The Katzke Dog Diary

Since Eo was a puppy, I’ve bathed her in my shower. And let me tell you, you’ve never SEEN as miserable drowned rat as Eowyn when she’s wet. If it’s possible, she flat-out grimaces as I replace her carefully assembled perfume of dead toad, bird poop, and grass clippings with a nice hypoallergenic oatmeal shampoo…

Oh, baleful glare...

When I was in kindergarten, we would sing a song any time we were doing something that we didn’t want to do. It made the work go faster, and it kept twenty or thirty rugrats focused on the task at hand. My favorite one was the cleanup song. I still remember it — Clean up time, clean up time, let’s clean up this mess. Clean up time, clean up time, do our very best!

To keep Eo’s attention on me, and not how much she wants to be running through the rest of the house shaking, I sang Eowyn a little song and call her funny shower names. I made up the lyrics randomly during one shower — She’s a puppy and she’s soapy and she’s good, She’s a puppy and she’s soapy and she’s good, She’s a puppy and she’s soapy, and she’s looking kinda dopey… She’s a puppy and she’s soapy and she’s good! I can’t remember what the original tune is from, but it’s not hard to figure out. And she’s magically transformed from the usual “EoMonster!” or “My Big Girl!” into a magical treat known as a “Soapapuppy.” (Look for it on the menu next time you’re at a mexican restaurant.)

I realize that those of you out in blogland can’t quite get the full treatment from just the lyrics, but I sing like a pack of dogs howls — loudly, and VERY far off tune. But somehow, the song keeps Eo (and now Henry) thinking that bathtime is a fun experience where they get lots of attention and a really, really thorough rubdown. When I sing our shower song, neither of them try to escape from the tub. That’s no small task with fifty or seventy pounds of wet, soapy mutt!

Update/Edit: I just realized that the tune is to “If you’re happy and you know it”.