My dogs are typical spoilt brats!

They live indoors, sleep on the couch, watch TV and get pork strips from Woolies as snacks before bedtime every night. I always say that when they look in the mirror, they see two little girl faces, not dogs.

They visit the dog salon every month. Washed, trimmed, nails cut, the works. It’s only in emergencies that I bath them myself. Last night was one such emergency.

My neighbour is painting his house. Every evening the painters rinse their paint brushes and tools at the garden tap in the corner of his garden. It just so happens that the washed off paint ran into our garden and the flower bed near to where the rotten tree stood.

With Annie & Emma playing in the garden, their little paws and in between their toes, became caked with paint.

I was so worried about the toxicity of the paint, I decided to bath them. Yes, in the nippy evening with the wind blowing. (hey, don’t judge me! At the time, it seemed like a good idea.)

Usually, when they see me preparing their bath, they go into a terrified state.They don’t run away but instead hang around my legs as if begging me to change my mind. The preparation sometimes takes longer than the bath. Hairdryer, towels, shampoo, brushes, treats. The build-up must be pure torture for them!

I usually start with Annie (my first-born as Queen, my maid, calls her). She’s the more hyper one so it’s best to get her bathed as quickly as possible. Poor Emma sits at my feet and occasionally leans over the bath to check up on Annie.

Sometime during the bath, I decided that this would make for a great blog post and so tried to take some pics with my Blackberry.

Not the cleverest idea and not the easiest of tasks. There I am hovering treats above my head, singing songs, whistling. All I got were dirty looks as they stood there shivering. (Please don’t report me to the SPCA).

Luckily my dogs are not good escape artists and stand patiently in the bath. They don’t mind the hairdryer afterwards while I brush knots out their hair. I think it’s because they know, the best part is yet to come – a full body massage. They love it!

Most of the paint washed off, but at least, for now, they smell clean and fresh and have soft fur, just like two little girls (and not dogs)!