Nesting the dog
If Flash goes too long without a bath, she startes to make me sneeze. As of a week ago, she had officially gone too long without a bath. Over the course of this past week I started dropping what I thought were not-so-subtle hints about Flash needing a good scrub-down, but sadly, Dave never volunteered. Lately, probably because of the pregnancy coming to an end sometime over the course of the next 3-4 weeks, I've been laying awake at night obsessing about the most mundane things that I just *have* to get done. Two nights ago, I was freaking out about finding a pediatrician, writing thank you notes, dropping off our real estate tax bill, and getting in touch with a dog-sitter who could watch Flash once we officially went into labor. Fairly important stuff, right? Last night I obsessed about washing the dog, cleaning the bathrooms, finishing the wall in the living room, and fixing the one half of our kitchen sink that leaks. I obsessed to the point of having to go downstairs to watch t.v. just to get my brain thinking about something else (I saw an episode of Cowboy Bebop dubbed in english; it's just not the same). Enter morning, where armed with only four hours of restless sleep and strong desire, I searched around in our cabinets for dog shampoo. We were out. No problem. I could hop in the car, drop off the real estate tax bill, hit the pet store, toss Flash in the tub, thereby effectively ending the sneezing *and* checking two things off my list. I get to the pet store and there are, I swear, nearly as many dog shampoo options as there are people shampoo at the grocery store. I pick up an oatmeal shampoo (you know, because oatmeal is good for their skin and my dog only gets the best, etc, etc) and head home. After a brief struggle involving lots of groaning and grumbling from both parties, Flash is unhappily installed in the tub and getting a pre-shampoo rinse of water. I pump out a palmful of shampoo and proceed to lather her up. Except she isn't lathering. My first thought was "Good grief; she was dirtier than I thought" followed by the feeling that something just wasn't right. I take another look at the bottle and it turns out I purchased oatmeal conditioner. Conditioner. I didn't even know they made that for dogs. So to make a long story shorter, I decided to use our gentle Dove shampoo followed by a deep conditioning doggie rinse that will hopefully combat any skin dryness that may occur from my not having used a pH neutral shampoo on her. Or maybe all of her hair will fall out and I'll feel absolutely horrible. Or maybe she'll get dandruff and I'll be really grossed out. Poor Flash. She's almost pampered, but not quite.