Great Dane a Bath

Kona has needed a bath for awhile...but I've been waiting until its warm enough for him to go outside in the sun to dry off.  Wishful thinking on my part I guess.  Anyways, this morning Tim and I were getting ready to go and do some errands, so while Tim finished up his morning computer time, I decided to give the dog a quick bath.

I've had several people ask how in the world I give Kona a bath.  It really has never been an issue, mostly because he's been having baths since we got him.  I will say that getting him to the bathtub is a little tricky and sometimes involves some bribery.  I have been known to give him an entire hot dog to get him in the tub.  However, this morning, Kona only made me chase him around the house for a few minutes before I got him to hop in the tub.

Once he's in the tub, he usually just stands there while I rinse him off.  He looks thrilled, doesn't he. One time he did jump out of the tub and ran around the tiny bathroom (the floor is covered with towels prior to the water turning on) which resulted in me being super wet and him unhappy to get back in the tub.  Today he was awesome and stood there the entire time.

After he's wet, I lather him up with some oatmeal sensitive skin shampoo.  That's shampoo squirted all over his back. Its supposed to smell like coconut...I'm not sure about that, but it does smell nice.

He loves the lathering part.  I'm always surprised at how much hair comes off when he gets bathed.  I think he just likes being warm and massaged.  He was shaking off in this picture.

Then he gets rinsed off.  No big deal there.  I just have to make sure to keep the soap out of his eyes and make sure that he gets completely rinsed off.  He has sensitive skin, so I always try extra hard to get all of the shampoo rinsed off.

Probably Kona's favorite part is getting dried off.  After I towel him off, or attempt to towel him off, he heads out into the house to do zoomies.  He runs around like a maniac, picks up all of his toys, runs up and down the stairs, jumps off and on the beds, and then he runs to the door, rings his bell and heads outside to pee.  Apparently, he also looks like demon dog in the midst of the zoomies.

When he's dry, he gets vacuumed off.  Yes, actually vacuumed off.  He loves it.  In fact, whenever I get the hose out for the vacuum, he comes running.  Today he got vacuumed off in the garage and again in the house while I was cleaning the house.

Finally, he lays in the sunshine relaxing.  What a life he leads...