The alternative is horrific. They put a bunch of sheep in a fully enclosed cage and completely submerge the ENTIRE thing completely under the water/dip solution.
The issue is that this way they keep their heads above the liquid and any parasites in the head can spread back into the body. The forced dipping is rough but more effective.
Can confirm, given a lot of homeless cats and dogs flea baths. They run for the head above water. Honestly I would start nitpicking them with my fingernails at that point, so I didn't have to freak the poor thing out with a full baptism.
I definitely fully dramatic Baptist style dunked my childhood dog when cleaning her back in the day. Maybe she was just a chill dog but this is the first time it's ever occured to me that I should feel bad.
Honestly, most of them are pretty resilient and can probably handle it. Times I did have to do something unpleasant, they didn't really hold it against me for very long, they're usually over it pretty fast and back to eating up all of the care and attention they'd been lacking up until that point.
I remember someone on Reddit getting really upset by the concept of shelters fixing kittens younger vs older, and I told them they handle it way better than you'd think. As kittens, day 2 and they're back to bouncing around. As a full grown cat they'd be more sore for longer. The faster they can get rehomed the better, waiting to fix means waiting to place, and they would much rather be in a real home than a shelter cubicle.
But I did try to be gentle with the scared babies. Freaky environment, now I'm getting dunked, wth is going on
Your dog already knew you and your home and that they were safe 🫶🏻
She was a hound about two thirds my size at the time so she definitely could have made her displeasure known. She also ate broken glass (got into fridge, knocked down can of salsa, ate can, including glass, caught on camera, kept at the vet for like a week) at one point and was fine so like it's entirely possible she was immune to pain.
Something that may help you if you give any future baths, I always start by rinsing the head first to get fleas to move downward then I do the neck. Then, before even getting the rest of the body wet, I wash their neck with an excess of flea shampoo or dawn to prevent them from moving back up. Then, go back to the bath as normal and manually comb off the stragglers who stayed above the neck
Dog trainer was said you start with a 'shampoo necklace'. First thing with a ring of shampoo around the animals neck to deter fleas and ticks from running to the head.
I always made a ring of flea soap higher up on their necks, did the whole body and then used pet shampoo on their heads, or dawn dish soap if they were badly infested.
I use a sponge to dab a little onto their heads while keeping it out of their eyes. Once I get them wrapped up and partially dry, l will wrap them on my lap on a dry towel and pick the dead/dying fleas off with tweezers.
Yes, I'll dab their faces a bit, and sometimes I continue with them in the towel on my lap. I like to make sure I get every single one off, so there's zero bringing anything into the same space as the other animals.
Specifically, at 0:13, when they have been circulating for a while, the worker switches the gate so they'll get channeled through what may be a deeper section on their way out of the dip (or possibly he's just giving them a little push to dunk them). At 0:15, you can see the first one getting fully dunked, with the others following at 0:19 and 0:20.
We're talking about sheep. A species that is genetically suicidal. The only trauma they'll feel is the realisation that they didn't actually die. That's if they even realise anything at all, because they are also so stupid you could measure their thoughts per day and not even use all of your fingers.
Unfortunately it’s necessary for the entire body to be submerged or the parasites simply move upwards to infest the head. You want to avoid flystrike at all costs, it’s absolutely horrific.
Sheep are mammals, and therefore have the mammalian dive reflex. They can hold their breath for the few seconds they are underwater. If you don't dip their heads, the parasites can survive the dip and reinfect the sheep quickly. I don't know that this is a parasite dip because the people weren't forcing each sheep's head underwater for a few seconds.
Thankfully terrifying animals like this is completely optional just by not using them as a commodity. Poor babies are all going to be harmed once theyre no longer profitable.
•
u/Weary-Echidna1984 5h ago
Sheep dip - I believe (but may be wrong) that it’s Moore about insecticide and fungicide than getting them clean.