How do you wipe a puppy's eyes without him chomping on the washcloth?

Answer 1

I wish you the best of luck - puppies are notorious chewers, and having a wash cloth irritating his face is only likely to make the chewing instict worse. I will say that I smiled picturing a puppy desperately trying to play with the wash cloth while you were trying just as hard to clean the goo from his face.

Probably the easiest way to keep the puppy from biting the washcloth and pulling it out of your hands is to wad up the excess cloth in the palm of your hand, keeping only a small corner exposed and stretched over a finger to wipe down the puppy's eyelids. This won't stop him from trying to chew on the exposed corner over your finger, but it should be easier to keep that away from his teeth than trying to keep a full washcloth out of his mouth.

If the puppy is large enough or just active and wiggly enough that you can't restrain him and clean his face, you may want to get an assistant to hold him while you clean his face (or vice versa). The safest way to hold a dog that may become unhappy with your plans is to wrap one arm around the front of the chest and up the front/side of the neck to place the hand behind the ear on the far side of the dog. The other arm wraps over the back behind the shoulders and down to the front leg on the far side. Gently but firmly pull the puppy into a bear hug - your face and head should naturally lay on the puppy's shoulder - if there is any risk of biting for the restrainer, he/she should turn his/her face away from the dog's head and look towards the tail with his/her head resting on the dog's back/shoulders.

Once the puppy is restrained, the cleaning person should gently but firmly place the non-cleaning hand on top of the dog's nose and push downward slightly to dip the dog's nose down and make it easier to wipe across the eyelids.