I'm toast.

I'm exhausted. It's been a busy week and it's only Wednesday.  I worked alone today, as my co-worker was off.    Here is how much hair I took off of dogs today..by myself.

I know..It's a photo of a garbage can.  Seriously, though, that is alot of hair for only one groomer.  Approximately 1/2 of that hair is from 2 of the 11 dogs I groomed today.  Those 2 are also the reason I'm exhausted, and why I cracked open the ibuprofen bottle when I got home. 

One was a 105 lb Golden Retriever, and the other was a 155 lb St. Bernard.  Both dogs got completely shaved.  UGH.  Neither dog could be convinced to jump on the table or into the tub.  Thankfully, I had people willing to help me lift. 

Here's a crazy tip:  IF you have a large breed, PLEASE, Please, PLEASE teach it to at least put it's feet up on something so it can be boosted into the tub.  Not all dogs have the ability to jump, but most can at least help out by putting their front feet up.  Your groomer will thank you.  Trust me, it helps for your dog to know this, when he gets older and can't jump into the car any more.   

We've been shaving dogs left and right.  You can tell it's getting warm and the dogs are in the lake.  J and I shaved 6 Golden Retrievers on Monday.  SIX!  If you are reading this and are disgusted with me for shaving double coated breeds, please see this post again, and try not to judge me too much. 

I haven't blogged for a while again.  I actually took two days off of work last week to attend the Canine Performance Events National Agility Competition with my dog.  You remember I like my dogs to look clean and fluffed.  This is especially true when I take them somewhere.  I realize these events are outdoors, and many times the dogs get dirty in the 1st half hour they are there, but I like them to look their best.  I bathed Logan the day before I left.  I also squeezed in one last agility lesson with him.  It was there that this happened:

My instructor, who I thought was my friend...laughed and laughed and laughed. My well-trained (?) dog  completely ignored my commands to stay out of the pool.  I guess he was hot...oh well.  As Shenna from  Project Go Dog said on facebook when she saw the photo, "Aw! But he's so happy and cute!! Now he will look like the working dog he really is this weekend. :)"  She was of course right, Logan could care less about being fluffy and clean, he's all about the sport.

Here he is doing what he does best.  Special thanks to Sarah from Border Collie Reese and her 2 Kitties  for taking this beautiful photo!

It was a great weekend, here's how it turned out: