Nell is a very absorbent puppy dog. Water, mud, peanut butter…if it’s damp and/or sticky her fur will suck it up and be very reluctant to relinquish it. Of course, this means Nell is spending a lot of time following her daily walk in the wet ‘n’ windy weather that is Winter 23/24 being hosed down in the bath so she doesn’t become a walking clump of mud. Mud might be good for pigs and hippos, but not for a dog that has the coat of a fluffy teddy bear.
Her pretty much daily rinse in the bath means that the bathroom is also having a daily bath because, quite frankly, bath times with Nell can look and sound like a scene from ‘The Exorcist.’ She loves water, being part spaniel, but generally she loves it mostly on her terms when it is in the form of her water bowl or a puddle or coming from the end of a hosepipe. And she’ll jump into the bath quite happily, but when the task of ‘proper rinsing’ starts, her patience can be as thin as sheet of filo pastry. Unless food is involved, of course. Food will bribe her into doing pretty much anything.
If the bathroom was downstairs (I long for a downstairs bathroom) the whole shenanigans might be less fraught. But the bathroom isn’t, therefore it is. Thus, in an attempt to keep as much mess outside as possible and to save me wasting my life cleaning bathrooms, we made a purchase of one of these…
It’s called, bizarrely, a ‘Mud Daddy’ and it works by pumping up the pressure in the container so the water sprays out of the attachment under its own steam. No plugs, no electricity, no high explosive gases required. You can fill it with warm water and shampoo and the water will stay warm for two hours. It comes in sizes of 5 litre and 8 litre. We bought the 8 litre one, on account of Nell’s absorbency and her inability to stand still when water is spraying from a hose.
The results thus far have been, well, okay. If I was giving this product a review, I’d say 7.5 out of 10. I think the problem is that the water doesn’t come out with enough force to penetrate Nell’s fur, and that Nell is too interested in it being a jolly fun toy. I don’t think she’s keen on the brush on the end of the hose, either. Basically, to get her properly clean, you can’t beat warm water coming from a high pressured shower attachment in a bath. Ah well.
However, it IS marvellous at cleaning off Andy’s walking boots! And, to be honest, they can leave just as much mess in the house as Nellibobs.
I’m sure, as Nell calms down with age (ahahahahahahaha…ha!), the Mud Daddy will prove more effective. The trouble is, all the photos on the website show it being used on dogs who are either very patient, very old, at the point of nervous exhaustion, or being bribed by an out of camera shot sausage. We shall persevere, though. And pray for a lengthy period of dry weather. Preferably lasting until Springtime.
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KJ
KJ