More Adventures in Dog Grooming

Well, today was the day...I got to experience more adventures in dog grooming today. I put it off for as long as possible, but had to groom the dogs today...they were pretty darned shaggy and with this heat, were very uncomfortable when going outside. The good part about having the dogs shaggy was they did not fight me for going back into the house. Usually once they are outside, it takes major coaxing to get them to come back inside. Prior to grooming, they came in as soon as they completed their business.

I hadn't even bathed our little Yorkie, Hawg, since his surgery for kidney stones, which was over 3 weeks ago. I did a light rinsing, but since the vet said not to get him too wet, he really didn't get a good bath. All I had done prior to this was to take a damp wash cloth and wipe his belly down a bit... Needless to say, he in particular was getting more than a little stinky... Since I didn't wash Hawg, I didn't wash Gypsy either. She puts up with a whole lot more fussing, but since I wasn't washing one dog, I didn't want to wash the other...mainly because if I wash Gypsy, then Hawg (even though he is hydrophobic...) wants to get in on the deal. Usually that means he falls into the tub while I am washing the other dog...

This time, since the dogs were so shaggy, and I really didn't want to spend 5 hours grooming them, I tried a different dog grooming method, I clipped them first and then washed them. I know you are SUPPOSED to wash them first, but after grooming, there is so much loose hair that gets EVERYWHERE, I end up wanting to wash them after the grooming too. Washing may not sound like that big a deal when you are talking about dogs under 15 pounds, and it really isn't. What takes so long is waiting for them to completely dry before you start clipping them.

Neither dog likes the blow dryer, so I have to wait for them to air dry. Since we are now in double-digit humidity (it is all the way up to 25% today....) I figured it was going to take longer than usual for those little monsters to dry. Also factored into that was how much hair they had. I figured that if I washed them first, it would take at least an hour for them to be dry enough to clip. So....clipping first...

Actually, because the dogs had so much excess hair (the hair really seemed to grow a whole lot faster this time, probably due to the StemPET nutritional they have been consuming) it made more sense to cut all the big stuff off before washing. I was also hoping that since they get really wired after a bath, perhaps I would have an easier time grooming the dogs prior to their bath...

All this was wishful dreaming. The clipping did work OK even on dirty hair, but the dogs fidgeted as much as usual, Hawg was particularly twitchy today...possibly because it was so warm or possibly because he was reminded of his surgery...don't know, he doesn't verbalize too well...you know how that goes. So, I chose to clip Hawg first because he is so twitchy. That was a good idea, unfortunately, the lack of bath did not make my dog grooming any easier for him. I got his body, head and face nicely trimmed up, but could make only a minimal dent in trimming all that excess hair on his legs... Overall though, he was OK to groom, right now he just looks like a mini Clydesdale horse, nice and trim in the body, and these bell-bottom feet... looks kinda cute, but embarrassing if any other dog groomer takes a look at him. Perhaps I can convince people that I am working on a new style of cut....yeah, right, like anyone who knows anything about grooming will believe that....

Gypsy was a dream (as usual) to groom. She just stands there, looking sad, but tolerating all the clipping and shaving and cutting that is done. I think she rather likes the attention, but doesn't want to make it too easy for me. After I get the majority of her groomed, she then starts fidgeting and slowly trying to ease her way off the table... All I have to do is to pick her up and place her firmly back on the table, and she stays put for another few minutes...She looked good after her grooming. I was worried about how she was going to turn out because somehow, in the last week and a half, she managed to get her muzzle hair so matted I had no choice but to cut the majority of it off. Now she has sort of a poodle look about the face, but the good news is that she does not get that beard dunked in water when she takes a drink. I trimmed the rest of her face to match the shorter muzzle cut and after her bathing, did find a section that I will have to re-trim because it is longer than the rest. That additional trimming should only take me another 10 minutes to get cleaned up.

A dis-advantage to bathing the dogs after the clipping is that I can now find all the long hairs that did not appear when the dogs were dirty. Now I will have to re-trim the dogs in the next day or so in order for them to not look too much like a hack job. They really don't look that bad, but again, if you know what a good groomed dog looks like, you will see that they are not as neat as they should be...also...I am a bit of a perfectionist... I like a really neat look, and hate to see even a few hairs that are not the same length...

So, I did have more adventures in dog grooming today, I think going forward I will wash the dogs After the main grooming because I REALLY like the fact that the dogs are not tracking loose hair all over the place. How many times after you have had a hair cut do you want to go home and wash your hair? I know I can't wait, because I hate all that loose hair and I feel particularly itchy. The dogs don't seem to be as itchy today either, so perhaps my theory is accurate.. You never know...

One of these days though, I will get good enough with dog grooming to be able to groom these two wiggly monsters in one sitting instead of knowing I have two sittings to deal with. Practice makes perfect. Even better, I am going to find some natural way to get Hawg to settle down so he doesn't stress so bad when I trim his feet and legs. I do know it's not me or my grooming style, the groomer I used to take him to told me he is a major pain about his feet. She puts his head in what looks like a half a hamster ball (a round version of the cone) so he doesn't nip any clippers and then she trims his feet and legs. She also grooms Hawg in segments because he gets so riled up when he gets groomed. So the key is to find some version of a natural "doggie downer" (phrase taken from an old Saturday Night Live show ["puppy uppers and doggie downers"]...) so Hawg doesn't get so anxious about his legs being groomed... If I am successful, I will let you guys know...

Until tomorrow...