Bath time

Ah dirty dogs, I love a good ole dirty dog.  Not dirty as in it's been way too long since they've had a bath.  A dirty dog as in they've been out playing in the dirt.  Dogs love to get good and dirty don't they?  I love nothing more than a dog with a full face of sand or dirt happily digging up a storm.  Of course not everyone appreciates a dirty dog; especially Mom or Dad when it's bath time.

"Don't sweat the small stuff."  I love that saying, it is so true.  Having fun far out weighs a dirty dog and the requirement for a bath once you get home.  Of course there is some dirt that once dry; will simply brush away.  I love that dirt.  Just recently Luke was out with my husband (top photo) on a run.  With the recent downpours of rain there was a great deal of mud.  Unfortunately there had been accompanying winds that had blown leaves onto the mud.  Luke didn't see the mud when he took the slope at top speed.  In a flash he was down for the count.  It was worse than the image portrays, it was black gunk mud.  I laughed when we met up in the field later, knowing full well that my thought of maybe bathing the dogs in the afternoon was now cast in stone.

In her younger years Jessie would dig until she just about dropped.  Her mouth so chuck full of dirt from shoveling along with her little digging feet that she could barely close her mouth.  She often resembled a small pig on the ride home.  And as the saying goes "she was as happy as a pig in s*%t."  I know that many of you are now dealing with snow instead of mud but just wait, spring is just around the corner and the mud will all be revealed.  Then it's bath time, with the happiness of a dirty dog, there is equal happiness seeing the dirt wash down the drain.  Those little eyes peeking out from beneath the water and suds, there lies a clean dog under there. 

The beach is a great place to see dirty dogs.  All those noses stuffed full of sand.  You can see the sand filling every little nook and cranny as your dog charges through the toe spreading sand, glorious.  Sand is one of those dirts that just lingers.  When you think you've got it all, there is always more hidden in secret compartments.  Even after a vigorous bath it can still hideout.

But when the inevitable bath comes; I often think how wonderful it must feel to for a dog.  A 20 minute long massage with warm water running over you, not bad I'd say.  Once the initial "oh no a bath," passes I think some dogs quite enjoy a bath.  Although I'm sure that they would never admit it.  

So go ahead, throw caution to the wind and let them get good and dirty.  It washes off.