Before and After Pics 1/11/13

I should have known I would be too busy and tired to blog during the holidays. That's the busiest time of the entire year for dog groomers, and when you factor in all the parties and socializing that I'm not used to...I was one tired puppy.

Anyway, I'm back, and I really do intend to blog more again. 

So here we go. We don't usually shave double-coated dogs in my groom shop, but this dog had clearly been shaved many times, and since we are slower at the new shop, I really can't afford to turn dogs away, so I agreed to shave this lady's Pekingese. Here is the before picture.

And here is the after. She has a double chin - I took it one blade shorter than the rest of her body to try to blend it, but I'm not a plastic surgeon, so I just did the best I could. I like to blend the heads into the bodies as much as I can on dogs like this; I've never been a fan of the "Daffodil look," where there is a ruff of hair left around the entire head that isn't blended into the body at all.

Next we have a Welsh Springer Spaniel. This is the first Welsh Springer I had seen in several years; I don't know about the rest of the country, but where I live, English Springers are MUCH more common than Welsh Springers. Anyway, you can see how much undercoat this dog had before the bath. Yes, he was a little dirty, too, but it was mostly undercoat.

Here he is after the bath sitting next to all the undercoat that came out with the blow dryer. Notice how he changed colors.

Now here's the final product, all trimmed up and looking happy for an old guy.

Here's one of my favorite Doodles. I've probably posted pictures of him before - he's very good to groom and takes great pictures. Here he is before.

And here's his after. I leave 3/4" on his body and a smidge longer on his head and tail.

This is an old Maltese mix that I did a couple of months ago. Here he is dirty and curly.

All clean and happy!

Finally I have a Toy Poodle that I groomed shortly after Thanksgiving. This customer came in and said that she had just moved to town and brought her dog to another groomer a week ago, where they did a TERRIBLE job. This poor dog should not be this curly and matted after one week - and I could tell by how short the clean feet were that the owner was not exaggerating about how recently the dog had been groomed. My theory is that she was washed, thrown in a kennel, forgotten about, then had her feet shaved, eyes trimmed, and tail very poorly banded.

Here she is after the bath, all clean and blown out, but not brushed yet.

And here's the final product, all clean and fluffy. The owner was thrilled with the final result, and I actually groomed her again just the other day.

I have some more before and after blog posts half done, but I also hope to write about something else in between.

Thanks for sticking with me through my lean writing times Faithful Readers, and welcome to all new readers! I love comments, even if you don't like me.