Your sweet girl is soooooo beautiful.
My furbaby is a maltese-poodle cross so his hair may be a different texture than your girl. Plus his hair is wavy/curly.
Make sure you get a good dog shampoo especially formulated for puppies. When EL was little, I also diluted it before using it. Some dogs also need a dog formula conditioner. I've read (on PT I think) that you should never use human formula shampoo or conditioner on dogs.
I *should* brush Elvis daily, but I don't. We brush & comb him a few times a week. (He's never been to a groomer, we cut his hair, nails etc). Your baby will probably need to be brushed daily. We brush him dry only. I think cause of the wave in his hair it would be too difficult to brush him wet.
A dog's normal temp is about 102 degrees F so make sure the water is warm enough to keep her from shivering but not hot enough to burn her. I personally don't use a sprayer on my pup. I use a plastic cup to wet him down & rinse him. Oh yea, that's another thing...rinse, rinse & rinse some more. Dogs can get dermatitis if shampoo is not rinsed out properly.
Wet her down well, talk calmly to her & praise her for being a good girl. Rub the diluted shampoo in your hands to warm it up, later her up, keep praising her, then rinse. Be very careful to not get shampoo in her ears. You can wipe her face with a warm washcloth to clean her eyes. We clean EL's eyes every few days with a warm cloth to keep them clear of doggy eye gunkies. We also clean out his ears once a week with a vet prescribed cleaner since he has floppy ears, he tends to get infections. Your girl has uppy ears so that may not be a problem, but I'd still make sure you dont get her ears wet inside.
It's important that little dogs dont get a chill, so heat up some towels in your dryer & use them to dry off your little sweetie. We only started blow drying EL recently. We basically dry him with towels, then he runs around the house, like a kookie puppy, rubbing his face on the carpet. LOL When he was an tiny pup (he was under 2 lbs when we brought him home), we would dry him with a warm towel, then switch to a dry warm one & keep him wrapped up in a towel or blanket until he was dry.
We do his haircuts, toenail cuts, brushing etc all Before his bath.
I'm sure there is more, If I think of anything else, I'll post again. Best of luck with your first baby girl bath. Take some pics & post them when you do it. She'll be fine. Remember to talk in a nice calm voice, praise praise praise. and give her some treats afterwards. Another little bit of advise...have her tinkle Before bathtime. Sometimes the warm water may encourage urinating & you won't want her to do that during the bath or right afterwards.
We bathed EL in the kitchen sink until he was about 5 lbs, now we use the regular tub or the garage sink.
Good luck & have fun.
Adorable pup!
