washing face

[mandy15]

I'm going to break the silence. Haven't heard from anybody in awhile! When washing your furbabies face while giving them a bath how do you keep the water out of their eyes. Angel won't hold still when I do her face and when I rinse it off the water goes into her eyes. I know this isn't good for her but her face needs cleaned. Any suggestions?

[Mai Tai]

I just gave my boys a bath yesterday and had the same problem.  Any advice is much appreciated.

[raleysmom]

I personally use a sprayer (shower head) to wash Raley.  I hold his beard and spray it that way.  No problem!!!

[Traceyred]

Charlie is really good - he holds still and lets me spray him with the shower in his face. I make sure I use my little one's Johnsons Baby shampoo on his head and face as it wouldn't sting even if it did get into his eyes as it is so mild. I bath him every 1-2 weeks so he is very used to it by now and he loves jumping out, shaking and running round like a mad thing for 15 minutes afterwards whilst I play chase round the bedroom with the hairdryer!

[mandy15]

Angel is so little yet I wash her in the sink and use the spray nossil and I still get it in her face. But it is funny Angel does the same thing. She runs around wild and I have a hairdryer blowing saying "come here" "come here" and she'll run in front of it back and forth for awhile until she lets me blow dry her eventually on low heat.

[Mai Tai]

I wash mine in the sink, and use the sprayer nozzle too, but it still gets all over their faces because they move all over the place.  They don't love a bath, but tolerate it.

[raleysmom]

Raley doesn't mind a bath, either.  He stands perfectly still for the most part.  He knows that for being good in the bathtub he gets a treat so as soon as he is towel dried and brushed he waits for his treat!

[ellietoo]

I use a wet wash cloth on Gracie's face with tearless dog shampoo on it. Then I rinse her face with a cup of water. I try not to get it in her eyes but since I am using a mild shampoo on her face I don't worry if it does get in her eyes. I do try not to get water in her ears as this can cause awful problems with the ear. Things like fungus infections can get started from moisture in the ears.
Sometimes it takes two of us to get her blown dry. She hates to sit still for it but if I don't get her blown dry she will roll all over the floor and make a mess of herself.

[mandy15]

If I get it in her ears I blow the hair dryer from futher away into her ears for a tiny bit to dry them. I hope that helps. She holds pretty still until I get to her face than she wiggles and tries to escape. And that's when it goes into her eyes and ears sometimes. Then she goes wild rubbing her face and body. She usually goes for the bed first to rub around. And it gets all wet.

[ellietoo]

I read somewhere that you should put cotton balls in the dog's ears while bathing. It just seemed to me that doing that would just cause the cotton ball to collect the water and let it drain into the ear. I just cover the ear while running water over it. When she is still in the towel I take cotton swabs and swab out her ears to make sure there is no excess dampness or water in there. After she is dried off and has had time to shake and roll for a while I swab them one more time. My little Shih Tzu had some terrible ear problems until I started making sure his ears were properly dry after bathing.

[Mai Tai]

You can also swab the inside of the ears with a half water, half vinegar solution to get rid of bacteria and fungus.  I do that about every 2 weeks with my dogs.  The vet recommended it.

[raleysmom]

I actually use a touch of alcohol on Raley's ears if they ever get dirty/funky.  So far he's had no problems.

[mandy15]

Thanks I'm going to do the things for her ears as you all said.

[KateB]

I have heard of doing the water/vinegar thing too. My bf bought some solution that you put in their ears and then swab it out, same idea as the water/vinegar mix, it cleans bacteria and helps prevent infections. He got ours at the vet but you can also get it from pet stores.

[junip1977]

Well, what we do is we wash under their chin with the water nozzle so that it gets some of their beard per say, then we use a delicate puppy baby wipes around their nose and eyes.  Seems to do the trick.