Left to their own devices I’m sure Fortnum and Mason would go au natural as far as personal hygiene is concerned.  But as house dogs there is a limit to how much pooch perfume I can tolerate.  Basset bath time requires plenty of cunning though for our smart hounds can sense when it’s time for their ablutions and head for the darkest recesses under my desk.  It’s at though if they lay low in a dark corner I won’t (a) find them and (b) not make the effort to crawl under to drag them out.  How wrong they are.

There is a big upside to a basset finally relenting.  They like nothing better than a full body rub with a big towel.  I don’t so much bath our bassets though – they are showered with tender loving care and super sensitive soap.  They’ve even been trained to lift their front paws on command for a leg pit scrub.  I’m not sure they enjoy the squeezing out of the excess water from their wrinkles though.  It is however an essential step if you are to avoid being totally drowned when the inevitable spin speed basset body shake takes place.

Combined with a lug hole excavation and nail clipping basset pampering generally involves three bouts of wrestling with eventual submission by the hounds.  I find a biscuit snack helps to pacify and reward.  Bassets are not very forgiving though and stubbornly refused to pose for a look me in the eye clean basset portrait.  No hard feelings fellas.