We have our dog Foxy a bath today. I tried to think back to the last time she got a bath, and I think it actaully might have been three years ago since her last bath. That sounds pretty disgusting, but she's actually a very clean dog, in general.
Recently, though, with the onset of summer weather, she has been getting itchy. We couldn't pet her without her back legs going into massive convulsions (why do dogs do that, anyway?). And now that it's getting hot, we can hose her off outside without it being too uncomfortable for her.
This time, things went much better than they had before. Perhaps Foxy is just older now and less prone to trying to wriggle away so vigorously. Or perhaps it was because Donna and I switched roles: I was the Foxy-holder and she was the Foxy-douser. Whatever the reason, she was washed and rinsed in about 5 minutes. She spent the next 10 minutes running around like a mad dog trying to dry off.
Now, she is extra fluffy and clean. Her itchiness is much less, although I can still get her leg to go crazy if I want. She just seems so much more relaxed now that she is not in a constant state of itchiness.