Tuesday Transformations

Only one of these was actually from today, but I've been making an effort to take more before/after shots for my workplace's facebook page.  People do seem to love them.

Here is a beautiful Shih Tzu.. whose owner actually owns a brush!!!!! She has kept him in full coat, but once in a while she gets tired of the care and has me give him a haircut.  He's cute either way.

Here he is during the groom.. look at all the coat the owner won't have to brush for a while!

For the groomers reading this, I used a 5/8 blade for his body, then scissored his legs.

The finished product.  He refused to look at the camera for the "after" shot.  Brat!  He looks a bit stuck up in this one. :)

Then, we have someone who knew enough to bring a puppy in for it's 1st grooming at the right time!!  This little Westie puppy didn't need much yet, as their hair takes some time to come in.  His owner told me he was a "handful" and then told the dog "you are going to learn some lessons today!" HA!  There was no sympathy in her voice.  Sure enough, he had some Terrier attitude, but he was smart enough to quickly realize what kind of person he was dealing with.  (a stubborn one)  I think he was a a really big transformation!

HI THERE!!!

Wow! Right??  I hardly took any hair off!  Terriers are almost always a really fun transformation.

I'm so relieved he came in when he did, though.  At this age, he's still more "trainable".  He gave up quickly, when I wanted him to hold still and stop biting me and the clipper.  We had a very pleasant end to his haircut, and you can bet he will remember, even if they don't come in for another 3 months.  Older puppies who have added hormones to their bag of tricks, tend to insist they are the boss.  This problem is compounded by owners giving them a very clear message that the puppies  ARE in charge.  I honestly don't care how they act when they are with their owners, but they do need to behave for me. 

I do offer advice, on how to help with behaviors at home.  Also, if a puppy is esepecially naughty about something specific, like his feet, then I have them work with the dog at home on it.  Some even take my advice!  



It's just wrong.

I really need to get something off my chest.

I'm fine with you being your dog's "Dad" or "Mom". Really, I am, it's ok.  It doesn't make me uncomfortable at all.

I do wonder about people that call their spouses or worse yet (not sure why it's worse, it just IS) their significant other by that same term of endearment.

Today it came up in a conversation with a client.

It was go home time, and I offered to help "Tootsie" into her new pink jacket, before she went out into the cold.  The female owner, probably in her 50's, said "No, it's ok, Daddy will help us".  Hmmm... I look around.. wondering who Daddy is.  He didn't come in at check in time that morning.  Oh.. here he comes.. Large bikerish (ok, bikerish may not be a word, but you know exactly of what I speak.)  guy comes out of the restroom, just in time to help Tootsie into her jacket.  Daddy.. was most definitely her husband.  NOT her Dad.  EW.  We have a few clients that talk this way.  It just makes me cringe.  Hopefully I kept it to myself.  I sometimes think (hope?) that they are insinuating that the DOG is calling their husband "Daddy".  I'm always proven wrong.  Ok. enough of that topic.  Sorry.

Just to make this blog post actually about grooming, here are some photos of my most recent humane society donation grooming.  He was bigger than I usually do for free, but what the heck, the big guy certainly needed help.  I'm always really sad when these Giant breeds are purchased by the wrong people, who just thought it would be "cool" to own a really big dog.  SURPRISE!   Once the "cute and fluffy" puppy stage is over, they eat and poop ALOT.  Oh, and they drool, and they will drag you around everywhere if you neglect to teach them some form of manners.  This guy was actually not super huge, for a male, and was very nice looking.  Sadly, he is lacking manners in a big, big way.  He was however, very sweet.  Hope the right home comes his way.




Before.. drool city and STINKY!



After:  So Handsome!



Lucky dog!

Today, a friend  came from two hours away, to have his dog fluffed, buffed, conditioned and to have her nails done.  After she left me, looking and smelling great, she was headed to a hour long massage. 

Most humans don't have that kind of awesome Valentines Day, at least this human sure doesn't! 

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I (along with the vet clinic I work for) donate groomings to our local humane society.  I love doing it, and hope the dogs get a home faster with a fresh haircut.  I was surprised when the "Terrier mix" they said they had for me, turned out to be a purebred Welsh Terrier!  She was brought in as a stray from animal control. Why didn't someone look for this dog???  It amazes me how many purebreds there are in the shelters.  I can't say it enough.. spay and neuter your pets!!  She is a sweetie, and I'm confident she will find her new home quickly!



Before



After!



One of the girls I work with actually didn't believe it was the same dog, once I was done.  It was a pretty fun transformation.  

Little Surprises

Sometimes when you clip a dog's coat off, you get a surprise.  Much of the time,  it's disappointing to the owner, like when a Shih Tzu puppy has lovely dark tips all over it's coat, and once you clip the hair, you are left with a light cream dog.  There's no help for it. Even if you left the dog in full coat, eventually the dog would change to the much more average color eventually.  I try to make sure and warn the owners if I think they have no idea that they will be getting a completely different colored dog back at the end of the day.

This guy was a surprise to us all, the first time we groomed him as a puppy. 

I give you the "before" of this seemingly average Scottish Terrier.



I believe we've established the fact that my phone takes really crappy photos.



 However, once we took off the coat on his back, we got a really fun surprise.



He's Brindle!  It's a very light brindle coloring, too, almost zebra-like!







Here is a rotten photo.. but it shows you what is under there. 

It's amazing, he looks completely black, when his hair is long.  I love grooming him, it's such a transformation.

For those of you who aren't aware, most Scotties strike fear in a groomers heart.  We dread seeing them on our appointment schedule.  There is a good reason for this.  Most Scotties are really not nice for grooming.  At the very least,they hate to have their feet touched. Most of the ones I groom have to be muzzled from start to finish.  I even have one that I haven't EVER gotten the face brushed out on.  The owner doesn't want it sedated, and I don't want to get bit, so I do what I can.  I encourage her to brush her own dog's face at home, but so far it hasn't really happened. 

When I was in grooming school, they warned us about Scotties. I didn't have a chance to groom one before I left school, but the ones I met afterwards, certainly lived up to the reputation.  Little known fact:  Scottish Terriers have teeth that are extremely large for their small size.  Check it out.. if you can ever look in the mouth of a Scottie, you will find teeth the size of a Labrador! I'm serious! Freaky.   

The model in today's blog entry is a very, very good dog. (ok, I still muzzle him for his nails, but for a Scottie, he is pretty much perfect) He either has very good breeding, or excellent owners.  Either way, I love to see him on the books!

I'm thinking about expanding my business

What do you guys think??

Is there a market for goat grooming???

Ok, so I didn't actually groom this little baby!  One of our staff members brought him in to work with her.  He is a 10 day old orphaned Boer Goat.  He had to have a bath due to a little "accident" in his cage.  He spent the day "BAAAAAAing" and was not happy unless someone was paying attention to him, or better yet if they had a bottle full of milk replacer for him.  It's not every day a goat gets a hydrosurge bath!

Can I get a Hallelujah??????? 

No, not about the goat.  I'm so happy that yesterday and today, I groomed dogs that I  had last groomed  before Christmas.  This means the January dry spell is nearly over!! Possibly since January is nearly over.  Yay for me, and my paycheck!

It's been a while since I've given you a before and after, so here you go:

Sorry to my facebook friends, you've already seen this one.

Here we have a male Rough Collie.  He is clean in this picture.  That is all matting and undercoat that I have blown out with the high velocity dryer.  I couldn't LIVE (well, work) without my dryer.  If I didn't have that dryer I would have to brush all that out.  The dryer does alot of work, and is much easier on the dog.  It blows the mats and shedding undercoat to the surface, where it is easily removed with much less effort and brushing.  I think it had been over a year since his last groom.

And... the finished product.  Such a handsome man.  notice the pile of hair on the floor which came off him.



Tuesday Transformation

I need to get better about pictures for the blog.  Today, I remembered my camera and found that the perfect subject had made an appointment.  Schnauzer puppies have the best transformation of all for their very 1st grooming.   This little girlie looked a bit rough when she came in.

Then, she went out looking like this!  Can you even believe it's the same dog?  Her owners were thrilled!