I used to bathe the four-legged ones who owned us just inside of the big door of the farm shed, on the smooth concrete floor that sloped, so that if the rain blew in it just drained outside. Ultra basic, no fancy grooming rooms or wash-baths for our “poor underprivileged” owners. This is where I chose to wash baby Liquorice. I decided to wash her the way I used to wash Nanny and Happy before her. With Nanny, she simply lay on one side while I sudsed her with a bucket of warm water to which I had added “Martha Gardner’s Wool Mix” and as I went I would use a cake of “Sunlight” soap. Both are pure soaps with no additives and have had no adverse skin reactions. When I finished one side I would roll her over and do repeat on the other side. She would lie on her back for me to more easily wash her belly. At times I would have to wake up the sleeping Nanny to roll her over, as it would take me take 15 minutes or so to do a side. I quite liked sudsing and massaging my Newf. <vbg> Then, I would hose the suds from her coat using a soft spray water breaker. Next I would repeat the washing process, but using her hair conditioner. Nanny could never understand why she seemed to be washed twice. She felt she was never that dirty. However, to keep me amused she went along with the exercise.
When we collected Liquorice to bring her to our home, she presented beautifully, and was a credit to the lady who bred her. She was more beautiful than even a Newfoundland puppy could be imagined. Not that I am bias of course. <vbg>
Her first bath was not entirely pleasant for either of us. I stopped after washing her and did not use the conditioner. I believe she preferred her breeder’s professional touch. Liquorice squirmed and wriggled and “fought” against my efforts. For her second bath yesterday I thought long and hard on the lessons from the time before. Liquorice does not like her food warm, she prefers it cold, even chilled. The other night we let her outside. An hour or so passed without her wanting to come back inside. When I looked out, it was raining, and there was Liquorice, laying on her back, her hind legs straight back, one front paw in the air, her head curled around her right paw on the wet grass with her bare belly exposed to the rain. My silent thoughts at this nighttime sight should remain silent. She was soundly asleep! With her like of things cold in mind I changed the warm water in the bucket for cold.
Liquorice too, must also have been thinking about my primitive washing methods and decided that they were not designed to drown her but rather to achieve the same end as her preferred professional way. The first thing that Liquorice did was to thrust her head into the bucket of frothy, soapy water and start drinking! As she pulled her head out, with the froth stuck to her muzzle and ears, Liquorice looked like the Abominable Snowpuppy. After removing the decoration I laid her down and proceeded to wash her. No problems, apart from my girl trying to lick the suds from her coat as fast I applied them. A minute or two passed, Liquorice had her fill and relaxed. She lay there, while I thoroughly soaped and massaged her coat, she sampling suds occasionally. I rolled her on her back and she just lay there, totally relaxed, enabling me wash to her belly, chest and neck. Her other side was done next. And without her going to sleep! Then I hosed some of the suds from her now, very much slimmed down form. Amazing how a fluffy puppy shrinks when wet! I seemed to have washed away half my puppy. With her long wet puppy ears and flat wet coat Liquorice looked like a black Irish setter.
Having allowed Liquorice to stand so as to rinse the rest of the soap from her coat, she took off! Clumsily at first, as she adjusted to the additional weight of her wet coat, then bounded over to the other side of the shed where our tractor used to be parked. A neighbor borrowed it last March. We only see it now when they bring it back to change implements to better suit their needs. We do hear it from time to time, if the breeze is right. It’s reassuring to know that it is alive and well. But Liquorice ran awkward figure eights in its empty spot, then bounded over to me. Her paws, as they hit the floor, looked enormous with her toes splaying out on the wet concrete floor, their size exaggerated by her wet coat, now flat against her skin. Liquorice tried to shake but to little effect with the soap holding her coat close against her body. As her vain attempt to rid herself of soap finished Liquorice waddled off and than pranced around the lawn mower, circled the shredder and large pile mulch in the middle of the floor then returned to get me to join in her game. But my game was not what she expected however she enjoyed the flood of water purging the soap from her coat. Liquorice would shake I would rinse her some more with one hand while steadying her with the other. Then more shakes and rinses while we both became wetter and wetter. Liquorice accepted the conditioner with the same tolerance she displayed while being washed, only she would prefer next time I used a conditioner with a better flavor! She enjoyed re-soaking her human with each additional rinse I gave her to remove the conditioner. She had more rinses than Nanny ever received.
We had a marvelous time.
Then romp around the back lawn to warm her and to drain excess water from my little darling, then to toweling her. While I dried Liquorice with one end of the towel Liquorice wrestled valiantly with the other. Obviously she felt since the towel started it first then right and justice were on her side. You have no idea how much water a wet Newfoundland puppy’s coat is able to hold until you try to remove that water. Liquorice deserved her array of treats after winning wrestling contests with several towels, now wet with their exertions, just as I needed my coffee fix.
Suitably refreshed it was then to work with the dreaded hair dryer! My previous Newfs hated the dryer’s noise but soon realized that the warm drying air was worth the annoying sound. Liquorice does not object to the noise, having needed the dryer after many a battle with the end of the hose, but she still disliked the feel of the warm air blowing on her coat. I sat on the floor of the breezeway and with patience and understanding on both our parts, she accepted, although with reservations, my caressing her with the flow of warm drying air. Although my still very damp baby decided it should be done while lying on my lap.
Net Result. Liquorice became wet, then wetter, is now dry but looking for more water. The hair dryer has made a new friend. The towels, each having lost their bout, have been hung out to dry. I too am dry and I have a clean fluffy puppy once more! I would say that a good time was had by all.
Arthur Witten
Liquorice – Those cowardly towels, just out of my reach!