Cleaning up our act

Jasso doesn't know it, but he has a big day coming up.  A potential, I think I can say "probable", adopter is coming to meet him on Friday.  He needed a bath and he had one today.

When I first got this dog he had very little hair and a raging skin infection.  He had a lot of baths for the first few months.  I would just pick him up in my arms and carry him upstairs.  He didn't weigh much in those days either, but that has sure changed.  Everything about this dog has changed except his personality.  Jasso has put on enough weight that I wasn't looking forward to carrying him upstairs, but I didn't have to.  He's also gained enough strength that he tried the stairs on his own although I helped with the rear end towards the top.

It's easier for him to just lay down rather than sit up in the tub.

The other thing that has really changed with this dog is the amount of fur that he has.  He's now a big woolly beast with a thick, long coat of German Shepherd hair.  I'm not sure if he's blowing his coat or if he's just shedding normally now, but I noticed last week that he was needing brushing in a bad way.  In the early days he had no hair to shed, even in the bath,  Today I was sweeping the hair from the drain almost constantly to keep it open.

Except for Diesel, who actually stepped into
the tub on his own, I've never had a more
cooperative dog at bath time.

We got a lot of hair off of him in the bath and more from brushing him both before and after the bath. I know he felt better because he kept coming up to me when he saw the brush in my hand.  Brushing needs to be done regularly with him and I hadn't been doing it.  It is sure nice to see him looking so good.

Sitting in the sun in the bathroom after
being toweled off.

The sun was out and the straw was warm so it made a nice
place for a comb out after the bath.

He was happy to get back to his den
after it was over.

I never thought he would look this good again.