Best way to introduce bath time

[jimmysgal]

I am wondering about what is the best approach to introducing Jimmy to bath time. He is not afraid of the bathroom as he follows us in and watches me bathe my daughter and watches me use the handheld shower head to wash her hair. He'll drink from the tub if we aren't watching him closely. I'm beginning to believe that the girl we got him from did not bathe him regularly (or hardly at all) but instead would take him to Petco occasionally ( only once or twice from what she says and he's 2 yo ). I don't mind taking him to be groomed every 6 weeks but I want to train him to let us bathe him as needed. So right now I am just letting him get use to being in the bathroom while the water runs. My next step will be to get him to actually get into the empty tub. Any advice for me would be appreciated. I use to have to tether my GS up to the outside spigot to bathe her but I want to train Jimmy to enjoy bath time so that I don't have to rush through it. Oh and when he goes to Petco to be groomed he barks the entire time. So I don't think he likes Petco too much. LOL! Plus I don't like the idea of leaving him there for 4 hours to be groomed. I want him to learn to enjoy bath time and to trust us to groom him. His past owner never brushed him either so she wasn't sure if he'd like me brushing him daily. So far he seems to love it. He stands there and holds his head high and lets me brush him down. I've also been handling his paws and mouth daily to prepare him for clipping his nails (which I'll make another post on) and to prepare him for brushing his teeth. So far he seems pretty relaxed about it. I feel like I'm on the right track with him but i'd appreciate any suggestions from the pros.