Still Cool?

Some days, my blog practically writes itself. All I have to do is get the words from my brain to the computer. Today was one of those days, complete with title.

My last customer of the day today was a younger guy, early- to mid-twenties, with a 4 1/2-month-old ginormous Labradoodle puppy. When I asked him what he wanted me to do with his dog, he said, "Take him as short as you can but have him still look cool."

...

Ummm...what's your definition of cool? This is really just another variation of  "short but not shaved," but it's certainly a variation I haven't heard before. After more than 8 years as a groomer, people still surprise me occasionally.

So I answered with my typical reply to "short but not shaved:" "So, about half an inch, more than half an inch, less than half an inch...?"

First he indicated a length with his fingers that was about half an inch, then he said, "No, maybe more like this," then widened the distance between his thumb and forefinger. "Maybe like an inch."

OK, I can do that. Hopefully. This is a 4 1/2-month-old, never-been-groomed, Doodle, after all.

I should've taken a picture of him before I bathed him, when he was still curly, but I didn't think of it. So here he is washed, dried, fluffy, and unbrushed.

Isn't he big for less than 5 months? I suspect he is going to be monstrously large when he is fully grown. Anyway, he actually did pretty good for the whole groom. He wasn't afraid of the dryer or clippers. He was just typical puppy wiggly when I needed to handle his feet and especially his face. By the way, isn't it strange how slow puppy tails grow compared to the rest of their hair?

Anyway, here's his after. I sure hope he looks "cool."

From this angle you can't see the giant divot in the back of his head, which was created when he jerked his head really fast when I was scissoring. Yay puppies.

So, when his owner came to pick him up, I asked if he still looked cool, and he said, "He looks very cool, you did an awesome job," then he handed me a cash tip and said, "I appreciate you."

Now, that was kind of strange. I've heard "thank you" and "I appreciate it" plenty, but "I appreciate you" was sort of a new one on me. Nothing wrong with it, just different and surprising. I wonder how many more surprises this guy has in store if I keep grooming his puppy?

So, completely on the other side of surprising, we have one of my regular Cockers, my old one. Just like usual, she's been cutting his moles, and just like usual, she doesn't want me to trim his legs. Two grooms ago, I finally convinced her to let me take an E comb (that's the length I did to the Doodle above) to his nearly-full legs. He's just much, much too old and wobbly to have to deal with such long legs. It was getting to be hard for her to keep up on his brushing because he wasn't tolerating it, and it was getting hard for him to stand the entire groom because he took me 2 1/2 hours to wash, dry, brush, and groom him.

So two times ago, I took his legs shorter. Last groom, she had to see another groomer because she forgot to pre-book with me, and that other groomer actually listened when she said not to trim his legs. But me?

There is no way on Earth I am letting her grow those legs back out. It is just not fair to the dog. He's 17, fully deaf, half blind, and arthritic, I absolutely refuse to put him through that long-haired torture again. I'm reasonably certain that after seeing what the other groomer did to this poor dog (a story for another day), she will stick with me no matter what. So when she said she likes his legs the length they are now, I just smiled and nodded and trimmed them anyway.

Not a lot. She brings him in once a month, so I took about 1/4 inch off his back and 1/2 inch off his legs. She won't notice that I've trimmed them. So if I keep doing that when he comes in, she probably won't notice that they aren't getting longer and also won't notice that I trim them every time. Because honestly, probably, hopefully, he will have crossed the Rainbow Bridge before it's been long enough for her to realize that his legs should be longer.

It's not exactly that I wish he were dead...I just wonder how good his quality of life can possibly be right now. As an outsider looking in, I have to wonder how much longer he can keep going and I sort of always hope he doesn't make it to his next groom.

Because I feel like he's suffering, but a woman who cuts the moles off her dog is not going to listen when somebody suggests it might be time to put him down.

Ugh.

Anyway, here he is, the sweet old man that I love and yet pity.

Since he's deaf, it's pretty much impossible to get him to look at the camera. A few notes about his haircut.

First - I don't trim his ears that short. The groomer who did him last time cut his ears that short and gave his owner and I a heart attack. That's okay, they'll grow back.

Second - She insists I use a 30 blade on his back, which is much shorter than we usually do on a Cocker's back and almost as short as a surgical blade. That, plus his greasy skin condition, is why he is so shiny.

Third - The line of his skirt has been sneaking lower and lower and lower, so today I put it back up where it should be. That is why it looks like he has 2 different patterns going on.

Fourth - If you think either skirt line looks blunt, you would be correct. She insists that his skirt be cut blunt like that. The very first time I groomed him, I blended the skirt like normal and she absolutely freaked out. Yes, this lady is a little crazy, if you hadn't figured it out yet. But that's OK, I did just say a few days ago how I enjoy doing the less-than-usual haircuts.

OK, it's 8:30 now and I haven't had dinner yet. There are more stories to be told another day. Thanks for reading!