This one was taken about a month and a half ago on our camping trip. And now... I just took this one (don't mind all the junk in the background!). I know that she looks a lot cuter when she's sporting the scruffy look, but that is much harder to maintain since she doesn't care to be brushed. So for us it is much easier to clip her. She is a pretty good sport about it. And here are some of the comments about my previous post... Jennakat is also known as Darly (she doesn't like the name Darly, but since that's what you all know her by, that's what I'll use). And yes, she's right. She did help me catch the dog before her bath. OK, Chick said... I don't have animals but I think giving them a bath would be my least favorite part. It seems like lots of hard work. I've always had animals and have given them baths. Dogs are the easiest if you have the right equipment. We have a utility sink with a hose attachment, so I'm not hurting my back by having her in the bathtub, and the hose just makes everything nice... I can focus the water right where I need it (much better than the old cup method). Bone said... Just put a bunch of toys in the bath. Oh, and tell her that the tub is the only place the monster who lives under the house and peeks through the window at night won't get her. That always worked on me. Well, Lilly seems too nervous about her bath to even bother with toys. I've never tried toys in the bath for any of my pets. But seeing as they seem in panic mode, I don't see toys helping. After putting it off until we couldn't stand her anymore, it was time to finally break down and groom the dog. She was getting to be quite a mess. Her hair was getting too long (although we keep it trimmed out of her eyes), and she was looking quite shaggy. She hates to be brushed, so she had some mats too. First I took her into the garage with my trusty scissors to trim her up. In the past I've used clippers on her, but her fur is really fine and it clogs up the clippers so we can't use the length guards. Without a guard on the clippers we end up chopping her at different lengths. Besides, my clippers are really loud and they scare her. This time I decided to use just the scissors, and I was quite pleased with how she came out. Yep, she's still cut at different lengths—I'm not perfect. But we were able to achieve the same results we normally get with less stress. I let her up to shake off the hair during the clipping and In fact, for the first time she tried to hide from me and even tried to get out our front window. She was a very good girl in the bath and is now all clean and smells like doggy shampoo instead of just like doggy. At what age are you supposed to start taking care of your parents? I thought I would at least get to wait until I was done with my kid. I've already told you about how my mom got very sick last year and almost died from pneumonia, right? As a refresher: my mom smokes and has osteoporosis and arthritis. Last year she got sick and went to her doctor, who couldn't figure out what was wrong. She wasn't showing any signs of her body fighting the infection. She ended up in the ER because she couldn't breathe, and the doctor there almost sent her home. Luckily, a lung specialist making rounds came in at my stepdad's request and saved my mom's life; she was admitted to the ICU. It turned out to be viral pneumonia and COPD. She now has only about 40% lung capacity and has to carry oxygen with her wherever she goes, although she doesn't have to wear the tube unless she feels short of breath.