Once your dog is completely comfortable with the sound of water running, even when they’re in the same room they normally get a bath, it’s time to move to phase 2—desensitizing them to the place a bath happens.
For this stage, you will not want to have any water sounds at all. In fact, the tub or sink should be completely dry. We want to avoid trigger stacking, so although the sound of water has been desensitized, combining the stress of a new location and the sound of water may be too much for your dog.
Before We Begin – Is Your Tub “Safe?”
Sometimes, dogs don’t like baths for reasons other than the water. It could be the bottom of the sink or tub is slippery, and they feel like they can’t stay upright. Sometimes it’s because the water temperature is either far too cold or maybe even a little too warm.
At this stage, we’re most concerned about whether the dog feels comfortable standing in the tub. If they tend to splay their legs/scrabble around in the tub, a rubber mat at the bottom is a good choice for making them more comfortable.
If you can’t find one, even putting a towel at the bottom can make them feel a bit more secure.
Bathtub Training
Place your pup in the sink or tub, and then scatter a number of small treats in the bottom for them to clean up. If they simply want out of the tub, this is fine. Let them out and try again later.
After a few successful “escapes” where nothing happened, they may be more willing to check out those treats first.
Make this a daily habit, until your pup is comfortable with the routine of getting into the tub, snooping around for treats and getting out.
Adding Sound
Once your dog is relaxed in the tub, and willing to hang out there for treats, you can put the water sounds on at a very soft volume while feeding the treats in the tub. If your dog panics at this combination, back off and work on desensitization to the tub more before trying again.
No actual water should be added. You’re simply combining the sound of the water, and the location of the tub or sink, with the sound of running water.
If you’ve worked on both types of desensitization enough, this should be something of a non-event. Keep the level of sound very soft the first few times, and then gradually raise the volume a small amount each time until you are at a normal volume.
We’ve added the sound of our sprayer here once again, in case you don’t have one readily available.
When your dog is completely comfortable with being in the tub while sound is occurring, we’re going to introduce water—but not in the tub.
Similar Posts:
- Desensitization to Water, Part 1
- Introduction to Tail Desensitization
- How to Desensitize Touching Near Your Dog’s Eyes
- Introducing Hindquarter Desensitization
- How to desensitize your dog to mouth handling
