Wet Dog Never Smelled So Good
We try to bathe the dogs at least once a month to keep them from smelling too dog-adelic. Playing at the park with other dogs doesn't help, but the once a month regimen seems to work well for everyone. Especially Niki, who loves to be toweled off. Dog Bath Day takes two people, one to be in the tub enclosure and wash the dog (me), and one to feed treats. We do a lot of treat-based positive behavior reinforcement, and it works. For this reason, the dogs love going to the vet, getting bathed, and having their teeth brushed.
Niki, our Alpha dog, gets bathed first. He'll hop into the tub (on command), and let us bathe him for 15-20 minutes before getting restless.
Once he's out (and gently toweled), Elphie gets help into the tub (she doesn't like to jump onto slippery surfaces). She's a smaller dog with significantly less fur, so it takes much less time to get her clean.
When we're done, they smell like Tea Tree Oil and look like this:
