Your dog is watching you

Yesterday I bathed the dogs. One by one they went into the shower and came out nice and sparkly clean. Everytime I give the dogs a bath I think first as to who I want first and who should be last. Yesterday I was in a hurry so decided on the munchkin first; she takes all of a minute to give a bath and dries up quickly. She likes to lay in the sun after her bath so thought I should make sure she was done while the sun was still out.

Then the poodles; Tilley's coat is much thicker than Luke's so I opted for her next. She has an amazing coat that would protect her against the worst weather; although Luke's is much nicer to snuggle down with, it lacks the tight curls that Tilley's has and is much less dense.

The moment Jessie is in my arms the poodles were on full alert. They know that this means they are imminently doomed. They watch me; they watch for the smallest sign that they are on their way next. With just one finger Tilley is reluctantly guided to the shower; once done she is set free outside to shake most of the water off. This is when the watching really happens.

Luke is a watcher; he has shown me just how much dogs watch us for signs. He is always watching and although many dogs do not watch as much as he does; they all watch. Some are not as obvious with their visual studies; some like Luke are much more less subtle. But if you are not watching your dog, you will miss them watching you.

As Tilley flew around the yard in her ritualistic afterbath fit Luke was in hot pursuit; with one eye on me. As I approached his body dropped, ears dropped and his eyes got that "no, not me" look on them. As I passed them onto something else he resumed his reserved playing.

I was doing a ton of laundry along with bathing the dogs so had to wait for some more hot water before it was Luke's turn. For an hour he anxiously watched; cringing at each movement towards him. I picked up a towel to hang it outside and worry then took over his face. Each step towards my worried boy made his signal to me that he was submitting and not voluntarily going into the shower.

I find it interesting that a bath does this to dogs that love water as much as they do. Tilley is one of those dogs that goes completely under water and holds her breath for a very longtime but still does not want to have a bath. Luke is a trembling mass of blonde hair until about half way through his bath.

Dogs communicate through body language so it makes sense that they are always watching us; are you watching them?