Dogs have held onto the title of Man's Best Friend through the centuries, but getting them into the bath is an eternal ordeal. This Australian home movie from the 1940s reveals that the ritual of scrubbing your adorable pup clean, only to watch them immediately roll in the grass, is an age-old tradition for dog owners.

Bounce's Bath Day is believed to have been filmed around 1947. The video of a backyard dogwash opens with an artfully crafted title, and the footage captures Bounce's momentous shower from start to finish. It presents a relatable scene for contemporary audiences. Along with the ordeal of coaxing Bounce into the tub, it includes a light-hearted moment of inspecting the footwear chosen for the task. The use of colour film at this time suggests this was an unusually expensive home movie.

The accompanying music was composed by Laura Harris, a student at the Australian National University, as part of a silent home movie scoring project undertaken by the NFSA and the ANU School of Music in 2023.