"Oh, uh-huh. Huuup, into the water with you! G'boy. No, stay there, oh very friendly. Hang on, I gotcha, I gotcha, yes. Alright, here, pour a little water over his back and we can start wetting the fur. So this buddy of mine from work, family never heard of magic, he did a lot of chores by hand growing up, too. Terrific detective, by the way, real hilarious guy, lotta stories to tell. I mean, this guy'll put you in stitches. This one time, as a little kid, he was at the grocery store, and he wanted ice cream so bad but his parents wouldn't let him. And he starts throwing a fit and then they turn around and what do they see? Every tub of ice cream in the place bouncing and hopping after their cart in a neat, single file line! Can you believe that! Like little ducklings! Had to rope off the whole building til they sorted it out. I told him, hey don't let it get that far while I'm around, okay, if you want ice cream, I'll spot you the sickle. "

That gets a wry chuckle. "I hope he didn't get in too much trouble." Pouring water on the dog. Trying to block the dog's attempt to get out of the tub, with mixed success.

"Not too bad. Onset magic, you know, these things happen. Bet you had a few incidents yourself. So once they're soaked through like this, we just grab our shampoo and our brush and—oof!" In a cascade of bathwater, the dog makes a spirited lunge for freedom. "Nah, c'mere dog! Sorry about this; he's got no sense of personal accountability. None whatsoever. We might get pretty wet—why don't you grab those enchanted towels just in case? Then I'll try to hold him still, and you brush."