Great Day!

I really had a great day today! I absolutely love getting feedback from happy customers (who wouldn't?)!

My first dog of the day was a new client. I opened the door to let her in (grooming starts before the store opens) and once she came in she asked if I was Jen. I said yes and she said, "I am SO glad to meet you! Ever since the 4th of July, every good-looking dog I see, when I ask who grooms their dog, the answer is always 'Jen at ***.' I like the place I've been going OK, they're nice and everything, but I just haven't been very happy with her haircut. You do a beautiful job, and I'm SO looking forward to you grooming my dog!"

I totally felt like a rock star in that moment. I've been appreciated by many clients in the past, but this is probably the first time I've received such adulation from somebody whose dog I haven't even groomed yet!

Her mom picked the dog up when I was done because she is a teacher and had to go to work. Her mom seemed very pleased with the grooming and said, "You know X subdivision? We saw a woman walking this dog, I think he was a Bichon but he could have been a mix, and we asked her who groomed him and she said you. So that's how we wound up here."

I told her I'd be moving to a new location very soon, but it happens to be much closer to where they live, so it works well for everybody!

My next dog was one of my regulars, a Maltese. Clueless Dad dropped off, but Mom picked up with her normal amount of appreciation.

After lunch, I had these two Yorkies. This client has been coming to my groom shop for years and is known for being...particular.

I did them several times last year, but when she couldn't get in with me in the Spring, she wound up with our least-experienced groomer.

She was...uh...less than pleased with the results and threatened to never come back. She said she would give us one more chance and she was scheduled with me since I "didn't do too bad" on her dogs when I did them. Such a glowing compliment.

Anyway, I made sure to listen VERY CAREFULLY to what she wanted done with her dogs, and I followed her notes to a T.

Here's the first one.

Now, how many shots did it take to get a good picture of the second one? Let's find out.

11. And do you know how we finally got the winning shot? One of the other groomers had a brilliant idea and held the other Yorkie over my head. I still don't love that picture, but it was good enough!

Now for the million-dollar question: Was the customer happy when she picked the dogs up?

Survey says...

YES!!! Certainly she could call back and complain, but she did seem very genuinely pleased as she walked out the door.

VICTORY!!!


P.S. - My Shutterfly photo book just arrived in the mail, and it is AWESOME!

Bollywood

One thing I haven't mentioned here on my blog yet is that I have a passion for Bollywood films and their music. I discovered Bollywood/Hindi films due to "Slumdog Millionaire," which is NOT a Bollywood film. I was listening to the Director's Commentary on the DVD, and he said that he wanted the song and dance number, "Jai Ho," to play during the credits because he was worried that if it played during the film, people watching it would just say, "Oh, this was just another Bollywood movie, I don't need to take this seriously." I really hadn't even heard of Bollywood at the time, so I filed that information in the "to Google" section of my brain and then forgot about it.

Here's a great mix of that song with clips from the movie.

A few months after that, the local newspaper did a feature on a local (now defunct) Bollywood dance studio. I was intrigued by the written description, so I went to the website of the dance studio, and they had 3 Bollywood movie/music clips. I watched them all and loved what I saw. I don't remember exactly what the other two clips were, but I do remember that this was one of them (this movie is now one of my favorite films in any language). This is the song "Maahi Ve" from the film "Kal Ho Na Ho," which stars Preity Zinta, Shahrukh Khan, and Saif Ali Khan. It's basically a love song at an engagement party.

After seeing the clips on that website, I promptly went to Netflix and looked for Bollywood movies. The very first Bollywood movie I saw was "Saawariya" with Ranbir Kapoor and Sonam Kapoor (no relation). Ranbir is such an adorable puppy of a man in this film; I promptly fell in love with him and the entire genre. Here's the title track. He's just met this beautiful woman, and he's trying to get her to go on a date with him.

I think I read somewhere that the Hindi film industry produces three times as many films each year as Hollywood does. So how do you go about deciding which films to watch? I wound up finding actors and actresses I really liked and watching ALL of their films (well, all the ones available on Netflix anyway).

The second clip I posted, from "Kal Ho Na Ho," has several of my favorite actors in it. Saif Ali Khan and Preity Zinta are in several other films together, including another one of my favorites, "Salaam Namaste." Here's the title track from that. The theme of this song is basically you only get to live life once, so go for it!

Another way I decided which movies to watch was from the previews on the DVDs I would watch. One preview in particular caught my interest. It was for the film "Kyun! Ho Gaya Na..." and included part of this song (without subtitles). I was so intrigued, wondering what they were singing about, and how those girls fit in, and why it resembled the bar seen in "Fiddler On the Roof." I will be nice and clue you in: the boys are singing about why you should never fall in love and the girls are singing that you should never spurn love.

I LOVE that movie. It also made me fall in love with Vivek Oberoi, which led me to the movie "Prince." I didn't care much for the movie itself, but I loved the songs and his look. Here's my favorite song from that movie, "Tere Liye." By the way, "Tere Liye" mean "for you," and he's singing about everything he would do for her.

I could go on and on, but if you haven't stopped reading and/or watching the clips, you will soon, so I will stop for now.

Well, almost.

Let me conclude by explaining that most Bollywood films have love stories as a central theme. Not all films, and it isn't always THE central theme, but love and music figure prominently in this film industry. Add in the amazing color of the films (and Indian culture as a whole), and that is a recipe for stealing my heart.

Dumber Than Usual

I've been feeling dumber than usual lately, and my memory, never great, seems to be getting worse as well.

I don't remember what made me think of this as a blog post.

;-)

I've been posting less frequently lately because it seems harder than usual for me to scrape up enough brain cells to put thoughts into words, words into sentences, and sentences into a cohesive thought, and I really don't know why.

I don't even know whether or not I should be concerned about this. I guess it isn't impacting my life in an enormous way. I can remember grooming notes long enough to groom an entire dog and I can get through regular life without too much difficulty.

Sometimes conversations are difficult. Well, sometimes I have a hard time with conversations anyway, just because I'm me.

Sometimes I worry that my brain is erasing memories from my past faster than it's creating memories of what's happening now. With the exception of a few scattered events, almost everything that has happened more than a few years ago is completely gone, like it never even happened.

I suppose that means I don't need to worry about living in the past too much.

This is sounding whiny and depressing, and that wasn't my intent. Hm, let me think of something funny now...

I've been on Yahoo Answers lately, trying to help answer people's questions about dogs and grooming, and it sure is interesting. Some people are on there just as a joke, some people are just idiots, some are really trying to find advice. It all makes me lament the death of the English language. I would love to write an entire post about that, but I'm pretty sure I would offend, bore, or confuse some portion of you readers, and I'm not really willing to take that risk.

OK, it's time for bed. Maybe a good night's sleep will help my brain. Hailey and Dillin and I all say Good Night!

Old Pics

OK, it's back to the archive for more pictures! These are just after pictures, no before and afters. They were taken about 3 years ago, so I don't remember much about all the dogs or haircuts, but I wanted to share them anyway.

I think this first one was a Maltipoo. I do remember that she REFUSED to stand up for the grooming, which frustrated me. She sure was cute though!

This next Poodle I vaguely remember being difficult, but I don't remember why. It's too bad black dogs' faces don't turn out very well in pictures, because she sure was cute!

It's a shame this Shih Tzu had such bad tear staining, because she was adorable.

I can't recommend Angels' Eyes enough - it is AMAZING on tear stains! Dillin's brown beard even grew out. Maybe I can find some before and after pictures of him later.

Anyway, here's a stately Yorkie for you!

And a Schnauzer with good hair, which is unfortunately rare.

This next dog is a (fat) Brussels Griffon. They aren't very common pets, at least not around where I live and work. They can be notoriously difficult to groom, but I just love them!

Here is a really beautiful Wheaten. His head looks a little bit strange because the last groomer had cut off his fall, so it was still growing back.

This is a Miniature Poodle. I wish I could travel back in time and neaten up his face a little bit, but he's pretty cute otherwise, so I figured I'd suck up my pride and share him anyway.

Here's a young, scared Golden Retriever. Not all owners like their Goldens trimmed this short, but some do, and I feel like short feather trims are one of my strong suits.

Yes, all of that hair on the table came out of that short-haired dog, and that doesn't include what came out with the bath and blow dry. She was such a sweet dog. Dalmation mix was their best guess. She passed away some time ago, and I was truly sad to hear it.

Here's a good looking Toy Poodle. Again with the tear stains, though. Once the tear stains are there, it's next to impossible to get rid of them. Angels' Eyes: I'm telling you, it works!

Let's conclude with a very cute, very tiny Shih Tzu puppy.

I hope you've enjoyed these pictures!

Anticipation

I don't know if I've mentioned this yet or not, but the place I work is expanding, and I'm headed to a new groom shop very soon!

The original location of the company I work for was just a store with no grooming. Due to overwhelming demand for grooming, a second location was opened with grooming. That is where I work right now. Business has been absolutely booming, so the original location just moved into a bigger space next door to their original location and added grooming! The big store move happened last week, but the grooming isn't quite ready yet.

Hopefully within the next week or two at the most, I will be in my new work home!

I'm very excited about this. I don't know the employees of the other store as well, but they aren't strangers.

The layout and setup are slightly different, but basically the same.

We get all new equipment - including the MOST AMAZING TUB EVER! I don't know if this is the exact one, but I found a pretty close match on Amazon.com.

Master Equipment Superior Stainless Tub Right Plumbed, 48-Inch

New Tub

I wish I could figure out how to post the picture; you'll just have to follow the link.

In any case, it's shorter than what we have now, and there is an opening that is lower and wider than our current tub. These features will make it MUCH easier to get big dogs in the tub.

It also has the option to move the grates from the bottom of the tub to near the top of the tub for smaller dogs, which my back is VERY happy about. Look at that tub, picture a Maltese cowering in a corner with the grates on the lower level, and mentally figure out how much you would have to bend over to scrub that dog. Yeah, not good.

The fact that there are two grates and it looks like they come apart into two pieces each should make it SO much easier to clean than the giant one-piece grate we have now. Why is that important? Sometimes big, hairy dogs need to be blow dried in the tub rather than on the drying table, and the hair gets EVERYWHERE. The entire grate gets covered in hair, and it isn't very easy to get it all off.

So yeah, I'm pretty excited.

By the way, moving to the new location will cut my commute IN HALF!

All in all, it's all the benefits of getting a new job without the downsides.

I've been looking forward to this for about a month and a half already, but now that the actual store has moved and the tub is here, the switch is finally in sight!

I'll probably take pictures at some point of our current tubs and the special new one. I think my excitement will make more sense with pictures. I'll keep you updated and post about the move when it happens!

Wheatens

I have groomed a lot more Soft Coated Wheaten Terriers than usual the last week or two, and I took pictures of all of them to show the differences in grooming styles from dog to dog.

Let's start with today and go backwards in time.

This dog was a new client, listed in the computer as a "Doodle Mix." I had no idea what to expect based on that description, but I certainly wasn't expecting this dog:

Call me crazy, but he looks to me like a Wheaten with Dumbo ears. I suppose he could be mixed with some sort of Poodle or Doodle, but he is clearly mostly a Wheaten. Anyway, I was prepared for up to 100 pounds of Doodle, so this smallish dog was a welcome surprise.

They wanted about half the length taken off all over the body, and trim the head but leave the eyelashes. He was a little bit matted, but not too bad, so I brushed what I could and just went shorter where I had to. Here's the result:

Doesn't he look so happy to be done?

Aside from his ears, his personality would indicate being mixed with another breed. Please don't kill me Wheaten owners, but as a general rule, Wheatens tend to be difficult to groom. They have crappy hair and crappy attitudes to match. They might make amazing family pets, but I've groomed more naughty Wheatens than good ones. This guy was really good, though, even for the dematting.

Anyway, I left 5/8" of hair on his body and 7/8" on his head. I had to go down to 1/4" on his butt and throat and 1/8" on his belly, but all in all I think he turned out good.

I did this next dog a few days ago. He was also a new client and slightly matted. The owners knew he was a little matted and they were just hoping I wouldn't have to shave him to the skin.

After using a silkening  shampoo, lots of The Stuff, and the velocity dryer, I was able to get my 1/2" blade under the mats. They wanted a short teddy bear face (side note: it's very strange writing that out all the way instead of saying "tbf") and trim the ears slightly. He was very fussy for his feet (which is pretty typical for a Wheaten) so they don't look as good as I would like, but they look pretty decent, all things considered.

Now we go back to last Saturday, when I did 3 Wheatens in one day.

This first one is a regular of mine, I do her about every 6 weeks. She used to have really really bad skin problems, so bad that she had bald spots as a result of licking and chewing her hair out. Now her hair has grown back magnificently and they keep her hair on the longer side.

Her hair is a lot finer than most Wheatens, and also lighter in color, which leads me to wonder if she's mixed with something. In any case, she's incredibly well-behaved and one of my favorite regulars (certainly my favorite Wheaten). Here is a side view to you can see the length left on her body better.

OK, never mind, my computer refuses to upload that picture. Yay technology.

Anyway, if it allows me... Here is the first of two Wheatens I did from the same family that day. These were also new clients. Both dogs were also a little matted, so it came down to "leave them as long as you can, but shave any mats, don't bother brushing them."

Apparently my computer has no issues with this picture. Very strange. Anyway, I was trying to do a Wheaten pattern, and I left 1/4" on his back and about 1/2" on his legs. I tried to flay his leg feathers a little and scissor his skirt to try to make it look like these areas were longer, but I didn't like how it turned out. Also he wouldn't hold still, so the cut on his body is uneven, which bothers me.

Anyway, this dog's head is obviously different from the other three dogs I've pictured so far. This is the Wheaten breed cut head (sort of). Since his body is so short, his head looks disproportionately large, but it wouldn't look right if I took his head too short. You can't really tell, but his ears are shaved with a short blade. There is also the characteristic fall which goes to his nose. The hair from his fall was growing into his nostrils, so I did him a favor and trimmed it back a bit. The sides of the face are short, the beard is fuller, and there is sort of a hole cut around each eye so he can see. You'll just have to take my word for it that it looks better on a dog with a longer haircut on the body.

Next comes his brother. Not only was his body matted, but his beard was, too. :-(  I considered trying to brush his beard out, but it was REALLY matted and the owner had SPECIFICALLY said "Don't brush mats, just shave." So I reluctantly shaved his face and tried desperately to leave any hair there if I could. I couldn't, really.

I made the creative decision to cut his fall back a little bit but not take it off completely. I still don't know if I made the right decision or not. I couldn't be there when the owner picked up, but it sounds like the reaction was something like "Well, you look ridiculous, but you were matted." Maybe I should've taken the fall off entirely? I was worried about him looking too poodle-y. Maybe I should've left the fall longer. I don't know, there really isn't a winning scenario when you have to shave a Wheaten's face. At least this is a good view of his shaved ears.

Anyway, this was a brief glimpse of why groomers cringe when an owner (of any dog breed) says, "Just do what you normally do with this breed." Pet grooming is all about doing what you want, and there is no normal.

And after re-reading this, it amuses me how many of the dogs were matted. That's pretty typical for Wheatens; they have terrible hair that is difficult to maintain, and people tend to wait too long in between grooms.

So this was my Wheaten slide show. I'm working on a blog piece about Doodles for the near future, I'm just stockpiling pictures. As always, thanks for reading and feel free to comment!

Dexter, Part 2

Boy, what an afternoon. I spent about an hour uploading a bunch of pictures of Dexter to Shutterfly because I got an offer for a free photo book, and one of my good friends from work is waiting to find out what's wrong with her dog.

And as I typed that last sentence, I got this text: "Just got her home. They still have no clue what it is. Bloodwork was perfect, no pus when they aspirated, teeth were good, Xrays were good. They gave her a dental cleaning and an injectable antibiotic and if the mass is still there on Monday we bring her back in."

I'm hoping no news is good news. When I brought Dexter to the vet, due in part to the lumps in his neck, I had to wait more than 24 hours for results. The vet had said she would call the next morning, but she waited until after business hours - I get the impression she likes to be alone when she gives out bad news.

Sigh.

Well, since I've been thinking about Dexter all afternoon, I guess I'll just post a bunch of pictures of him. If you haven't read his story already, you can find it here.

This is shortly after I first got him.. Sorry it's so blurry, but it's the best picture I have of how crazy skinny he was when I got him. You could see most of his ribs and his coat was dull. He had been in the shelter for several months before I got him, so I don't know if he came in this skinny or what. My personal theory is that he was too depressed to eat. He is...was...SUCH a person-loving dog.

This next picture was taken two or three months later - he was obviously much healthier by now. Look at how shiny his coat was!

He loved to sleep, but of course he didn't always sleep. Here he is awake and shiny!

Hi Mom. Love me...please?

OK, I have no idea why that picture is two-tone.

And here's his fetch face. Throw the ball...throw the ball...throw the ball...

Big smile!

Sleepy boy.

Hey. I'm Dexter. Nice to meet you.

Throw the ball...

OK, I could go on all night, but it's time to wrap up. This is one of the last pictures taken of Dexter, just days before I had to let him go.

I still miss him like crazy, but most of the time I can put him in a tiny box in the corner of my mind and still be OK. Today is not one of those days.

Me, Myself, and Cyrano

So I was attempting to take a nap and trying to think of a topic for a blog post and thinking about recent events (multi-tasker? me? never, lol), and everything came together nicely - well enough for me to give up on the nap and hop out of bed.

Out in the real world, I am terribly, painfully shy. I have a hard time meeting and talking to new people, ESPECIALLY men. My brain just freezes and I turn into Mrs. Potato Head. I think one of the many reasons I am overweight is that subconsciously, I want a barrier between myself and other people. Men rarely approach overweight women with low self esteem, so I don't have to worry about sounding like an idiot.

But stick me behind a keyboard and a computer monitor, and suddenly I become more confident, more brazen, better able to express myself - and a man magnet. I've unwittingly somewhat seduced many men across the world from behind my keyboard. I am not romantically interested in these men usually, but just me being myself seems to be absolutely irresistible to men. It is the strangest dichotomy.

So all the pieces came together in my mind when I suddenly thought about "Cyrano de Bergerac," which was  originally a play written in 1897 by Edmond Rostand which was also turned into an English movie in 1950 and a French film in 1990. I prefer the French version, but it's hard to find good subtitled scenes from it, so here is a scene from the English version. 

OK, this was supposed to be just a clip but seems to be the entire movie. Maybe I'll add the clip since I can't seem to remove the video. OK, the clip is first, the entire film is second. I don't know why I can't remove it, but oh well.

The basic premise of the play/film is that Cyrano has a very large nose and is very self-conscious about it. He falls in love with Roxane but is unable to tell her how he feels. Enter Christian, a very handsome man who is unable to express himself with words. Cyrano winds up writing letters to Roxane on Christian's behalf and helps him woo her.

So Cyrano was only able to talk to Roxane through the mask of Christian. Similarly, I am only able to talk to men through my keyboard.

I'm not really sure what to do about that. Probably my best bet will be to meet somebody online, which I have done in the past. What I really ought to do is figure out how to bring the online version of myself into the real world.

OK, I MUST post a clip of the French version here. I just love Gerard Depardieu; he's my favorite French actor and one of my favorite actors in any language. If you can tolerate subtitles, I can recommend several movies of his.

The subtitles aren't perfect, but you can get the general idea. Sorry to spoil the ending, but the other really good clip I am saving for the 1987 Steve Martin adaptation, "Roxanne." This is one of my favorite clips from any movie in any language!

So, how to sum up my thoughts for today?

I'm not really sure...I guess I either need to spend my entire life online or figure out how to bring the two versions of myself together into one amazing person!

As always, feel free to comment!

Equality and Tolerance

As I'm sitting here watching the Olympic Closing Ceremony, I'm struck at how wonderful it is that 204 countries can get together peacefully and each and every person, regardless of nationality, race, gender, sexuality, or anything else, is given a fair chance at achieving their dreams (well, more or less fair, depending in large part on what resources their country has for training athletes).

Every single country brought female athletes, several for the very first time. The image of the Saudi girl running in long pants, long sleeves, and a

Brain fart. It'll come back to me. I hope.

Anyway, also this year, a double amputee raced for the first time. He even made it out of the qualifying round to the semifinals! I think that's incredible. What a powerful

HIJAB! That's the word I was looking for. Sorry. Welcome to my brain.

Let's try this again, shall we?

The image of the Saudi girl running in long pants, long sleeves, and a hijab was striking for me. It can't be comfortable to run like that, and she finished in last place (which was probably unrelated to her attire), but the fact that she was able to be there and participate, that's pretty amazing. If I remember correctly, she was actually born and raised in America to Saudi parents and chose to run for Saudi Arabia to encourage girls and women in that country to get interested in athletics. And if she had/wanted/chose to remain covered to honor her religion/culture/country, I think it is awesome that she was allowed that opportunity.

I also remember hearing about a female Judo athlete, I think also from Saudi Arabia, but it could have been a different country, who wanted to wear a modified hijab to compete, but all sides had to come to a compromise about what sort of modification would be acceptable. I actually have no idea what came of that discussion. In any case, the fact that we are becoming an inclusive society is encouraging to me.

Oh, back to the South African guy who raced on (blades? Is that what they were called?) prosthetic legs, I also thinks it is amazing that he wasn't forced to be satisfied with the Paralympics, that he was able to race able-bodied men. What a major step forward for society as a whole! And the guy who won the race, who swapped bibs with him? Talk about classy!

The world is slowly becoming more and more accepting of those who are different from ourselves, whether it is people with different religious beliefs, different colored skin, or different sexual preferences.

I look forward to the world becoming more and more equal and tolerant, how about you all?

I welcome ALL CIVIL COMMENTS. I will NOT tolerate bullying, foul language, or attacks, but I am open to all opinions (even if you completely disagree with me) as long as we can have a civil educated discussion and not a brawl.

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!

Old Before and After Pics

OK, I'm reaching WAY back into my archive today, and I have pictures from as far back as 3 years ago, from my last job. I don't remember all the details on every dog, but there are some pretty good before and afters in here.

This first dog is a Yorkie, and they liked to keep her head on the long side. Which was fine...except she always came in with her head a total mess. Here is the before.

And here is the after. Still a longer face than I would normally do, but definitely more reasonable than what she came in with.

Here is a good example of a REALLY matted dog. I saw dogs like this fairly frequently at past jobs and hardly ever see them at my current job. Here is the before.

And here is the after. He was so matted that I couldn't leave a single hair on him, it ALL had to come off. Doing dogs like this makes me very sad that somebody would let their dog get into this sort of shape before getting it groomed. Yes, dog grooming can be expensive, but that's really something you need to factor into your budget before you decide if you can even afford to have a dog. I always feel a little bit good, though, that I can make the dog feel SO much better. Anybody that has ever worn a pony tail knows how bad it can hurt if it's pulled too tightly and how good it feels to take it out. Can you imagine how painful it must be to have every square inch of your skin being pulled like that 24 hours a day? It must be dreadful!

Here is that same dog, me shaving his foot. It's always difficult when the hair is that matted; you sort of have to roll the matted hair down like a sock as you shave. Also, it is REALLY bizarre to see my hand without scars on it.

This is not a before and after, just an after of one of my favorite clients at my last job. She was a full-coated Skye Terrier, and she was beautiful. Sweet as can be, too.

Here's another after without the pig tails (they made the dog unhappy, so we stopped doing them).

As a pet groomer (rather than a show groomer), I have done very few full-coated dogs in my career, so the ones I do have the privilege of doing are very special to me.

Ooh, I forgot I had this series of pics. This shows the entire process of shaving down a SUPER matted Doodle (I think this one was a Goldendoodle). Here is the before: matted, terrified, and she had peed on the table and laid down in it. Yummy. Dogs that are this matted you generally need to shave before the bath; sometimes the velocity dryer can loosen the mats up, but sometimes nothing will help.

Do you see the strange separated lines in the fur on her butt? That's one way you can tell how matted she is; regular hair doesn't do that.

Here you can see that I started at the top of her head - I found one puff of hair that wasn't matted, and that is where I had to start the clippers. I slowly went down and around her neck, and you can see how most of the hair is coming off in one piece.

I've made a little more progress. I'm peeling the matted hair back as it comes off to keep it out of my way.

Almost there! All the hair pooled up behind her? That's all one sheet of matted hair, still attached to her body. If you've ever had a matted dog before and been upset when your dog had to be shaved, this is usually why. There is absolutely no way to brush out a pelt like this, and hopefully this visual helps.

And here is the final (washed and dried) product. You can see that I was able to leave some hair on her ears and the top of her head. I have no idea how those two areas weren't matted and the entire rest of her body was.

By the way, did yo notice how clean and pink her skin was under all that dirty hair? The pelt was so badly matted that it was actually protecting her skin from getting dirty.

OK, one more example of a matted dog "peel." I think this guy was a Cavachon (Cavalier King Charles mixed with Bichon Frise). Here is before.

Here's partway through. Again, you can see the matted hair hanging off the body; also note how clean the hair is right next to the skin. How much air do you think reaches this dogs skin if dirt can't even reach?

This next picture is probably the best demonstration EVER of hair coming off all in one piece.

Almost done. Those legs are going to be a nightmare.

Well, it looks like I forgot to take after pictures, but you get the general idea. I hope these pictures give you an idea about why we groomers get so upset when we see matted dogs. This HAS to be uncomfortable for the dog, so we have to try to educate you while (possibly) suppressing the urge to slap you across the face for neglecting your dog for so long.

Shameless plug - I have always used Andis brand clippers. Well, not always, I tried the Wahl Switchblade for a while but I HATED them. If you do choose to groom your dogs at home, I would definitely recommend spending the extra money on professional clippers versus the cheaper ones they sell for "home use." The longer life span of the professional grade clippers will make back the extra money you pay for them.

And now, since I am suddenly missing him very much, I will leave you with a picture of Dexter's fetch face.