Today I discovered the other thing Beau hates besides fireworks and thunderstorms--BATHTIME!  He should have had one long before now, but it's been too cold until recently and I can only bathe the dogs outdoors.  The time had come, though.  There was a lot of Tahoe dust to wash off of them.

We took both dogs out on the front lawn and tethered them to the fence with their extendable leashes to bathe them, but when we came at Beau with the hose (on low flow) he tried to make tracks in any other direction.  He wanted nothing to do with the business end of that hose. Evidently, his past experiences with baths have not been very pleasant ones, but I think we may have changed that today.  I hope so, anyway, because it was an ordeal.  

I had my husband hold him while I did the sudsing and rinsing, since I figured it might have been a man who made him afraid in the first place.  I massaged him as we soaped him and talked baby talk to him, which seemed to allay his fears.  I made quick work of it and then gave him a good towel rubdown and let him roll on the grass, which he loves to do.  Meanwhile, we washed Peaches.  He took a lot of interest in that, so we probably should have done her first so he could see it was no big deal.  

When we were finished with her, he wanted to help dry her off...with his tongue. He simply adores her.  After both dogs were clean, they had a grand time lying on the grass together, rolling around, barking, and playing their games.  It was delightful to watch them, and they obviously felt so good and clean.  So, Beau probably had his first happy bath.  We'll see if he likes it any better when bath time comes around again.