In 2011, our family adopted a scared stray terrier mix dog who had been found wandering in the desert streets of Apple Valley, California. He had burns on his paws from walking on the scorching pavement. He was a little skittish at first but warmed up to us quickly. Augustus, as he is named, is by breed a very smelly dog. He needs regular baths to keep the dog funk down.
He does not like baths at all, nor does he tolerate professional grooming. I assume there is some trauma there. We have been struggling through bath time with Gus for 7 years now. A few weeks ago, we received an interesting product to try out that claims to make bath time less stressful for doggos.
The K9 Bath Buddy is an adorably designed, silicone paw with a super strong suction cup that is used to attach it to the side of a bath-tub, shower stall or wall.
The surface of the paw can be coated with a tantalizing treat for dogs, such as natural peanut butter or something similar. The idea being that your dog will be so focused on the treat that they will hardly notice bath time fears at all.
The product began with two people and a very successful Kickstarter campaign and is now sold on Amazon, currently priced at $13.89 each.
So, onto our experience.
This is actually a really great product. It's fairly large in size, bigger than my whole hand. It has an indented surface with a few nooks a crannies to hold in the treat. We used all natural peanut butter and really only used about a teaspoon or two, spread thinly all over the surface.
We popped it onto the side of our tub and decided to test it out on the less nervous of our two dogs.
Achilles is generally really good in the bath so this was just an added bonus for him. He LOVED it. He spent the whole bath concentrating on one section of the Bath Buddy, making sure to get it completely cleaned of peanut butter.
Next up was nervous Augustus. While we had been bathing Achilles, Gus had gone to hide in his kennel and refused to come out. We had to coax him out with a little peanut butter on a spoon. Once we got him into the tub, he seemed interested in the K9 Bath Buddy but also unsure about the whole thing.
Bath time seemed to go faster than normal and there was certainly less shaking and whining from either dog.
Overall, I think its a great product and I can see it being really useful in grooming salons, veterinarian offices, shelters, as well as in home use. It wasn't a cure for bath fears for our dog, but it definitely helped.
Clean up was also very easy. Just rinse the K9 Bath Buddy and pop it in the top shelf of your dishwasher. The heavy duty silicone seems like it will literally last forever.
Two more of our writers were also given the opportunity to try the K9 Bath Buddy:
"We bathe Sasha in the kitchen sink, and I was a little concerned that the K9 Bath Buddy might be too large to fit well inside it - but it fit fine.
I like how well that large suction cup worked to keep it in place! We used some bacon-flavored squeeze cheese meant for dogs and squirted a few dabs on it.
Sasha is a good bather - she enjoyed the added element of having a treat although she was a bit confused about why it was happening during bath-time!
I can see how this might be very helpful for a dog that resists bathing and tries to escape the area.
My initial thought was that a smaller size for smaller dogs would be useful, but after seeing it in use, I have changed my mind on that - the larger size makes it easier for the dog to get to it and use it without a lot of extra movement.
I would recommend this to any dog owner needing a little extra help at bathing time."
Jessica writes:
"Gregor is not the best bather. He doesn't run from a bath, but he definitely does not like them. Getting my large dog into a bathtub is always hit or miss, and I often have to just bring him into the small shower cubicle in order to get the muttface clean.
When I got the K9 Bath Buddy, I really hoped that this would help at the very least get him into the bathtub, as lifting an 80 lb dog is not something I enjoy! Boy, am I glad for the help of the K9 Bath Buddy!
After showing Gregor that it was full of one of his favorite treats (crunchy peanut butter!!), I was able to lure the unsuspecting pooch into the bathtub!
While he mostly ignored the K9 Bath Buddy while being bathed, choosing instead to give me condemning glares, it was a great treat for after the ordeal.
Gregor may never be a great bather, but I can now get him into the bathtub and I no longer need to clean the pup in a cramped stall!"
The friendly folks at K9 Bath Buddy would like to giveaway a K9 Bath Buddy to one of our readers. Up for grabs is One K9 Bath Buddy, valued at $19.99, available to ship to US and APO addresses. Read on to see how you can enter to win!
https://k9bathbuddy.com/
https://www.facebook.com/k9bathbuddy/
https://www.instagram.com/k9bathbuddy/
One winner in the US (including APO) will win a K9 Bath Buddy (value $19.99).
This Giveaway ends at just before midnight ET January 12, 2019.
To enter the giveaway, please leave a comment in this entry as instructed by the Giveaway Tools Entry Form below. This will open up additional optional entries to increase your odds of winning. (If you don't leave a comment, any additional entries will be void.)
The winner will be notified by email 24 to 48 hours after the end of the giveaway by email. In order to claim the giveaway prize, the winner will need to respond within 24 hours of notification, or an alternate winner will be selected.
Good luck!
