Otis needed a bath, and Otis needed to do some confidence exercises. Naturally the practical solution was to combine the two into one bathing-training session! I actually shouldn’t give myself that much credit because I wasn’t planning on using bath time as a learning experience – but when we got into the bathroom I realized it was as good a chance as ever to fit in some “new experiences can be fun” training.

In fact, Otis prompted it when he didn’t resist getting into the bath right away (I guess I just have a bad track record when it comes to fosters that don’t appreciate water).  I jumped at the chance to ask him into the tub with lots of encouragement and praise. To my surprise, he hopped right in! So then I asked him to come out. He hopped right out! In, out, in, out. He was ready to do it all day.

He was much more comfortable before the water started though. Once I got the shower snake running, he turned into a little bit more of a scaredy pup, but he was still a trooper. “Mom, I really want to get out. Can I please? Pretty please? Ugh. Fine. I’ll stay. But I won’t like it.” After surviving a round of soaping, rinsing, and conditioning, it was on to his next favorite part: drying off! The shower snake was gone, and it was nothing but exciting attention from fostermama.

And of course it wouldn’t be a good spa day without relaxing in a robe after your bath. . .

The result was a fresh smelling, sparkly clean and happy pup! Which was good, because he had a very special visit to prepare for the next day.