Free checklist
Dog Bather Training Checklist
The checklist (11 items)
Written as observable actions, so two trainers scoring the same shift land in the same place. In CrewSharp this is the Bathing checklist in the Pet care / Daycare starter set, filed under Kennels, and every item here is editable.
- 1Secured the animal in the tub with a restraintCritical
- 2Tested the water temperature before wetting the animalMust pass
- 3Used the shampoo listed for the coat and skin
- 4Kept water and soap out of the eyes and ears
- 5Rinsed until no shampoo was left in the coat
- 6Stayed with the animal while it driedCritical
- 7Kept the dryer on a safe heat settingMust pass
- 8Trimmed nails without cutting the quick
- 9Handled nervous animals patiently
- 10Reported lumps or skin problems found during the bath
- 11Cleaned the tub between animals
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What usually goes wrong
Staying with the animal while it dries is critical because dryers overheat animals quickly. An animal left alone in a cage dryer can be in real trouble within minutes, and it will not look different from outside.
The items a good total should not outweigh
- Secured the animal in the tub with a restraint
- Stayed with the animal while it dried
When to sign someone off
A workable bar for this checklist: no critical items missed, a score above a line you set for Bathing specifically rather than one number for the whole building, and observed on more than one shift with at least one of them busy. Then date it, so it can expire.
That last part is the one people skip. A sign-off with no date cannot be re-checked, which means a year later you have a record that says somebody was ready once.
Checklists that pair with this one
Someone trained on this one most often covers these alongside it, which makes them the sensible second checklist to train.
Common questions
Should bathing be signed off before grooming?
Yes. Bathing teaches restraint and handling on a wet, nervous animal, and those skills carry straight onto the grooming table where a mistake involves a blade.
What should be on a dog bather checklist?
The 11 items above cover it: secured the animal in the tub with a restraint, tested the water temperature before wetting the animal, used the shampoo listed for the coat and skin, and the rest of the list. Keep it in that range. Fewer and a pass proves very little; many more and trainers stop finishing it during a real shift.
Which items should count as critical?
On this checklist, 2 items are marked critical: secured the animal in the tub with a restraint; stayed with the animal while it dried. Missing one means not ready, regardless of the total score, because these are the failures that cannot be corrected after the fact.
Scoring it is the part that lasts
Run this Bathing checklist on a tablet between rushes and CrewSharp keeps the rest: who is signed off, when it was last checked, and which item your crew misses most.
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